Alex Donno breaks down Miami's top quarterback targets visiting campus this week. Will Howard is visiting Monday and Cam Ward on Tuesday.
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00:00 Let's talk about Miami's top two quarterback targets in the transfer portal.
00:05 One of them is visiting right now and the other top target is going to be visiting tomorrow.
00:11 Folks, this is a really, really important week.
00:14 You are locked on Canes, your daily podcast on the Miami hurricane.
00:20 Part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day.
00:24 I am Alex Dono.
00:34 I'm a university of Miami alumnus, longtime South Florida sports radio vet and contributor
00:38 to allhurricanes.com.
00:39 Thank you so much to the everydayers for making Locked On Canes your first listen and your
00:44 first watch.
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01:06 So we get the news on a Monday afternoon that Will Howard, who I believe is one of Miami's
01:12 top two quarterback targets, the Kansas State graduate transfer, he's on campus.
01:18 He is visiting the University of Miami and that's great news.
01:23 Even better news is Cam Ward, the Washington State transfer who we have believed here on
01:30 Locked On Canes, this is our very informed opinion, that he is Miami's number one quarterback
01:36 target.
01:37 He's the number one target for a lot of schools out there.
01:39 Ohio State has been talked about, Florida State.
01:43 Cam Ward is going to be visiting tomorrow.
01:46 So the Will Howard visit reportedly started today, Monday, around 3 p.m.
01:52 I imagine that's probably going to go well into the night.
01:54 It's a one day visit for Will Howard.
01:57 So you hope it goes really well.
01:59 Cam Ward is going to be arriving tomorrow, Tuesday, around the same time Howard arrived,
02:05 around 3 p.m.
02:07 I don't know for sure how long that visit is going to be.
02:10 I do imagine that Ward probably plans to make multiple visits, but anytime you get this
02:15 guy on campus, and there has been a dialogue, Miami has been communicating with Cam Ward
02:20 since he entered the transfer portal, so it's not like they're discussing things and his
02:24 opportunities here, whether it be on the field opportunities, off the field opportunities,
02:28 name, image, and likeness.
02:29 I'm sure they've had a lot of discussions with him, but him actually getting down on
02:33 campus, being able to have face time with all of the important offensive coaches, Shannon
02:38 Dawson, who's your OC and quarterback's coach, Mario Cristobal, all the staff members, seeing
02:44 all the facilities, getting your sense for campus life.
02:48 This guy, he's played the last couple years in the Pacific Northwest.
02:53 He grew up in Texas, so he's probably not all that familiar with South Florida.
02:57 It's a great opportunity to put on a great impression for your top quarterback target.
03:02 So let's talk about these two players.
03:05 Will Howard, who's visiting now, who I believe is probably option 1B, with Cam Ward being
03:10 option 1A, Will Howard, who's played, got a lot of experience, four years at Kansas
03:17 State, and he gets that fifth year of eligibility because the 2020 COVID season doesn't count
03:24 against anyone's record.
03:25 They threw that out for the entire NCAA, and he's coming off of a season, Will Howard,
03:31 where he completed 61.3% of his passes, which was a career, it's not stellar, but that was
03:37 a career high for him in completion percentage.
03:40 61.3%, 2,643 passing yards, 24 touchdowns to 10 interceptions.
03:47 And folks, I think this is an important quality in every quarterback that Miami looks at,
03:52 because this is something, you need this in 2023, 2024, really, like you need it in this
03:58 era of college football.
03:59 I also believe you need it in the Shannon Dawson offense.
04:03 Find someone with dual threat capabilities.
04:06 Will Howard checks off that box.
04:09 This season, 81 attempts for 351 rushing yards, nine rushing touchdowns.
04:16 You like that a lot, okay?
04:18 So Will Howard, who again, folks, I love the idea of getting somebody in with dual threat
04:24 capabilities and getting someone in with experience, right?
04:27 When you're talking about these upperclassmen, when you're talking about these grad transfers,
04:31 guys who have seen kind of similar, not the exact same thing, but similar offensive systems
04:36 to the one that Shannon Dawson runs, they have one year at Miami to raise their own
04:42 stock and hopefully help the Hurricanes win nine, 10, 11, 12, 15 games next year.
04:49 If I could be so greedy to think the college football playoff might be, it is going to
04:53 12 teams next year, though.
04:54 You never know.
04:56 But yeah, having an experienced guy to plug and play on a team that's got a pretty good
05:00 roster, Miami's going to have one of the better rosters in the country next year.
05:04 You've got to find the right quarterback.
05:06 How many times did we say this past season, certain games that Miami lost, we were competent
05:11 quarterbacking away from winning two, three more games than Miami won last year, this
05:17 year with their seven and five record.
05:20 And so Cam Ward, he definitely is seen to just have more, he is more dynamic.
05:27 He's got really, really rare athleticism and big playability and his wow plays, highlight
05:33 real stuff.
05:35 There's a reason why Ward is considered to be arguably the most sought after quarterback
05:39 in the transfer portal right now.
05:41 You guys let me know though, in the comments, is it Cam Ward or Bust for you?
05:46 Would you be happy with either one, Ward or Howard?
05:49 Do you prefer Howard over Ward?
05:51 Let us know what you think about these quarterbacks in the comments below.
05:55 But Cam Ward, this past season at Washington State, let's pull up the old stat sheet for
06:03 him.
06:04 He started his career at Incarnate Ward, but the last two years at Washington State, he
06:10 can transfer a second time because he's a graduate transfer.
06:12 You can transfer as a grad with no penalty.
