Hurricanes’ Cam Ward is a Heisman contender. He’s also critical of his performance so far
Miami Hurricanes quarterback Cam Ward has been one of the best players in college football so far this season.
He leads the country in passing yards per game (369.8). He’s tied for the lead in touchdown passes (20). He has thrown for at least 300 yards and two touchdowns in all six games the Hurricanes have played and has been integral in Miami winning all six of those games. He’s an early contender for the Heisman Trophy as a result.
Just don’t tell all of that to Cam Ward.
While his success has been largely tracked and is being recognized nationally, Ward knows he has so much more to offer as the No. 6 Hurricanes get ready for the second half of their season, which begins noon Saturday with a road game against the Louisville Cardinals.
Ward’s personal evaluation through six games: “I’d probably say mid. I missed a lot of plays that I wish I could have back. That’s something that I’m starting to realize every play that I get is opportunity to take advantage of. We’ve just got to stop leaving plays out there as a whole team. I think the sooner we can do that — hopefully we do that Saturday — both sides of the ball will be able to end up playing our best brand of football.”
Ward’s innate drive to improve, his desire to never settle, has been on display all season and has been ingrained in him throughout his entire football career. He was barely recruited out of high school and took the long road to where he is now.
He spent two years at FCS Incarnate Word and then another two at Washington State before opting to play one final season at Miami in lieu of putting his name into the NFL Draft.
At each stop, Ward has played like he has something to prove. At each stop, he has forged ahead knowing he can play at a high level even though he was doubted for so long.
That has remained true so far during his time with the Hurricanes.
“He’s going to have that chip on his shoulder,” Hurricanes offensive coordinator Shannon Dawson said. “It’s the same Cam Ward. He’s ultimately trying to prove everybody wrong on every play. I don’t have to deal with keeping him focused. Those words never come out of his mouth. He never utters anything from that. He never shows any emotion towards anything other than the focus on the week at hand.”
Bissainthe talks targeting review
Late in the Hurricanes’ 25-point comeback against the Cal Golden Bears on Oct. 5, the team had to hold its breath.
Hurricanes linebacker Wesley Bissainthe laid out a heavy hit on Cal quarterback Fernando Mendoza on third down with just less than two minutes left to play that was reviewed for targeting. Ultimately, it was deemed a clean hit and the Golden Bears punted. Miami scored the go-ahead touchdown on the next drive to pull out the 39-38 win.
“I knew I hit all shoulder,” Bissainthe said Wednesday, his first time available to the media since the Cal game. “It might have looked a little crazy, by the way he flew, but I knew it was all shoulder.”
Bissainthe is in the midst of a breakout junior season. He has 27 tackles through six games, putting on pace to break his career high of 44 set last season. He also has two tackles for loss and an interception.
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