Football in Miami: Hurricanes trade a guy who has the most to prove by 2024
Once again in 2024, the Miami football team is anticipated to be greatly impacted by the transfer portal. Head coach Mario Cristobal has once again leaned into the portal in an effort to create, at the very least, an ACC contender—the first time the team has done so under his supervision and since 2017.
In comparison to the previous two years, Cristobal didn’t nearly play as heavily in the winter cycle of the 2024 transfer site. Miami Football, which is listed as the fifth-best transfer portal class in the ACC and 32nd overall in the country, will only be gaining nine new transfer commits. There will be just one four-star player out of the eight three-star players.
But probably the most significant move throughout Cristobal’s reign was that one four-star. Cameron Ward, a former quarterback for the Washington State Cougars, is that.
In 2024, Cameron Ward the next quarterback for the Miami football team will have a lot to prove.
I mentioned in a previous piece that the Hurricanes’ 2024 class’s most nefarious transfer portal commit was Cameron Ward. That is still the case now. Massive NIL swaying or not, Cristobal and the rest of the Hurricanes staff did a fantastic job of persuading Ward to play for Miami rather than go to the NFL.
Additionally, Ward had other offers, one from Florida State, the Hurricanes’ bitter rivals who, under Mike Norvell, has made significant roster additions via the transfer portal. So, yeah, as the Miami football signal caller, Ward has a lot to show in addition to being the most cunning addition to the portal.
As previously stated, Ward is this year’s cycle’s lone four-star transfer and highest-rated player. A player is under a lot of strain just from that. But Ward has even more pressure on him because he is going to be the quarterback for both Miami and the United States.
If you haven’t seen Miami football for the past 20 years, you have witnessed a team that has rarely had great quarterback play—rather, the quarterback position has frequently been only marginally decent, poor, and even downright horrible.
Over the years, the position has received a lot of so-called responses, which has only served to raise additional queries. Tyler Van Dyke, a recent recruit to Wisconsin, and the starter from the previous season are among them. Following a statistically impressive rookie campaign in Coral Gables, the new quarterback for the Badgers in 2021 sparked early Heisman discussion the following season. However, that collapsed in 2022 and didn’t get much better in 2023.
Of all, who could forget the quarterback who Van Dyke had to replace due to an injury—D’Eriq King, a transfer from Houston who was once expected to be Miami’s best option at quarterback? While King had his moments, his fate was ultimately the same as that of every quarterback that Ken Dorsey has had in Miami.
Like King, Ward enters with a lot of hype from Miami supporters hoping he can be the spark at quarterback that Coral Gables hasn’t seen in a long time. Based on his statistics after joining the Cougars from Incarnate Word, Ward’s tenure there was statistically remarkable.
During his two seasons at Washington State, Ward gained nearly 7,000 yards passing, completed 65.5% of his passes, and tossed 48 touchdowns against just 16 interceptions in addition to 13 rushes. The main issue with the new Hurricanes quarterback is that he can occasionally lose control of the ball.
According to Fox Sports Stats, he has coughed up the ball 19 times in the past two seasons, losing 10 of those instances. In addition, he is 12–13 when starting, however that may be more due to the group around him than to him alone. With the 2024 Hurricanes roster, he appears to have a much stronger group of players surrounding him.
Undoubtedly, though, Ward will have a lot to prove for the Hurricanes in 2024, much of which will simply include overcoming years of subpar quarterback play at The University and praying he doesn’t wind up like the others.