- 3 hours ago
Zero Star: The Cam Ward Story - Season 1 Episode 3
Category
😹
FunTranscript
00:00previously on zero star when i got to uiw it was a learning curve for sure but once i got it
00:19ward fires again on first down they allowed me to play within how i see the field every week it was
00:26putting up 30 points plus a game and i'm like camp war might be the truth you set your goals high
00:33enough you'll meet those goals if you work hard enough and he did outside the portal that's when
00:37everything blew up uh that's when they started labeling me four or five stars coming out the
00:42portal i knew going to washington state i'm going there to be the starter i want to show you guys
00:48that what you saw me doing san antonio definitely travels rather well up to pullman washington
00:57more breaking news coming out of the pac-12 cameron ward enters the transfer portal the
01:01washington state quarterback it was nuts it was nuts it was just everyone was wanting to know
01:05what cam ward was doing so we got him on the phone got him on an official visit and then that's when
01:10the circus began
01:19ward he's under pressure he throws
01:23plenty of time going deep down the field
01:27ward gets rid of it
01:28touchdown
01:31on offense now we're going to throw it for the first time looks one way back the other
01:35ward's going to take off diving
01:37touchdown cam ward
01:51no school in america owns its city quite like the university of miami
01:56it has its heart and its soul cam left washington state after taking his name out of the draft and with
02:04no d wade or dan marino to claim the throne of the 305 the opportunity was there for cam's taking
02:13if you're going to play quarterback for the university of miami maybe this is true
02:17in other big college towns but this is a pro town a pro town that has had vinnie cestaverde
02:25ken dorsey steve walsh bernie kosar dan marino
02:30this is a town bob greasy that's had its quarterbacks hall of fame quarterbacks all american
02:37quarterbacks so in this town if you're to play quarterback at the university of miami
02:43seven days a week 24 hours a day 365 days a year those are the demands that's what it is but i also
02:51think the lesson of cam ward was he invested everything he had for six months to change his
02:59life and it worked he changed his life in six months now cam wasn't just determined to prove
03:05the football world wrong instead cam was now setting his sights on proving to everyone what he
03:11already knew that he was the best damn quarterback in the country and if he could do it at miami
03:18to win at miami there would be nothing like it it's like a rite of passage you have to
03:23to entrench yourself into anything and everything miami the miami way the miami culture being a
03:31hurricane is about doing everything for the team to the best of your abilities every single day there's
03:38no compromising anything that has to do with the family
03:44but i would say this is probably one of the most fun seasons i had just because the guys in the locker
03:48room i was with the the vibe that we had every day so it was just something special this guy's got
03:55something to him besides the commanding presence he's extremely personable affable you could tell
04:01that he's a the type of guy that could galvanize a place that he could inspire other people and
04:06push himself and push others to be better and at the same time command respect saying cam ward is
04:11competitive is an understatement he demands excellence and on day one in miami if you weren't ready to
04:17compete on his level you might as well not suit up it was very clear from the beginning and settings
04:25that were off the field social settings you know eating lunch and eating dinner he was interacting with
04:31kids very quickly like he had been here for four years and so he has that personality that's very
04:38infectious but he also has the ability to step on the field and be an uber alpha which is something you
04:45don't see a lot typically that bleeds over to you know the social setting a little bit or vice versa
04:52but he has a clear line where he's hey you know i'm on the field and i'm gonna be demanding and when
04:58i'm off the field you know the walls kind of come down and he's a unbelievably likable dude i walked into
05:05a situation like i i do everything um you got to earn respect your teammates um through your work
05:11ethics before you try to lead guys vocally you have to be the same person every day in the facility
05:17to get respect but the best thing i'll say about our teams that you know you have to prove it to
05:21each other every day first workout you had with us he was already like breaking like breaking you doing
05:27my job that i'm supposed to be doing so i was kind of shocked when he broke it down when the first time
05:31he got here but i feel like him just just he he's the same like and the way you see him on social media
05:36like the way he talked the way he acts like how much he be talking that just that's just how he is
05:40he just carried that in the way he go off the field on the field and i feel like when all the guys
