Cam Ward knows he will likely be peppered with questions about sitting out the second half of Miami’s Pop-Tarts Bowl 42-41 loss to Iowa State at the 2025 NFL combine.
The potential No. 1 overall pick has a simple answer to those queries mapped out, as he shared Monday before receiving the Davey O’Brien Award, given annually to college football’s top quarterback.
‘Okay, you’re either going to draft me or you’re not,’ Ward told the Associated Press. ‘If you don’t draft me, that’s your fault. You’ve got to remember you’re the same team that’s got to play me for the rest of my career, and I’ll remember that.’
Ward wouldn’t be the first quarterback to adopt a chip-on-the-shoulder mentality if he isn’t the top player selected. Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes has shown one throughout his career. He famously counted to 10 after scoring a touchdown during a 26-3 win over the Chicago Bears in 2019. Mahomes was the 10th pick in the 2017 NFL draft and the second quarterback off the board; the Bears selected Mitch Trubisky No. 2 overall.
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Of course, vengeance-seeking quarterbacks don’t always achieve their end goals. Josh Rosen, the 10th pick in the 2018 NFL draft by the Arizona Cardinals, famously opined, ‘There were nine mistakes ahead of me.’ Rosen lasted just one season with the Cardinals and was out of the NFL by 2023.
Regardless of how Ward’s career goes, he doesn’t believe his sitting out the second half of the Pop-Tarts Bowl should impact him. He was also adamant the decision to split the game between himself and Emory Williams was predetermined by the coaching staff and him.
‘I just think we all got what we needed out of it. They seen things that they think they need to work on … for this season coming up. And they also knew, you know, what I had on the line,’ Ward said. ‘We feel like we’re doing what’s best for the program and myself. I mean, it was a hard decision, especially when, you know, some guys on our team didn’t play who I thought should have played. It was also, you know, those guys thought about their future the same way I thought about mine.’
As such, Ward harbors few regrets about his final collegiate game, during which he beat CaseKeenum’s record for the most career touchdown passes in Div. I history (156).
‘If I could do it again, I’d do it the same way,’ Ward said.
Still, one Ward has one lamentation about the contest.
‘I wish we could have ended up winning the game,’ he said. ‘If we had won the game, they wouldn’t have said nothing. And so, that’s usually how it goes. And you know, you just got to take it on the chin and just keep pushing.’