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Cam Ward Raises Eyebrows with Controversial Mount Rushmore of Miami Hurricanes Greats

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Tony Thomas | Last updated Apr 21, 2025 9:00 PM ET

A fun exercise among sports fans is to name their Mount Rushmore of great athletes in each sport or team. Recently, Miami QB Cam Ward raised some eyebrows when he named his Mount Rushmore of Miami Hurricanes football greats.

While Michael Irvin, Ray Lewis and Andre Johnson are ranked in the Top 5 in a recent online ranking of Hurricanes’ gridiron greats, other Miami standouts might take issue with Ward chiseling a stone bust of himself on the Rushmore of Hurricanes’ football legends.

According to ranker.com, here are their Top Ten of the best Hurricane football players of all time:

1. Ed Reed

2. Sean Taylor

3. Ray Lewis

4. Michael Irvin

5. Andre Johnson

6. Warren Sapp

7. Edgerrin James

8. Reggie Wayne

9. Frank Gore

10. Devin Hester

Without question, Cam Ward is a talented quarterback. In his only season with Miami, Ward passed for over 4,300 yards and led the nation with 39 touchdown passes.

Ward only threw seven interceptions in 454 pass attempts. In the Hurricanes’ three losses, Ward threw eight TD passes and zero INTs. He also set the NCAA career passing touchdowns record with 158.

But to put yourself on your own Mount Rushmore of gridiron gods from the “U” ahead of Reed, Taylor, Sapp, James, Wayne, Gore and Hester is vanity run amok.

Ward should respect the great Miami players before him, who came before the era of NIL and the transfer portal and dominated college football and the National Football League.

Presumably, Ward will be the No. 1 overall pick in this week’s Draft in Title Town. The Tennessee Titans are on the clock, and presumably, Ward will be donning a Titans cap when his name is called.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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