05:44and like all the coaching stuff seen how true he was and what kind of character he is i feel like
05:48everybody just bought in and just fought along with what he was doing get this right away that's why i got
05:52this one time he got a call from you know his earpiece he came in a huddle he looked at the play like
06:17that's this you run this right you run this route six man protection go break the huddle next thing
06:23we know hike the ball score i was like all right you can do that you can do that i mean shoot if
06:28you're going to change the play and make that type of throw so be it i mean he just he just proved
06:33himself right there the first game for miami that year was the old hated rival one of the most difficult
06:40places to play in the country the florida gators in gainesville florida i'll say the biggest highlight
06:47that we wanted to accomplish was running state of florida we beat every team in florida this year
06:54so we were state champs that was a big goal that we wanted to accomplish
06:59anytime an sec school loses on national tv we love that in this country right we love talking about it
07:06we relish it we need it like air so him having a game against the university of florida would be the
07:12perfect starting point to what we now know as camp wars last season of college football games and
07:17gators 57 times you could feel the intensity couldn't you i mean this is a game that features
07:23two power four opponents and rivals you gotta go right out of the gate the intensity is something you
07:30could just feel here florida was big bad sec right and one of the brand name teams in that conference and
07:37it's on a spotlight game where everybody's watching and cam ward went out there and beat the blue off
07:43the florida gators welcome to it cam ward second and six ward spins to his left looking for an
07:51directing traffic and what a passion ever by restrepo ward with time now darts ahead gets three looks
08:00behind and strikes clearly out of bounds just inside the 20-yard line it was so bad in that ball game
08:07watching forward to try to play defense cam was legitimately toying around with these dudes
08:13drifting back again floats it complete and into the end zone one of the great stories of college football
08:19he's buying time in the pocket because that great wall of hurricanes up front was keeping those
08:24gators at bay goes down just relax and slings it no one barely touched them in the pocket so now you
08:32really saw the perfect cam ward play quarterback and dicing up the secondary with some of the most arrogant
08:38aggressive which drag takes off goes and save your restrepo amazing throws we've ever seen a
08:45quarterback mate ward able to spin free of circe and it goes to the end zone and in the back of the end
08:53zone it is jacolby george my oh my cam ward's having himself a day he did it on the road he did it at
09:01the big bad swamp in the gator environment they beat the stuffing out of florida and right now miami
09:08is just rolling here in gainesville and hurricane supporters are having a hurricane party in gainesville
09:18right from the get-go to beat the evil empire florida up there the way he played that game
09:24with the crowd noise and the fact that miami hasn't played florida in a long time and
09:29what it means to people in south florida to be as accurate as he was in that game
09:33he never panicked in that game right going into the florida game there was there was confidence
09:41in cam ward because we saw it in the spring it was pretty obvious right away that cam ward was different
09:46but what was this really going to look like in a sold out midday game this is noon in the state of
09:52florida swamp uh hot so there was a lot of just potential question marks that we just didn't know
09:57what it was going to look like on the field and i think he put the world on notice he put the country
10:01on notice in that florida game i think everyone's looking for reasons to kind of poke holes in his
10:10game they were looking for reasons to not believe i think here though just from what we had seen
10:15we were kind of all in and i think it was just a confirmation of what we believed but maybe just
10:21needed to see with our own eyes
10:22my boys and i's we had three boys we went to uh the florida state game and you know cam got his
10:33tickets and we met you know calvin and patrice down underneath the you know the area that you go for
10:39the family and i mean watching him come out with security all around him it was like you know it was
10:44like he was this rock star already what really got cam ward to be a heisman candidate was the virginia
10:54tech game there was a lot to unpack about that virginia tech game uh one it was an exciting game
10:59went back and forth down to the wire come back victory for cam ward but he's doing it against his
11:03cousin quarterback kyron drones at virginia tech so you got the family affair you got that storyline
11:09you got mammy looking like they're going to finally lose a game and then they go out there
