Zero Star The Cam Ward Story Season 1 Episode 1

Name: Zero Star The Cam Ward Story Season 1 Episode 1
Uploaded: 2025-12-09T09:13:49+00:00
Duration: 22 min 17 s
Channel: InfinityCine
Description: Zero Star The Cam Ward Story Season 1 Episode 1

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00:00.

00:12.

00:14Oh, yes.

00:15First comment.

00:16.

00:18.

00:19.

00:20.

00:24.

00:25.

00:27Look in there, I should have another pair of white socks.

00:29Green Bay, Wisconsin, the home of the 2025 NFL Draft.

00:55It's the day we've all been waiting for.

00:57We are just moments away from hearing the Tennessee Titans are on the clock.

01:01The commissioner, Roger Goodell, kicking off our coverage here of the draft.

01:04It's time to get the show started.

01:06Are you ready?

01:10We have an estimated 250,000 people who have come here tonight.

01:16The draft is open.

01:17The Titans are on the clock.

01:20With the first pick in the 2025 NFL Draft,

01:24the Tennessee Titans collect.

01:27The Titans are on the clock.

01:33How do you get the game to go?

01:37Ward is under pressure.

01:39He throws.

01:40Caught.

01:41Ward plenty of time going deep down the field.

01:44Ward gets rid of it.

01:46Touchdown.

01:49On offense.

01:50Now Ward going to throw it for the first time.

01:51Looks one way.

01:52Back the other.

01:53Ward's going to take off.

01:54Diving.

01:56Touchdown, Cam Ward.

01:57Fuck the weep off.

01:58Fairytales are pretty uncommon these days.

02:06In college football, we're recruiting sites or tracking players from middle school onward.

02:11They're basically impossible.

02:13But for a kid named Cameron Anthony Ward, what is impossible?

02:17From zero star to number one pick in the NFL Draft, Cameron Ward, quarterback Miami.

02:23Cameron Ward defied all odds.

02:26And it all started in a small town, West Columbia, Texas.

02:31Welcome to West Columbia, Texas, the first capital of the Republic of Texas.

02:36We are a very proud, historic city, but never more proud than of Cameron Ward and his story

02:44and his success on the football field.

02:48Cameron has inspired so many young athletes.

02:53His story is a story of inspiration.

02:56It's a story of good work ethic.

02:59South Texas, you don't get a lot of the credit that some of the inner city kids get, the Dallas

03:06kids get, but, you know, it's big time football in Texas from 1A, 2A, all the way up to 6A.

03:15Cameron was a special young man, however.

03:20Just from the birth, I mean, he always loved the ball.

03:23He was just an athletic young boy who always wanted to play ball doing something.

03:27He was very active.

03:29Cameron's a very respectful young man.

03:32He's friends with everyone.

03:34He respects his elders.

03:36He respects his peers.

03:37No one's no better than he is.

03:40I think that he's a team player.

03:41He's always had leadership roles.

03:44I grew up with basketball in my hands.

03:45First thing, I played youth basketball, junior high, always got the high school.

03:50I was just so, I had that dream, just set to make it to the NBA, just take basketball as far as I could.

03:55Cameron has always played basketball since he was born.

04:01Cameron was probably four years old and started playing youth basketball.

04:06He came to me in the second grade, and he wanted to play football.

04:10We were deep into AAU basketball.

04:13I was like, why don't you wait a year?

04:15Why don't you wait to third grade?

04:17So fast forward a year, he came home from school with a form.

04:21I was like, well, what is this?

04:22Well, this is a football form.

04:24And I'm like, well, you don't need to play football.

04:26And he's like, well, you told me a year ago that wait a year.

04:30Okay, well, I got to keep my word.

04:32But he first started playing football in the third grade.

04:35I ended up transitioning into quarterback my second year playing with my dad.

04:39He started his own football league.

04:41He was my coach.

04:42My dad, he was a high school quarterback at Van Vlake High School.

04:45He was the first one that taught me to throw a football.

04:46I taught me how to throw a spiral, how to hold the football, everything.

