Miami added a big-time pick up out of the transfer portal this offseason in former Washington State star Cam Ward.
The talented signal caller considered entering his name into the 2024 NFL Draft, before opting to play for the Hurricanes this fall instead.
On3’s Andy Staples recently spoke with Clark Brooks about Ward and his potential for the 2024 season. Brooks believes Ward has the chance to have a special year.
“They’re getting arguably one of the best down-field throwers in the class,” Brooks said. “Since his days at Incarnate Word you have not had to worry about his live arm. He just impresses. He’s a bouncy athlete and he has undeniable talent. It was just reigning in the consistency.”
Brooks pointed out that Cam Ward had the highest completion percentage of his career in 2023, but part of that is due to the fact that he didn’t take a lot of chances down field. There’s no denying that Cam Ward is talented, but he has to minimize interceptions and mistakes, while taking more shots down field with Miami, Brooks believes.
“When he did target down field, with that live arm, very nice return,” Brooks said. “He himself is a guy that kind of buffers sometimes, drops his eyes and tries to do a little too much outside the pocket as opposed to just taking what’s there and living to fight another down.
“Sometimes [his throws] were a little bit more contested. Sometimes it was a little bit more tight-window tries than you would like to see. And when you’re throwing the ball where there are defenders in the vicinity, sometimes you just get a lot of bad breaks. So he has to fix that stuff.”
However, if he does improve on those areas of concern, Ward could be one of the best quarterbacks in the country this season.
Cam Ward completed 66.6 percent of his passes in 2023, throwing for 3,735 yards, with 25 touchdowns and seven interceptions. It’s imperative that the Hurricanes are good around Ward, too, according to Brooks.
“We just saw a season where Tyler Van Dyke was a walking turnover for much of the season. Some of that was because Miami played behind constantly against their hardest opponents,” Brooks said. “Seventy-six percent of Tyler Van Dyke’s attempts last year came with Miami trailing by [at least] a field goal, and 40 percent came when they were down by two touchdowns. And of his 21 interceptable passes, 11 came in those instances. So a very considerable chunk of those passes.
“So if Miami can not trail and have a lead on the scoreboard, then he’ll be all the more tenacious. It’s just I’m a little worried because the schemes, they’re kind of similar in the fact that they don’t like play-action. They prefer more true, standardized, air-raid staples. … But if the pre-snap and post-snap alignment stuff comes together, he absolutely can be one of the best quarterbacks across the nation.”
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