11:13and cam ward does an amazing job coming back had the coolest play i've seen you know by time scramble
11:19up get the ball out with two hands almost like shovel it to the running back to keep the drive going
11:23i think that game started the heisman
11:38candidacy for cam ward if there is a trip to new york in his future and i gotta believe it is
11:46a play like this is one that's going to come up over and over it was fun competing against him uh me
11:52he was talking all off season all summer uh about the game um that was one of the games i had circled
11:59since i went to miami um and for us to especially pull out the win how we did for to go down to you
12:04know them having the ball last i don't think anyone anticipated how dramatic that game would be cam ward
12:11you know early on not having the best games but then kind of putting on the cape that was just one
12:15of the wildest sequences of football that i had seen and i don't think anyone other than cam ward
12:21could have won that game for miami because so much went wrong but it was cam ward who dug him out of it
12:25yes you get so captivated by his calmness and his ability to throw from the pocket that you forget he
12:32can do things like this when he pulls it down cam was quickly becoming the talk of college football
12:39shooting up heisman leaderboards and of course draft boards but he still remained focused on the task at
12:45hand the roller coaster season for miami continued on including a comeback win from a 35-10 deficit at cal
12:53that further established cam's name as one of the best in the country he had re-energized miami's
12:59football and as the hurricanes wrapped their 10-2 regular season cam was invited as one of the four
13:05men to new york city for the heisman ceremony it was like pretty dang cool to get to watch the heisman
13:25trophy videos of cam ward being in that group as a finalist in new york city given where he was three or
13:32four years before cam just wondering your story is a real special one zero star recruit incarnate word
13:38um last year at washington state you said you felt like you could be a heisman trophy finalist one day
13:43just how do you kind of even with the journey through miami just put it into words how you went
13:48from a zero star recruit to sitting here in new york city well it's been special it's been special for
13:53myself my family um especially the days where my dad would email d3 d2 schools um we never heard back from
14:01them but i knew his day would come um i have elite work ethic ethic um i believe in god and i trust
14:07my teammates so um you know if you work hard a lot of stuff will pay off for you although travis hunter
14:12ultimately took home the heisman it was the way miami's season ended two brutal close losses keeping the
14:19canes out of the playoff that nod had him the most never one to focus on individual accolades
14:25it was those two losses that motivated cam pushed him to dominate the draft process and drove him to
14:33show the nfl why he should be the number one pick cam couldn't care less about personal awards and
14:40accolades he really he wants to win that's all that guy wants to do he's he doesn't care about flash
14:49attention he doesn't care that's what makes him such a great player i think that's the only reason you
14:55should play football to win championships um all the individual stuff it just comes with it um but
15:01it's good to have you know in your trophy room and all that um but i think the biggest trophy is the
15:06championship a lot of people want to make comparisons last year to who is cam ward like for the university
15:12of miami and i thought he was the most impactful player the university of miami has had in the last 20
15:21to 25 years i think the closest player to camp was vinnie testivert because of vinnie's mobility
15:31coach leach used to always say this make the other 10 guys around you better he really like brings
15:36people up to his level he can lift an organization like he's lifted this one and like you'll lift that
15:41one and so he doesn't think there's any feat that he can't accomplish he's gonna be that guy as far as
15:48work ethic he's always that's how he's been raised he's never gonna lose that everybody sees it a lot
15:54of people may think it's cliche you know getting up there at five o'clock 5 30 6 a.m watching film
15:59i think one of when it really clicked for me when i was in tennessee last month you know we were working
16:04out for about a week and of course restrepo was there and then zay was there and they were just
16:09talking about how cam made them come up there at 6 a.m every day and watch film i mean i think he had the
16:16same mentality obviously he's always had he's going to be working the hardest um staying the
16:21latest getting everyone together he's there hours before and stays hours later and um i applaud him
16:27for that man that's that's not an easy thing to do baby let's go obviously cam's success is undeniable
16:34and what he was able to do is i mean every kid's dream right um i mean ever since i was again seven
