Know your Foe: Florida Gators gearing up for Miami’s Cam Ward

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The Florida Gators have made a habit of starting their football season with a marquee game and 2024 is no different. The Miami Hurricanes will travel up the Florida Turnpike to renew a once yearly rivalry to kick off the 2024 season.

As the opening kickoff gets closer, Gators Online is working with CaneSport to bring you a deeper knowledge and insight into Florida’s first opponent.

Today we take a look at new Miami quarterback, Cam Ward who will lead the Canes in 2024.

Gary Ferman of CaneSport breaks down Cam Ward

Q: How has Cam Ward fit in with Miami as a transfer? He’s a veteran, what kind of impact has he had on the team?

A game hasn’t been played yet, so it’s tough to say whether quarterback Cam Ward has had a bigger impact on Miami to this point as a player or a team leader.

Either way, his Miami arrival has elevated expectations for 2024 in tandem with some other influential pickups in the transfer portal.

Time will tell where this takes the Hurricanes against Florida on August 31 and then the remainder of the fall.  But The U is a stage for him to take his game to the next level with better talent than he had at Washington State, where the team went 5-7 last season.

When Ward checked on his NFL draft prospects after last season, he learned that he would probably be a second or third-day pick. Miami offered the opportunity to prove he is better than that and make an NIL payday along the way that is believed to be as much as $2 million.

One thing for sure is that people will be watching him.

Q: Shannon Dawson has some Air Raid offense background, how does Cam Ward fit into that?

Ward has received six preseason accolades. He is on the watch list for the 2024 Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award, and watch lists for the Davey O’Brien National Quarterback Award, the Maxwell Award and Walter Camp Player of the Year Award, as well as being tabbed as the Preseason ACC Player of the Year and an All-ACC pick.

But Ward also remains a quarterback with enormous things to prove, the essential reason he is at Miami in the first place. Despite making the watch lists, Ward is a bit disrespected despite posting 119 TDs and 30 interceptions in his college career. Last season at Washington State alone, Ward threw for 3,732 yards with a 66.7 completion percentage, 25 touchdowns and seven interceptions, while adding 144 rushing yards and eight rushing touchdowns.

Yet Pro Football Focus leaves him out of its top 10 of Georgia’s Carson Beck, Oregon’s Dillon Gabriel, Alabama’s Jalen Milroe, Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders, Texas’ Quinn Ewers, Ole Miss’ Jaxson Dart, West Virginia’s Garrett Greene, Penn State’s Drew Allar, Arizona’s Noah Fifita and Missouri’s Brady Cook.

The Sporting News ranks Ward at No. 8 behind Beck, Ewers, Gabriel, Sanders, Kansas’ Jalon Daniels, Milroe, and Dart.

ESPN has Ward at No. 10 behind Beck, Gabriel, Ewers, Milroe, Arizona’s Noah Fifita, Dart, Daniels, Sanders, and Utah’s Cam Rising.

You get the idea. To accomplish his goals this season, Ward will need to move up those lists. And of course, the NFL wants to see more too.

Ward, who led Washington State to the nation’s No. 4 passing offense in 2023, does already check many boxes.

NFL arm talent? Check. The ability to create with his feet and run for yards? Check. Patrick Mahomes-like arm angles and escapability? Check. Precision passing? Check, check, check.

Now it is up to Canes offensive coordinator Shannon Dawson to help Ward take his game up another notch and come out smelling like a rose for coming to Miami. Dawson comes from an Air Raid offense background, which seems to fit Ward well. The transition to Miami has been very smooth.

Q: Ward has had some turnover issues, how has he improved there since getting to Miami?

Ward has had some turnover issues in the past. In his college career, Ward has fumbled 46 times. Dawson studied every one of them and emerged feeling it was more of a focus issue than a ball protection issue. Ward also was playing from behind a lot at Washington State with defensive lines teeing off on him.

Miami Head Coach Mario Cristobal has not been concerned with anything he has seen from Ward to this point.

“We haven’t played a game yet, so I try to contain the excitement that surrounds him,” Cristobal said. “But he’s a real one.”

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