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Zero Star: The Cam Ward Story - Season 1 Episode 1
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00:00Oh
00:30Green 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.
01:19With the first pick in the 2025 NFL Draft, the 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.
01:58Fuck the weep off.
02:03Fairytales are pretty uncommon these days.
02:06In college football, where recruiting sites are tracking players from middle school onward,
02:11they're basically impossible.
02:13But for a kid named Cameron Anthony Ward, what is impossible?
02:18From zero star to number one pick in the NFL Draft.
02:21Cameron Ward, quarterback, Miami.
02:24Cameron Ward defied all odds.
02:26And it all started in a small town, West Columbia, Texas.
02:30Welcome to West Columbia, Texas, the first capital of the Republic of Texas.
02:37We 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.
02:59Steps up, there's a flip toss.
03:01South Texas, you don't get a lot of the credit that some of the inner city kids get, the Dallas
03:06kids get.
03:07But, you know, it's big time football in Texas from 1A, 2A, all the way up to 6A.
03:14Cameron 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.
03:28He's 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 said, to make it to the NBA, just take basketball
03:55as far as I could.
03:56Cameron 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.
04:12I was like, why don't you wait a year, why don't you wait to third grade?
04:16And so 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.
04:23And 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.
04:38My second year playing with my dad, he 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.
04:51To 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, even when he was in Pop Warner, Tri-City
05:06Cougars and Columbia Little Knicks.
05:09You see all of that, but you don't see the backyard stuff, the 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, getting in the way to maneuver,
05:22to get out of the pocket and throw was just something that I think if it wasn't for that
05:27time in our lives, he 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, but if you lose a game, you have
05:40to learn something from it because 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, a lot of other kids' parents,
05:58they'll have to miss a game here or there.
06:00But my parents haven't missed one of my games, whether it's basketball, football.
06:04Even when I did track and field, throwing the discies, they've always showed up to each
06:07and 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, time-wise,
06:18with 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, we 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.
06:36And I knew his mom and daddy had spent time and effort and money taking him all over the
06:42country for basketball camps.
06:46Chantel remembers going.
06:47I remember her in junior high telling me how many trips she had made, and she was tired
06:52of 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
07:02game?
07:02Kobe Bryant, for sure.
07:03If there was ever a perfect person for Cam to look up to, the Black Mamba, Kobe Bean
07:10Bryant, fit that role.
07:13I had a chance to go to his camp twice out here in California, looking at his highlights,
07:17his videos, the motivational podcast that he did.
07:21It was inspirational.
07:22I also have a signed jersey from him, so it was just a big old jersey framed in my room
07:27back at home, something that I look at every day.
07:30He means a lot, but I think he means a lot to this world.
07:32So just the mentality that you have to bring, especially in my position, the mentality that
07:36you've got to bring on and off the field, whether you're in the work, working, playing,
07:40sports, whatever you do, you've just got to bring the same mindset every day.
07:45A lot of people don't know, but I was going to quit football my sophomore year just because
07:49I was just so focused on basketball with 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, and he said
08:01that 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 my theory is if you start something, you're going
08:23to 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, and you say that you don't like it
08:36and you don't want to play no more, then 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, picked 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?
08:53Yeah, 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, turned into a second day, you know, end up
09:08changing my life for the better.
09:10Here we go, man.
09:11Bye.
09:13Sometimes all you need is one set of eyeballs to catch you at the right time.
09:17To change everything.
09:19The transition occurred his junior year in high school.
09:26He had a longtime coach there, Steve Van Meter.
09:30And he was working out with Cameron one day.
09:34And 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.
09:42And he had Cameron throw a 15-yard out.
09:46And so Coach Van Meter came over to me that day and said, hey, I coach Chase Griffin, who's
09:52a quarterback at UCLA.
09:54And 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 learn
10:04every aspect about the game.
10:06That's what he done.
10:07There's nothing from a quarterback perspective or how to get the ball, 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.
10:37I 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 it, you know, college level.
10:49We worked a lot with his footwork.
10:51And he came every Saturday or every Sunday, you know, for all that junior, end of his junior
10:57year and then beginning of his senior year.
11:00We'd do, you know, a lot of drills and mechanics.
11:03Because, you know, during the football season, you don't give an opportunity to work on your
11:07mechanics 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 and he would just
11:21sit 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.
11:29And, you know, for him to take time out of his day to do that for me, you know, it was big
11:34time because, you know, he just, he got me through the door of where I wanted to go in
11:39life.
11:40And, you know, if we wouldn't have had those little meetings with him, drive all the way
11:43to his house, have those little meetings with him, train with him every single day.
11:46Sunday, whether it was after a basketball tournament, I would still go down to Friends
11:50Wooden to train with him if I'm tired or anything.
11:53So he got me through the door.
11:55And, you know, he's a big part.
11:57He'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
12:03break.
12:05Okay?
12:06Coach Van Meter saw something that no one else saw.
12:12He had no problem going to football.
12:14Everybody knew that.
12:18Yeah, 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, nine times
12:48out 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
12:56of each year until district starts.
12:59Because what happens is that a great coach will know that, hey, if Cameron's going to
13:05go to the right, the ball is going to come back to the left, and the linebackers will stay
13:10at home, and that's what happened.
13:11So they would start out each year averaging 340 yards a game until district started.
13:17So that was, that was, those were some of the challenges of, of strictly running a wing
13:23tee 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, throw maybe a
13:48couple hundred passes.