16:42eight years old and i started playing quarterback it was always my dream to go play in college go
16:47play in the nfl not just playing the nfl but be a first overall pick right so i mean that's so many
16:53little kids dreams with the first pick in the 2025 nfl draft the tennessee titans select cameron ward
17:03quarterback miami
17:05no quarterback that has ever been a zero star i don't care if you go back to
17:13sid luckman i don't even know they did star rankings of high school recruiting rankings back then when
17:17he went to columbia but no quarterback has ever been a zero star recruit and ended up as the number one
17:23overall pick in the nfl draft that is just nonsense crazy talk i hope he doesn't get put into a place
17:31where they try to pigeonhole him as a classic drop back quarterback and you know take his creativity
17:39away from him i hope that these guys that are going to draft him are smart enough to say this might be a
17:45once in a you know 10 15 20 year kid let's don't pigeonhole him let's let him do the things he can do
17:53there's always going to be non-believers that's the biggest part of his journey he controls it
18:02people know who he are now and the people that continue to discount him and not believe in him
18:09he's going to prove them wrong no doubt about it i think it gives a lot of kids hope that hey maybe
18:16i'm not viewed a certain way now but if i keep working and i believe in myself which is a huge
18:24element of this deal nobody has a higher belief in themselves than cam war nobody the team that i get
18:29to play for is just going to get a lot out of me just knowledge wise just with offense how to move
18:35the football i have nothing to lose i was a zero star recruit i was a player one-off out of high school
18:43they talk bad about me in the past they're going to talk bad about me in the present so
18:47the only opinion who matters to me is mine and my teammates and the coaching staff around me so if
18:52you're not with me i'll always just put you against me in my head even when cam was taken with the
18:58number one pick in the draft it was almost like he still flew under the radar because he didn't get
19:03the notoriety of a number one pick honestly he has flown on under the radar since high school in his
19:10early years at the fcs level in college and then now even with the number one pick he continues to
19:16fly under the radar and he's kind of that silent killer that he's going to come for you and he's
19:21going to win you know what it takes to win a football game uh whether it's be a gunslinger all day or you
19:26know i think the thing that you always got to get over right is the pundits what everybody's going to
19:32say right can you do this can you be this good can you can you do this can you do that right when i
19:39came out i was the fifth linebacker taken if not the sixth linebacker taken in that draft i was the
19:4426th pick of that draft right and if you go through that draft now i'm not going to compare it
19:53but you got to ask a question in that draft who's the greatest player that ever came out of that draft
20:00because i never lose where i came from um i know how hard it it took me to you know put myself in a
20:06position being a you know first round pick i just think that's why it's going to end up you know
20:11me being you know one of the best players to play because um not only i'm willing to do it i'm willing
20:17to live by it every day i'm just a big person on on work um uh like i said yesterday i've grown up
20:25watched my dad wake up at 4 30 doing the job he didn't like so you know if i can't wake up early
20:30and do what i need to do for a job i do like i shouldn't be playing football and that goes for everybody
20:34locker room if you can't have the the expectation for yourself that you want to be with a good or a
20:39great player and want to put the work in uh i just i just think that's how it should go i just think
20:43good things only come to those who work i don't listen to other people's expectations they don't
20:48play the quarterback position so i know what i'm capable of doing i know what i'm going to do on
20:52sundays i think that's where i'll be able to solidify myself as hopefully one of the top five
20:59quarterbacks to ever play the game i just think in time whether i go crazy my first year or i don't
21:05or if i if i don't start going crazy until year two year three um eventually it's gonna happen
21:12it's been written for me i dreamt it i've worked for it last question what does zero star mean to you
21:20how are you camera war and i think final question what does zero star mean to you zero star means to me um
21:33fuck it we ball
21:50with the fame how you gonna hit it they pick up the pace don't let it slow you down enough
21:53to go away but don't get it twisted don't never let nobody eat up your plate this is the hustle for
21:58minimum wage all of them cold summers freezing a home wonder if i ever make it out of them no
22:02struggles the things that they hold from us look at the score they ain't because you're those
22:05numbers numbers take that but they stole from us
22:23you
Be the first to comment