NFL Draft
12/15/24
10 min read
Cameron Ward 2025 NFL Draft: Scouting Report For Miami Hurricanes QB
Height: 6020 (unofficial)
Weight: 223 (unofficial)
Year: Fifth-Year Senior
Pro Comparison: Jameis Winston
Scouting Overview
Miami Hurricanes quarterback Cameron Ward is an explosive passer who has the ceiling to be an impact starter at the pro level. He possesses the arm strength, arm elasticity, and mobility within the pocket to be a headache to defend against. He can slide out of harm’s way and rip throws into tight windows down the field for back-breaking conversions against a defense.
His greatest gift is also his greatest curse, however. Ward is, at times, erratic and unpredictable in his execution of the offense. He is a big-game hunter who craves to push the ball down the field and take shots for big plays, even at the expense of easier completions and larger throwing windows on early downs. NFL coaching will need to help him find the right balance in his game. He showed growth in this area from 2023 to 2024 but still put his team in too many precarious situations due to carelessness with the football and sacks taken outside of structure.
Ward isn’t necessarily a rhythm passer, but he offers a concise whip of a throwing motion and can snap the ball out of his hands quickly and generate velocity. From clean pockets, Ward showcases touch and precision accuracy to set his receivers up for explosive plays after the catch.
2025 NFL Combine Results
TBD
Positives
- Eccentric creativity as a passer affords him unique problem-solving skills outside of structure
- Possesses the NFL arm talent to hit nearly any throw from a slew of arm slots and release angles
- Slippery within the pocket to make a first-arriving rusher miss and buy extra time for routes to develop
Negatives
- Consistency of play execution is irregular due to a big-play-hunting mentality
- Gunslinger who has never seen a throw he couldn’t make
- Lacks the athleticism to ideally match his style of play and escapability to extend plays
Background
Ward’s path to the NFL is a road less traveled. Ward, who will be a 23-year-old rookie in 2025, was born in West Columbia, TX, and played his high school football for Columbia HS. Columbia ran a Wing-T offense, leaving Ward underexposed as a recruit coming out of high school and with limited attempts across his career as a starting quarterback. As a result, Ward received next to little attention as a recruit and ultimately committed to play at Incarnate Word — the only program to offer him a scholarship.
Ward exploded on the scene during his 2020 spring season at Incarnate Word as a true freshman. Ward led the FCS in passing touchdowns (24) that spring en route to winning the Jerry Rice Award for the best freshman in all of FCS. His second season at Incarnate Ward saw him named the Southland Conference’s Offensive Player of the Year thanks to 4,648 passing yards and 47 touchdowns. With his reputation developed, Ward entered the transfer portal for the first time ahead of the 2022 college football season and committed to Washington State. Ward was followed by his favorite receiving target from UIW as well as Eric Morris, who was the OC for Ward’s two seasons at the FCS level.
Morris softened Ward’s transition to the FBS level, and Ward enjoyed two successful but inconsistent seasons at Washington State before reassessing his situation ahead of his final year of eligibility. Ward initially entered the transfer portal again, then declared for the 2024 NFL Draft. Before the final deadline, he reentered the portal, withdrew his declaration, and committed to the University of Miami — where things went to a whole new level.
Ward’s reputation as a dynamic passer was met with a signature win early in the year against Florida against the Gators and several come-from-behind victories amid a 9-0 start, the Canes’ first since 2017. Miami lost two of their final three, however — including a collapse against Georgia Tech in the kind of moments Ward had thrived in all season when playing from behind.
The losses cost the Canes a spot in the ACC Championship game and, ultimately, a place in the 12-team college football playoff. Ward was named a finalist for the 2024 Heisman Trophy, named a First-Team AP All-American and won the Davey O’Brien Award for his play in his fifth and final season of eligibility.
Tale Of The Tape
Ward has a beautiful mind for the game. His ability to identify aggressive windows is matched only by his willingness to push the physical limits of his skill set to create big plays up and down the field. And in the game of developing quarterbacks, you’d much rather have to find a way to reel someone in than have them try to find their edge — and Ward’s edge is bold and, many times, brilliant.
It leads to some high-variance outcomes as a passer that will be frustrating to live with and work out of his system. However, Ward is the kind of unique passer who is still behind many of his colleagues thanks to his modest passing career in high school.