04:49I feel like that's where, you know, the story started.

04:52To say Cameron Ward was a workhorse from day one was an understatement.

04:57But that dedication and drive came directly from his family.

05:01A lot of people see what he does on the field now,

05:04even when he was in Pop Warner, Tri-City Cougars and Columbia Little Knicks.

05:09You see all of that, but you don't see the backyard stuff,

05:11the stuff that he puts in outside.

05:14But I did from being outside with my dad having football nets.

05:17And I'm chasing him with shoes, throwing stuff at him,

05:20getting in the way to maneuver, to get out of the pocket and throw.

05:24It was just something that I think, if it wasn't for that time in our lives,

05:28he wouldn't be where he is today.

05:30Well, we think competitiveness, I mean, is very important.

05:34Not from the point that you always have to win a game,

05:37but if you lose a game, you have to learn something from it.

05:41Because I think it carries over to life.

05:43He was very easy to coach.

05:45He picked it up really quick.

05:48I attribute a lot of that to his family behind him.

05:53They haven't missed a game.

05:55A lot of parents, you know, whether they're on business,

05:57a lot of other kids' parents, they'll have to miss a game here or there.

06:00But my parents haven't missed one of my games,

06:02whether it's basketball, football.

06:04Even when I did track and field, throwing the discies,

06:06they've always showed up to each and every one of my track meets.

06:08I know my family will do anything for me.

06:10They're the reason why I'm at this point in my life right now,

06:12you know, just because of the sacrifices that they made for me financially,

06:16time-wise, with every sport.

06:20I mean, I would go to IMG Academy every year in Florida.

06:23Since I was probably, I think it was third or fourth grade,

06:25we started going there.

06:26And I would do basketball, football.

06:29They just invested so much money to get me to where I'm at.

06:34I knew he had talent, and I knew his mom and daddy had spent time and effort and money

06:41taking him all over the country for basketball camps.

06:46Chantel remembers going.

06:47I remember her in junior high telling me how many trips she had made,

06:51and she was tired of it, because we all thought Cameron was destined to be a basketball star.

06:58Were there any NBA players that you look at that give you inspiration for your football game?

07:02Kobe Bryant, for sure.

07:04If there was ever a perfect person for Cam to look up to,

07:08the Black Mamba, Kobe Bean Bryant, fit that role.

07:13I had a chance to go to his camp twice out here in California,

07:16looking at his highlights, his videos, the motivational podcast that he did.

07:21It was inspirational.

07:22I also have a signed jersey from him,

07:24so it was just a big old jersey framed in my room back at home,

07:28something that I look at every day.

07:30He means a lot, but I think he means a lot to this world,

07:32just the mentality that you have to bring, especially my position,

07:36the mentality that you've got to bring on and off the field,

07:38whether you're in the work, working, playing, sports, whatever you do.

07:41You've got to bring the same mindset every day.

07:44A lot of people don't know, but I was going to quit football my sophomore year

07:49just because I was just so focused on basketball and everything else.

07:54So, you know, that's when I started to get more passionate about it.

07:56We were coming back from a basketball tournament in San Antonio on Sunday evening,

08:00and he said that he didn't want to play football.

08:03He wasn't going to go to practice the next day.

08:05So the next morning, Calvin went to work.

08:07You know, I hadn't started school yet.

08:09Football practice started, so I went in this room.

08:11I said, Cameron, hey, you going to go to practice?

08:14No, I said, let me tell you something.

08:17You go today, and if you feel like, because our theory is if you start something,

08:22you're going to finish it.

08:23You don't quit.

08:24You're going to finish out that whole season.

08:27I said, you go to practice today because I don't want you to have no regrets.

08:30You go to practice.

08:31I said, get ready.

08:32I'm going to take you to practice.

08:33I said, when you come home today and I pick you up,

08:35and you say that you don't like it and you don't want to play no more,

08:37then we're done.

08:38We're done.

08:40So Cameron went on.

08:41I took him.

08:42We live in Angleton.

08:43I drove him to West Columbia, dropped him off at practice,

08:45picked him up that evening.

