OPINION: Miami has high expectations for Cam Ward … but nationally how high might depend on who you ask

Before a football season begins, there is always focus on the quarterbacks around the country. The position is obviously that important. Decent teams with good or great quarterbacks are always a threat to win double-digit games. Michigan’s J.J. McCarthy and Washington’s Michael Penix, the two quarterbacks of the national championship game, finished the year as two of the highest-graded quarterbacks last season by any measure. LSU quarterback Jayden Daniels was college football’s best player and won the Heisman Trophy. Six quarterbacks were chosen in the top 12 picks of the NFL Draft.

Miami’s Tyler Van Dyke struggled all year and Miami’s season fell apart.

Now a new season is upon us and Miami was able to lure Washington State’s Cam Ward to The U. Ward’s arrival has elevated expectations for 2024 in tandem with some other influential pickups in the transfer portal.

Time will tell where this takes us this fall. But when you peel back the onion, there is a reality that regardless of all the hoopla in the 305, Ward is a quarterback with enormous things to prove, the essential reason he is here in the first place.

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.

But right now that all is being greeted with a yawn by people outside of the 305. When you look at all of the pre-season quarterback rankings that are out there, 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.

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.

Let’s compare Ward to the others considered better than him.

Beck, who is 6-4, 200-pounds compared to Ward’s 6-2, 223 pounds, threw for 3,941 yards with a 72.4 percent completion percentage, 24 TDs and 6 INTs at Georgia last season, slightly better than Ward’s numbers. It was his first year as a starter. Are people jumping the gun a little in universally proclaiming him the most complete quarterback in college football? Time will tell.

Surrounded by a great team, Beck was able to cut it loose last year. He was particularly effective going down the field, both mid-range and long, which is nothing to take for granted. He averaged more than 10 yards an attempt down the middle.

But if Beck is the prototype of 2024, Ward won’t be intimidated by the challenge of matching him this season. Beck is rock-solid. But he won’t overwhelm anybody with his greatness.

You can probably say the same about Ewers, a 6-2, 195 pounder who was a tad inconsistent last season with his mechanics despite putting up 3,479 yards, 22 TDs, 6 INTs and a 69% completion percentage. Ewers probably has a little better arm than Ward. But he needs to improve his decision-making in addition to his mechanics.

Sanders, who is 6-2, 215, has to prove he is more than just an athletic quarterback with a team that still is not as good as what Beck, Ewers and even Ward will be lining up with. He threw for 3,230 yards last season, completed 69.3 percent of his passes with 27 touchdowns and three interceptions. He also is very accurate, just 7.9% of his passes were considered off the mark. As a comparison, Ward was at 10.1%. Both played behind bad offensive lines.

Like Beck, Milroe excelled at getting the ball down the field. He’s 6-2, 200 pounds of pure athleticism who threw for 2,834 yards last season with 23 touchdowns and six interceptions. He also was the best runner among quarterbacks, gaining 531 yards and scoring 12 touchdowns on the ground.  This is a big year for Milroe in similar fashion that it is for Ward because of the upside that he has. Consider this: 27.3 percent of Milroe’s completions went for more than 20 yards. Like Ewers, scouts are looking for more consistency from him this season. Like Ward, he is considered a third to fifth-round prospect right now.

Dart, who also is 6-2, 220, has to prove he is more than just a product of Lane Kiffin’s crazy system, in which he produced 3,364 yards last season with 23 touchdowns and five interceptions. He isn’t the running threat that Milroe is, but he did pick up 389 yards on the ground last year and scored eight rushing touchdowns. Dart does a lot of things well, and scouts will have as keen eye on him this season.

Gabriel was really good in spring practice at Oregon and darted up the quality meter. He also is surrounded by a very good team. Then there are other guys like Connor Weigman at Texas A&M, Will Howard at Ohio State, Riley Leonard at Notre Dame, and Rhett Lashlee’s quarterback at SMU, Preston Stone, that will be fighting for their place alongside Ward.

There are some things that bode well for Ward as he begins his year at Miami. He has a lot of reps in college football even though things didn’t go great for Washington State last year. He did it all without a running game. Washington State’s ground attack ranked 130th in FBS last year. Miami picked up Oregon State running back Damien Martinez, may get Mark Fletcher back and has talented freshman Jordan Lyle on deck with Chris Johnson also commanding reps this fall. It is going to have a significantly better run game than the Cougars had last season.

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.

Everyone will be watching.

“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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