06:15 He completed 66.6% of his passes, which is pretty darn good.
06:21 3,735 passing yards, 25 touchdowns to seven interceptions.
06:29 Also dynamic on the ground, dynamic extending plays.
06:33 Now the rushing stats don't tell the full story because remember, quarterback rushing
06:37 stats, they subtract the sack yards and he got sacked a ton at Wazoo.
06:42 I'm sure that that's one of the reasons why he wants to play one year with a team with
06:47 a better offensive line.
06:48 Hey, Miami's got a pretty good offensive line, so I'm sure that that's one of the reasons.
06:53 You can't really take the stats at face value, but 144 rushing yards, eight rushing touchdowns.
07:00 He only averaged 1.2 yards per carry technically, but that's not really a good indicator of
07:05 his mobility.
07:06 He's very mobile.
07:07 When you take the sack, you got sacked a ton last year.
07:10 When you put the sack yardage in there, it makes it look worse than it really is.
07:14 But Ward, again, you're going to be battling multiple other schools for him.
07:19 Ward, to be able to get him down on campus though, try to put your best foot forward.
07:23 You got to hope Miami can try to close here, right?
07:26 Because again, I wouldn't mind whatsoever Will Howard being the next Miami quarterback,
07:31 but Cam Ward is the guy that you really want to get the answer from first.
07:36 Now, according to reports today, it's not just those two who are working on visits for
07:41 this week.
07:42 Howard's visit is already finishing up.
07:45 Ward's visit is reportedly going to happen tomorrow on Tuesday.
07:48 And according to Kane Sport, Dante Moore, who's in a very different situation from the
07:54 previous two names, because Moore, he's not a grad transfer.
07:58 He's not an upperclassman.
08:00 He's a second year guy with three years of eligibility left, former top two quarterback
08:04 recruit in the country in the class of 2023.
08:08 He's leaving UCLA.
08:11 I don't believe that Dante Moore is plug and play, can help elevate you to 10, 11 wins
08:17 this year.
08:18 But I do believe there's really something there for the longterm.
08:22 And he has said it, his father has said it, Dante Moore wants to find some place that
08:26 he can be developed.
08:28 So it's interesting, according to Moore and his family and reports from Kane Sport, he's
08:34 working on scheduling a visit soon, maybe later this week.
08:37 So Miami could end up with three quarterbacks visiting this week.
08:41 And again, I like Dante Moore in the longterm, not as much in the short term.
08:45 So if that ends up being a quarterback Miami would bring in, if he does want to come to
08:51 Miami and Miami wants to give him that offer, if he's a take, so to speak, you would have
08:56 to wonder, do they view him as a potential starter as soon as 2024?
09:00 Or do they bring in another veteran, an experienced guy like the previous two names we mentioned
09:06 in conjunction with a Dante Moore.
09:09 And there's a lot that comes into trying to close the deal with any of these quarterbacks.
09:13 It's not just the recruiting aspect and the facilities and the scheme fit.
09:18 In this day and age, we know how important name, image, and likeness is.
09:21 We know how important the business opportunities are.
09:24 Now, Miami, I have every reason to believe they feel like they can be really, really
09:30 competitive in that area.
09:32 The collective is healthy right now.
09:34 And let's not forget, Tyler Van Dyke was a big NIL earner and he's no longer in Miami
09:39 Hurricane.
09:40 So that does free up a lot of that NIL money.
09:42 Does that mean Miami's resources are unlimited?
09:46 Absolutely not.
09:47 Right.
09:48 And for someone like Ward or someone like Howard, it's kind of unpredictable in this
09:51 wild, wild West.
09:53 If bidding wars do come into play, could you get priced out of it?
09:57 It's possible.
09:58 Absolutely.
09:59 But I'm here to tell you from a Miami standpoint, they feel like they can be really competitive
10:04 in that area.
10:05 So this week is going to be a lot of fun.
10:07 It's not only going to be a lot of fun following this stuff.
10:10 It's going to be a lot of fun here on Locked on Canes.
10:13 I wasn't even supposed to do an episode today.
10:15 I've been traveling for the past few days.
10:18 I'm finally going to be officially back home tomorrow and we're going to do an episode
10:21 tomorrow with the truth teller live at 11 a.m.
10:25 Me and Bruce Warner, the truth teller.
10:26 But when news like this comes out about these visits, I had to find a way to get on.
10:31 And for those who have followed this show for the last year and a half that I've been
10:35 doing Locked on Canes, you know, whenever Dono takes a family trip during the off season,
10:41 guaranteed something big is going to happen.
10:43 It always goes this way during my trip.
10:45 But always, always I got to find a way to get on big news breaks.
10:49 And obviously Miami doesn't have a quarterback yet.
10:52 So it's not news of that scale.
10:54 But when you talk about confirmed visits, Will Howard on campus now, Cam Ward on campus
11:01 tomorrow, Dante Moore trying to get on campus big enough.
11:05 I had to find a way to find a way to do an episode.
11:07 So thank you so much for making Locked on Canes your first listen today.
11:12 And folks, I hope you're taking advantage of what PrizePix has to offer down there.
11:18 It's just you versus the numbers on PrizePix.
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11:32 We will talk to you guys tomorrow, Tuesday, with the truth teller, Bruce Warner.
11:37 I know he's happy that Miami's got quarterback visits coming up because he doesn't want Miami
11:41 to lose any more time in getting one of these guys hopefully locked in.
11:44 So we'll talk to you then on another episode of Locked on Canes, part of the awesome Locked
11:48 On Podcast Network, your team every day.
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