08:47He didn't say anything.

08:48I was like, how was practice?

08:49It was fine.

08:50Next morning, he said, Mama, I'm going to practice.

08:53You going to practice?

08:55Yeah, I'm going.

08:55I said, okay.

08:56That means you're starting football.

08:58That means no quitting.

08:59You're going to have to finish out the season.

09:01Yes, ma'am.

09:01I'm going to finish out the season.

09:02My mom, she made me go one more day.

09:04And, you know, that one more day, you know, turn into a second day, you know,

09:08end up changing my life for the better.

09:10Here we go, man.

09:11Fine.

09:12Good.

09:13Sometimes all you need is one set of eyeballs to catch you at the right time,

09:17to change everything.

09:20Good.

09:20The transition occurred his junior year in high school.

09:26He had a long-time coach there, Steve Van Meter, and he was working out with Cameron

09:33one day, and he told him, hey, he told me, watch this.

09:37He put Cameron on the right hash mark.

09:39He put a receiver on the left hash mark, and he had Cameron throw a 15-yard out.

09:45And so Coach Van Meter came over to me that day and said, hey, I coach Chase Griffin,

09:51who's a quarterback at UCLA, and he can't make that throw.

09:56Talent is one thing.

09:57Being a technician means that you sat down and you technically challenge yourself to

10:04learn every aspect about the game.

10:07That's what he done.

10:08There's nothing from a quarterback perspective or how to get the ball or how to deliver the

10:13ball that Cam Ward doesn't have and didn't have back then.

10:17When I keep the shoulder closed and keep everything in line, I throw a good ball.

10:22My name is Steve Van Meter.

10:24I was a head football coach for 35, 37 years in Texas.

10:29I was at Friendswood for 30, which is where Cam and I, you know, got together.

10:35I was probably, I guess, Cam's first quarterback coach, so to say.

10:42The ball coming out of his hands was like a different sound than I'd ever heard from quarterbacks.

10:46And I'd had some pretty good quarterbacks that played at, you know, college level.

10:49We worked a lot with his footwork, and he came every Saturday or every Sunday, you know,

10:55for all that junior, end of his junior year and then beginning of his senior year.

11:00We'd do, you know, a lot of drills and mechanics because, you know, during the football season,

11:06you don't give an opportunity to work on your mechanics a lot.

11:08You have to, you know, you're working on inside hole, outside hole, you know, Pascal or whatever.

11:15So we would do that work.

11:17There's times when me and my dad would go to Coach Van Meter's house,

11:20and he would just sit down and just walk me through concepts.

11:24He knew I didn't have a clue what he was drawing up, nothing.

11:28Like, he knew that, and, you know, for him to take time out of his day to do that for me,

11:34you know, it was big time because, you know, he just, he got me through the door of where I wanted to go in life.

11:40And, you know, if we wouldn't have had those little meetings with him,

11:43drive all the way to his house, have those little meetings with him, train with him every Sunday,

11:47whether it's after a basketball tournament, I would still go down to Friendswood and train with him.

11:51if I'm tired or anything.

11:53So he got me through the door, and, you know, he's a big part, he's a big part of my life.

11:58You want to hit him into the second or third, maybe the fourth step as he comes off his break.

12:04Okay?

12:06Coach Van Meter saw something that no one else saw.

12:12He had no problem going to football.

12:15Everybody knew that.

12:16Yeah, he could have racked up, no telling how many yards.

12:22But he learned to be a quarterback in this system here at Columbia High School.

12:28It was a good system.

12:30Might not have been the best system for him, but it was a good system.

12:33They won a lot of games.

12:35The wing tee offense is a misdirection offense.

12:40So typically, if the quarterback, in this case Cam, would go to the right,

12:47nine times out of ten, the ball is going to come back to the left.

12:51So the offense he ran in high school, it was very, very good for the first four or five games of each year

12:57until district starts, because what happens is that a great coach will know that,

13:04hey, if Cameron's going to go to the right, the ball is going to come back to the left,

13:08and the linebackers will stay at home, and that's what happened.