Despite being a five-year starter at the college level, Ward appears to have plenty of growth potential for two reasons: he played for Eric Morris for his first three seasons of college play before Morris was hired for the North Texas gig in 2023, and Ward spreading his wings to leave the nest and leap to Miami in 2024. So, his exposure to more robust schemes has been limited. So, too, has his throwing volume until the past few years.
For example, Shedeur Sanders attempted 1,238 pass attempts as a prep player at Trinity HS. Ward’s entire high school career, plus his first two seasons at Incarnate Word, totaled less than 1,200 attempts.
He profiles as a player who will require bold coaching and patience to pull the best of him out. He’s got natural ball-handling skills and offers a dynamic variety of flash fakes and play actions to fool defenders with his back to the defense. The ability to quickly catch and shoot the ball out into the flats and do so while throwing around free runners off the edge makes him a dangerous screen executor as well.
These are the kinds of elements of Ward’s game that should be leaned upon more than usual early in his pro career. Encouraging him to let his pass catchers do the work for him and be more of a point guard and less of a shot-taker will help bring his game to equilibrium.
As a passer, he can make all the throws. He’s got a twitchy release that generates a ton of spin on the ball, and he’s got a slingshot feel to his delivery that allows him to whip throws in tight spaces without being fully able to get his body into the throw. The reliance on this ability can get him in trouble at times, as it creates accuracy spray and denies him precision passing in congested areas and a tight pocket.
If you’re willing to take the good with the bad, he’ll make some throws that others wouldn’t even try. There’s an ability to drive field outs and double moves up the sideline that will force wide defenders to stay vigilant in their zone spacing or else risk getting beat for big plays up the sideline. This trickle-down effect will impact and negate teams’ ability to crowd the middle of the field and congest certain areas — leaving everything a little more open to access.
Ward’s arm strength and head movements show his ability to move and defeat zone coverage defenders. He’ll drop his arm slot and whip a throw around an underneath defender or, conversely, stand tall and pull the string to drop a ball with touch overtop of the second level of the defense as the geometry of his release point and route path necessitates. He’s got few physical limitations as a pure passer.
Ward pairs these abilities with an innate feel of pressure. Nothing feels hurried or too quick for him when he’s forced off his spot, and Ward does a nice job of keeping his eyes down the field to allow receivers to uncover from defenders and work to space. He’s hit a number of big home runs this year while sliding away from a free runner and attacking grass downfield — even when flushed to his left and forced to drive a throw.
He did this for scores against Florida and Louisville this year. His twitch in these instances is good but not great, and he tends to habitually lean on this ability too often for what will be replicable in the pros. More dynamic players on the edge will make him pay for going to the well too often.
Ward’s processing of play concepts and reading out the defense is capable, but it feels like he scorns the progression order at times when sitting on individual matchups or looking to drive the ball down the field. The instances in which Ward plays within himself and when disciplined are when he is at his best — but the trust he puts in his ability to create will rear up too often and lead to unnecessary sacks or turnover-worthy throws. He threw nearly identical interceptions rolling and throwing late off his back foot across the middle, a troubling reinforcement that he’s got unflappable confidence — at times to a fault.
Ward is well regarded as a leader and should have no problem assimilating himself to his football team, as he did with the Miami Hurricanes and Washington State Cougars throughout his college career. He has an alpha mentality and confidence at the line of scrimmage — his teammates appear to feed off of it.
In all, Ward has a powerful and dynamic arm, good but not great accuracy, a sudden release, sufficient mobility, and the bravado necessary to lead. His NFL coaches will be charged with taming some of his wildest tendencies to ensure his impact starter qualities can shine without being canceled out by his own ambition.
Ideal Scheme Fit, Role
Ward should be considered a high-ceiling starter at the NFL level. He’s a physically gifted passer with dynamic arm talent and the ability to win outside of structure when the play design breaks down. His discipline as a passer, however, needs added investment and nurturing to find and embrace easy plays to keep his unit on schedule.
As he matures, his ideal fit feels like a Bruce Arians-style vertical passing offense that cuts the ball loose and encourages the quarterback to aggressively attack defenses into voids further down the field. Offering him more guardrails and a conservative developmental plan with schemed throws via play-action or screen passes could help mitigate his wild side.
Grade: 82.50/100.00, Late First/Early Second Round Value
Big Board Rank: TBD
Position Rank: QB1
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