Cam Ward is the ACC preseason player of the year. Without throwing a pass yet, he's Miami's leader

Practice was over. The Miami Hurricanes gathered at midfield to hear a few words from coach Mario Cristobal, who summed up his thoughts about the workout and talked about what would happen next.

Everyone the started going their separate ways. Except the offense.

Cam Ward had a few words for that group. They were not happy words. There were things about the workout that the new Miami quarterback — and Atlantic Coast Conference preseason player of the year — didn’t like, things he didn’t find acceptable, things he didn’t think were at the standard the 19th-ranked Hurricanes are setting for themselves. So, he let his teammates know. They all nodded. They knew he was right.

Cristobal, watching from a few yards away, was loving what he saw and heard. Ward — a legitimate Heisman Trophy candidate who transferred in from Washington State after flirting with the NFL this past spring — is 0 for 0 as a Miami quarterback, with zero yards and zero touchdowns. Hasn’t played a game as a Hurricane yet. But it’s already his team.

“He does that by being himself and through work and by being a good person,” Cristobal said. “Those things keep showing up as being undefeated, right? He puts in the time, he’s super knowledgeable, has a super-high IQ. He’s a complete alpha. When he’s wrong, he takes it right on the chin like he should. And when someone else is not living up to the standard or upholding the standard, he’s going to get all over them. He’s going to teach, but he’s also going to be very demanding.”

Ward’s numbers are exceptional. He threw for 311 yards per game last season and in his four college seasons — two at FCS member Incarnate Word, the next two at Washington State — he’s piled up 13,876 yards and 119 touchdowns. The only quarterback in college football entering this season, at any level, with more career yards is Oregon transfer Dillon Gabriel, who has 14,865.

And if the Hurricanes are going to make a run this season, Ward will be among the biggest reasons why.

“I have a relationship with a lot of guys on the team, pretty much everybody on the team,” Ward said. “I feel I can talk to them a certain way, the right way. I know how to get to guys. I know how I can translate stuff to guys. And when you have bad days, you have to get on guys more than you do when you have good days.

“I don’t hold myself to a higher standard than other people,” he added. "I know where I came from. I know what I had to do to get to this position. I don’t ever want to go back to that. So, that’s why I care so much about this and about my guys.”

That “where I came from” line is his fuel, his oxygen, his motivation.

West Columbia, Texas, population some 3,700, loves football. Ward was a star there, though nobody who looks at numbers would know that. He threw for 1,070 yards as a junior. He had 12 passing attempts per game as a senior. Columbia High, you see, was a running team. Ward’s arm may have been blessed with power and accuracy, but the game plan wasn’t built around that. He wasn’t a five-star recruit. Or a four-star, either. Or even a one-star.

Zero stars. Barely a prospect, the experts thought. The experts were wrong.

“I don’t get too high or low, even on the football field,” Ward said. “At the end of the day the only thing that is going to take care of myself and my family is making plays on the football field. Everybody’s opinion of myself doesn’t really matter to me and my family. At this point, this time in my life, I’m more focused on trying to win football games with the team around me.”

Here’s how different he is: Some guys come to Miami for the lifestyle, the sun and sand, the glitz.

Ward came to fish. Really.

His ideal day includes some combination of working out, studying film, chilling at home with his dog, fishing for mahi, taking his offensive line out to dinner. If people say they’ve got a good fishing spot or a good restaurant for him to try, he’ll talk for as long as they want. Ask him about the Heisman race, and he doesn’t have much to say. That’s not his priority.

“The biggest thing for me is there was still food left on the table for me,” Ward said. “I accomplished a lot of things at the FCS level. I haven’t accomplished things I know I’m capable of at the (FBS) level. I feel like NFL isn’t going anywhere. God put me in this position to be a Miami Hurricane. I think it’s been the best of both worlds.”

And Cristobal couldn’t be happier with how it’s all starting. The Hurricanes have a chance to be good in 2024, and they have someone who — in a short time — has assumed the leadership role.

“You cannot have an impact on the entire building the way he has unless you are the way he is. Genuine. Real. Tough,” Cristobal said. “And he plays quarterback like a linebacker. That’s the bottom line.”

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