13:12So they would start out each year averaging 340 yards a game until district started.

13:17So those were some of the challenges of strictly running a wing tee offense with limited passing.

13:26Even though people write about it and disagree, I personally think it benefited him,

13:33because he's a full quarterback.

13:34You see that.

13:35He runs the ball.

13:36He handles the ball.

13:37He throws the ball.

13:39We have three or four passing nets at the house.

13:42So when Cam would get home from practices, we would go in the backyard,

13:47throw maybe a couple hundred passes.

13:49When he was in high school, on Saturday mornings, Cam and I would go up to the field and throw passes.

13:55So even though he wasn't throwing the ball, we continued to work on Cam's development,

14:02because we knew one day it would pay off.

14:05Rolling on first and ten, Ward, to the end zone, caught touchdown.

14:10For Cameron, there was no being seen.

14:13In his high school offense, the wing tee, the QB can't show off who he is.

14:19And for that, college football pushed him aside.

14:22Watching some of his videos from West Columbia and him throwing the deep ball,

14:26it was like, God, how are people not seeing this?

14:29I don't care if he's only throwing it 12 times a game.

14:32How are you not seeing this arm strength here?

14:35It's funny, I'd always ask him, I'd say, Cam, why aren't they running you in the wing tee?

14:39I said, who's going to tackle your big ass?

14:41I mean, you're 6'2", 20, and who's going to tackle you?

14:44He goes, they don't want to get me hurt.

14:45There's no other quarterback.

14:47I said, okay, whatever.

14:50That's amazing.

14:51What makes Cam Ward's case so unique in terms of how he's going to navigate the recruiting process without really throwing the football coming out of a wing tee offense is unique because he's working with a quarterback coach to get the time on task.

15:05You know, he's throwing the football a lot with the quarterback coach and trainer, but it's not being shown on film.

15:12And to give grace to these recruiters and coaches, like, hey, man, yeah, you told me you could do this.

15:18We got to see you do it.

15:20We can see you do it in practice.

15:21We can see you do it with the trainer.

15:22But there's nothing like getting those game time repetitions.

15:25And we're only seeing you throw the football 12 times a game.

15:28So, obviously, in our eyes, in terms of the scout, it's like, hey, that's not enough.

15:33So, I can't risk my job, my family, my livelihood on, you know, you throwing the ball 12 times and saying, hey, you're working with a coach.

15:42What if you can't hit that route that you're hitting in practice in the game?

15:45I need to see it.

15:46So, it kind of puts Cam in a tough spot.

15:49What they should have focused on was how Cam was leading his football team each and every year.

15:54They got better with him as a starter, had a great senior season.

15:57And, obviously, the leadership intangibles are there.

16:01The raw arm strength is there.

16:03But it takes a coach to really put his stamp on the guy and say, I can work with this guy.

16:08I can develop this guy.

16:09He's a good fit for what we want to do.

16:11I think he's going to be a great player.

16:13And this is like the old school way of scouting where a guy may not have been the most polished prospect, but he had enough raw tools.

16:19Which is why I feel like Cam going under-recruited and being a zero star was just laughable.

16:25Being overlooked in my shoes, it was a blessing and a curse.

16:30You got to not only work harder than people, but you have to try and put yourself out there.

16:36From my dad sending emails to D1 schools, even down to D3 and JUCO schools.

16:42I know it was hard for me, but I know it was hard for him because he knows what type of player I was, what I would be able to do in the right system, the right guys around me.

16:50It was hard just going through high school, just knowing that I may never get a chance to play on a Power 5 stage, even play on a JUCO stage.

17:01Because I had my mindset at that point in time that I was going JUCO.

17:06My dad was talking to the OC at Kilgore College.

17:08So I had my mindset on going there and, you know, seeing what happens when I get there.

17:14It was frustrating seeing that, you know, he wasn't getting recruited because I kept saying, I've never seen a talent like this guy.

17:21His arm is unbelievable.

17:24I got one offer.

17:27As soon as I got that one offer from UIW, I knew where I was going to offer it.

