Miami QB Cam Ward bet on himself, and could cash in with some hardware and an even bigger payday

What a wild ride it has been for Miami star quarterback Cam Ward, who currently sits as one of the heavy favorites for the 2024 Heisman Trophy so far this college football season. The former FCS and Washington State standout has been a revelation for the Hurricanes, throwing for 2,746 yards and 24 touchdowns in only eight games. Ward has also rushed for another three scores on the ground, while completing 68 percent of his passes.

Going from a zero-star recruit to FCS record setter at Incarnate Word is a cool enough story. Taking it to the next level, and becoming one of the conference’s best passers is even cooler. What the heck, let’s take it one step further, and now have an argument as the nation's top signal caller. It’s truly a story for the ages.

What makes the journey that much more interesting, is it almost never was. Forget about the recruiting story you have heard a million times. Yes, Ward was a Wing-T high school quarterback who didn’t have many options outside of Incarnate Word. The most interesting chapter of his career, however, may have happened just this past offseason.

Ward and his support system made a very strategic move following the 2023 college football season, his second as a member of the Washington State Cougars, by simultaneously entering the transfer portal but also the 2024 NFL Draft. At the time, Ward used this strategy as a bargaining chip of sorts. While he was seriously considering returning to school for 2024, he was also keeping his options open for the professional ranks.

While he was teetering between both options, Ward and his crew used his NFL feedback to their advantage. With a rough idea for where Ward would be selected (rounds 3-5), they were able to gain a deeper understanding for just what the compensation may look like when selected in that range using the rookie pay scale. If you are talking somewhere between pick 100 and 150 hypothetically, that would be total contract values between $5.6 and $4.4 million.

Allegedly the camp was able to use that information and create a bit of a bidding war for his services. They knew the market and in order for Ward to return to school, he would have to be compensated in a similar ballpark. If not, the NFL would win out.

Miami was not the only major program involved. Ohio State, among others, were also interested heavily in the talented signal caller. Obviously the Hurricanes won out, and so far, the rest is history.

From a team perspective, Miami is near the top of college football for the first time in what seems like forever. Currently sitting with an 8-0 overall record, they are now a heavy favorite to make and potentially win the ACC championship. If they do so, then they would qualify for the college football playoffs. Even if they don’t, then they may still have a chance to make it. Competing for a championship is on the table.

For Ward, saying this final year has paid off tremendously would be a massive understatement. If he was able to capture the Heisman Trophy Award, that would make him the first Miami player to do so since quarterback Gino Torretta in 1992. That was just a few years after Vinny Testaverde had been the school’s first winner in 1986.

From an NFL perspective, Ward has also improved his draft stock to a high degree. There are some that believe that he could be in contention to be the first quarterback selected in the 2025 NFL Draft class, and very much in play with the first overall selection. There will be a ton of quarterback needy teams in the top ten such as the Carolina Panthers, Tennessee Titans, Las Vegas Raiders, and New York Giants. There’s a good chance that the demand will very much be there.

The first selection in the 2024 class, which was quarterback Caleb Williams to the Chicago Bears, signed a contract worth $39,486,058 in total. Without knowing what the future will be for the 2025 class exactly right now, one can deduce that it will be in the same neighborhood.

When you take a step back to really admire the process from Ward, he has a chance to cement himself as a legend for the Miami Hurricanes. Along the way, he manipulated the new NIL system and was compensated to a degree we haven’t seen as transparently in the modern college game. Add in his rise as a draft prospect, and potential payday that will be in accordance, the chance that Ward took has definitely paid off, in all ways you could imagine.