One Thing Holds Cam Ward Back From Being The No. 1 Overall Pick
Miami quarterback Cam Ward has been leaps and bounds one of the best players in college football this season and has increased his draft stock to the point that he could be the first player off the board in late April.
However, there is a fine line between being a first-round pick and being the No. 1 overall pick in the NFL Draft.
Before this season, he was given a fifth-round grade by many draft experts. The class was littered with talented QBs who were taken within the first 12 picks. Ward would have just fallen to the wayside and been a project to work on. He did not believe that he was a project quarterback.
He returned for another season, now with the Hurricanes, and has broken every quarterback record in program history, and up until recently, had covered every issue this football has had on the defensive side of the ball and on the sideline.
The Heisman favorite tops the nation with 3,494 passing yards and 32 passing touchdowns while shattering old Miami single-season records. He has led the Hurricanes to rank first nationally in third down conversion percentage (.565), first downs (275), total offense (544.8), yards per play (7.6), and scoring offense (45.0).
Ward has mounted at least 300 passing yards and three total touchdowns in nine of Miami’s 10 games, becoming the first Hurricane to have seven straight 300-yard performances.
All of these outstanding statistics and yet there is still one thing that holds Ward back from being that surefire No. 1 Overall pick (outside of Jacksonville holding the top pick as of Nov. 12). He has Caleb Williams tendencies.
This is not a shot at the Chicago Bears quarterback. He was rightfully the consensus No. 1 pick in the 2024 NFL Draft but his sideline situation is getting him beat up behind the line and causing him to hold on to the ball too long. An issue he also had in college playing for USC.
Ward does the same thing. He fiends for the highlight play and it will cause him to miss the routine play. Take the last Hurricanes play of the game against Georgia Tech.
Georgia Tech comes up with a strip sack on Cam Ward to secure the win & upset the #4 Hurricanes! 😱
— OutOfSightSports🚀™️ (@OOSSports) November 9, 2024
Miami takes their first loss of the season. 🤯
pic.twitter.com/IF2gErBQiM
Under two minutes and two timeouts (one wasted by Mario Cristobal). Perfect conditions for a Heisman drive.
Ward takes the snap and goes through his progression. Notice No. 8 Miami tight end Elijah Arroyo slips through the line for a wide-open check down that could have been a first down or at least a great gain for the opportunity to have a third and short situation.
He notices Arroyo late and what teams have done well is force Ward to work up into the pocket to flusher him. A fantastic game plan from the Yellow Jackets defense that led to Ward fumbling the ball. Ward did have the big play ready for him down the field as wide receiver Jacolby George had gotten free in the middle of the field. However, little things like not taking what the defense is giving you could be a red flag for many draft analysts and coaches in the NFL.
Ward had a terrible habit of fumbling last season but has been clean of this for Miami. One bad tendency came back to bite the superstar quarterback and led to the team's first loss of the season.
He will still go in the first round but where is the true question? Little things like that could hold Ward from being the No. 1 overall pick in this year's class.
READ MORE FROM MIAMI HURRICANES ON SI: Three Takeaways After No. 12 Miami's First Loss Of The Season