13:49When he was in high school, on Saturday mornings, Cam and I would go up to the field and throw
13:55passes.
13:55So even though he wasn't throwing the ball, we continued to work on Cam's development because
14:02we 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, from West Columbia and him throwing the deep ball, it
14:27was like, God, how, how, how are people not seeing this?
14:29I don't care if he only is 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, you're, who's going to tackle your big ass?
14:41I mean, you're six foot, 220, 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.
14:48What makes Cam Ward's case so unique in terms of how he's going to navigate the recruiting
14:57process without really throwing the football coming out of a wing tee offense is unique
15:02because he's working with a quarterback coach to get the time on task.
15:06You know, he's throwing the football a lot with the quarterback coach and trainer, but
15:10it's not being shown on film.
15:12And to give grace to these recruiters and coaches like, hey, man, yeah, you told me you
15:17could 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, but there's nothing like getting those game time
15:24repetitions.
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
15:40and 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
15:54year.
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
16:17prospect, but he had enough raw tools, which is why I feel like Cam going under-recruited
16:22and being a zero star was just laughable.
16:26Being 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
16:46player I was, what I would be able to do in the right system, the right guys around me.
16:51It was hard just going through high school, just knowing that I may never get a chance
16:58to 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.
17:05My dad was talking to the OC at Kilgore College, so I had my mindset on going there and seeing
17:12what happens when I get there.
17:14It was frustrating seeing that he wasn't getting recruited because I kept saying I've never
17:20seen 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
17:43in one of those hot summer days of San Antonio where it's 110 degrees.
17:49We're going through just warm-ups at the time, and my quarterback coach, Coach Lefwich, runs
17:54over to me because, you know, I have a prospect list of 350 guys on it and have every position
18:00on it, and I'm highlighting guys and taking notes of guys I need to go and put my eyes
18:05on and evaluate because we usually throw out a number of offers after these camps.
18:10And Coach Lefwich runs over, and he names off Cam's number that he was associated with
18:15in 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.
18:22And so I walk down, and Cam's taking a little three-step drop as he warms up, and the ball
18:29is 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
18:36like that.
18:36And I'd been around Patrick Mahomes for the previous three or four years, so it's not like,
18:41hey, 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
18:47I 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
19:00tough throws.
19:00So, you know, we throw a field comeback.
19:03You know, we throw some deep posts and throw some, you know, deep out-cutting routes that
19:08help to throw across the field.
19:09Never forget, just coaches kind of look at each other as Cam, you know, knocks out these
19:14three throws.
19:14I was like, who the heck is this kid, and why is he here, and why did we not know about
19:19him?
19:19The talent was there.
19:21It was something that, from then on, we started really digging into him, started reaching
19:26out to Coach Van Meter, was a guy that was one of his high school trainers, a high school
19:31coach of his that has, you know, developed a ton of quarterbacks, had seen it.
19:35And, you know, on the phone with Coach Van Meter, hey, what are we missing here?
19:39What's going on?
19:40And, you know, he's laughing.
19:41He's like, listen, I train with him, you know, on the weekends.
19:45I watch him in seven-on-seven.
19:47He'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.
19:53I didn't know who it was, but I answered anyway, and it was Coach Eric Morris at Incarnate
19:57Word.
19:58And he said, Coach, this is Eric Morris.
20:00We're here.
20:00I got my whole staff in here, and we're doing, you know, some evaluations.
20:04He said, I know you've had some good quarterbacks through your past.
20:09Tell me what you think about Cam Ward.
20:12And I said, well, Coach, no offense, and to be quite honest, if Cam Ward was in my offense
20:17or any other spread offense, you guys wouldn't have a chance at Cam Ward.
20:21And he started laughing.
20:22The whole room started laughing.
20:23He 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.
20:30And, you know, and I added the fact that, you know, you're also getting a kid as, I think,
20:35number one in this class.
20:37And, you know, he's a very poised and a respectful young man.
20:42All 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,
20:53saw Cam Ward as an untapped resource, and said, I can recreate this with this young man.
21:01And then Conant Warrior was a program that needed a spark because they played in a very tough
21:06Southland Conference.
21:07You're talking about some legitimate blue bloods in that conference from, at the time,
21:11Sam Houston, McNeese, Nichols.
21:14So you have a lot of these programs that were legit blue blood FCS programs.
21:19And here's your opportunity, kid.
21:21You feel like you're a division one player?
21:22Here's a division one 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, talk about you go to Incarnate Word, like,
21:32stop 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.
21:40Ward fires.
21:41Caught.
21:42Farrell.
21:43Touchdown.
21:45How you going to enter the stadium, feel with your enemies, screaming your name?
21:48How you going to act when their feelings get jaded because of the accolades,
21:50reach with the fame?
21:51How you going to hit them and pick up the ball?
21:52Hey, don't let it slow you down.
21:54Enough for you to go away.
21:55But don't get it twisted.
21:56Don't never let nobody eat off your plate.
21:57This is the hustle for minimum wage.
21:59All of them cold summers.
22:00Freezing a homeowner.
22:01If I ever make it out of them no struggles, the things that they hold from us.
22:05Look at the score.
22:05They ain't coaching those numbers.
22:07Take that what they stole from us.
22:08Let me answer to the bank.
22:10Now they calling me a great.
22:11Turn it up.
22:11Turn it up.
22:12What's what we going to do?
22:16You know, I'm so sorry.
22:18What's what we going to do?
22:20I'm so sorry.
22:20I'm so sorry.
22:21I'm so sorry.
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