17:30One offer, and in Cameron Anthony Ward's case, that was all he needed.

17:37I remember the first time I met Cam Ward was we were warming up for just a normal June camp and one of those hot summer days of San Antonio where it's 110 degrees.

17:48We're going through just warm-ups at the time, and my quarterback coach, Coach Lefwich, runs over to me because, you know, I have a prospect list of 350 guys on it and have every position on it.

18:01And I'm highlighting guys and taking notes of guys I need to go in and put my eyes on and evaluate because we usually throw out a number of offers after these camps.

18:09And Coach Lefwich runs over, and he names off Cam's number that he was associated with in the camp and said, hey, Coach, you've got to watch this kid throw when you get a chance.

18:19And so I highlight him on my sheet so they're warming up.

18:23And so I walk down, and Cam's taking a little three-step drop as he warms up, and the ball's just spinning out of there like none other.

18:31And the pop that he had, the rotation that he had was something just when you see a talent like that.

18:36And I'd been around Patrick Mahomes for the previous three or four years, so it's not like, hey, I didn't know it when I saw it.

18:42You know, we had Baker Mayfield, Davis Webb, and Patrick Mahomes were the three quarterbacks I dealt with the three years prior to that.

18:50So right off the bat, it jumps out, and so I'm following him around the rest of practice.

18:56At the end of camp, we always like to do a couple drills where we put them through some tough throws.

19:00So, you know, we throw a field comeback, you know, we throw some deep posts and throw some, you know, deep out-cutting routes that help to throw across the field.

19:09Never forget, just coaches kind of look at each other as Cam, you know, knocks out these three throws like, who the heck is this kid, and why is he here, and why did we not know about him?

19:19The talent was there.

19:20It was something that, from then on, we started really digging into him, started reaching out to Coach Van Meter, was a guy that was one of his high school trainers, a high school coach of his, that has, you know, developed a ton of quarterbacks, had seen it, and, you know, on the phone with Coach Van Meter, hey, what are we missing here, what's going on?

19:40And, you know, he's laughing, he's like, listen, I train with him, you know, on the weekends, I watch him in seven-on-seven, he's as talented as any kid I've ever seen in high school.

19:49I was having dinner one night with my wife, and I get a phone call, I didn't know who it was, but I answered anyway, and it was Coach Eric Morris at Incarnate Word.

19:58And he said, Coach, this is Eric Morris, we're here, I got my whole staff in here, and we're doing, you know, some evaluations.

20:05He said, I know you've had some good quarterbacks through your past, tell me what you think about Cam Ward.

20:11And I said, well, Coach, no offense, and to be quite honest, if Cam Ward was in my offense or any other spread offense, you guys wouldn't have a chance at Cam Ward.

20:21And he started laughing, the whole room started laughing, and he said, that's exactly what, you know, what we were talking about in here.

20:27We, you know, we feel like we're getting a major steal.

20:29I said, well, you are.

20:31And, you know, and I added the fact that, you know, you're also getting a kid as, I think, number one in this class, and, you know, is very poised and a respectful young man.

20:41All Cam Ward needed was an opportunity to prove what he had as a quarterback.

20:47Coach Morris saw the raw talent, saw the same type of things that he saw with Patrick Mahomes, saw Cam Ward as an untapped resource, and said, I can recreate this with this young man.

21:01And Incarnate Word was a program that needed a spark because they played in a very tough Southland conference.

21:07You're talking about some legitimate blue bloods in that conference from, at the time, Sam Houston, McNeese, Nichols.

21:14So you have a lot of these programs that were legit blue blood FCS programs, and here's your opportunity, kid.

21:21You feel like you're a Division I player?

21:23Here's a Division I program.

21:25Yes, it's the FCS.

21:26Yes, it's kind of unheard of.

21:27No one knows where Incarnate Word is.

21:29They probably think you lied to them, talking about you go to Incarnate Word, like, stop playing with me, that type of thing.

21:34But here's a guy that shows up day one as a freshman and got busy.

21:39Let's.

21:40Word fires.