Miami Hurricanes quarterback Cam Ward sits down with Alex Donno at ACC Media Days to discuss what lies ahead for Miami this season.
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00:00We got QB1, Cam Ward in the building here in Charlotte.
00:04Cam, you've been in Miami since January.
00:06Has it felt like a whirlwind?
00:08How's everything going so far?
00:09I feel like it's moving fast, honestly.
00:13Here six months ago, six months later, we finished our fall camp, basically.
00:16So it's been a blessing so far.
00:18I'm excited to get in the camp again to the season.
00:21You've gotten acclimated with your teammates very quickly.
00:23Some of the guys have commented to me that they were impressed.
00:26You learned everybody's name within 24 hours.
00:29How important has the team building been and the leadership from your point of view?
00:33It's been very important to me.
00:34That's probably one of my main focus once I got to Miami,
00:37just because the coaches, they're gonna do a lot for us this year.
00:40But at the end of the day, if you're not a player-led team,
00:43you won't win a lot of games.
00:44So that's been the emphasis as us as a team, for myself as a leader.
00:48I was trying to just create chemistry with everybody.
00:50Cuz if you don't have chemistry with anybody, you can't really communicate
00:54with them at a high level like you really want to at the end of the day.
00:57So that's been a big focus for myself.
00:59Miami's got one of the best-looking offensive lines in the country.
01:01You got one of those guys is here today with you, Jalen Rivers.
01:04But can you talk about that group and
01:06the sense you get for the protection you're gonna have this year?
01:08Yeah, that O-line group is special.
01:10One thing I know about the O-line is that they're gonna bring in a game each and
01:13every day for practice, for games.
01:15The things Coach Mirabal does with that group on his off time in Indy is remarkable.
01:20I've never been a part of an offense.
01:24Coaches that who really translates to the O-line so
01:28well from Coach Cristobal and Mirabal.
01:30And I'm just excited to see those guys grow.
01:32And there's Cooper, he's one of the leaders in that standpoint.
01:35Zach Carpenter coming in, transfer, being our center.
01:38He's gonna be a good standpoint for us.
01:41Even CeCe, everybody know about CeCe and J-Riv.
01:44So I'm just excited to be behind those guys.
01:46I know they got my back and I got theirs.
01:48Talk to me about your receivers, your tight ends,
01:50all the weapons you're gonna be looking at this year.
01:52Yeah, special.
01:53I think this is probably one of the best tight end groups that I've played with in
01:56my career in college, from Elijah Arroyo.
01:58I think he's really the sleeper out of our playmaking room.
02:02He hasn't got a chance to play in two years due to injuries, but
02:05I think this is gonna be a big year for him.
02:06Isaiah Horton, who's a young cat, who's come along, made plays in the spring.
02:10I'm excited for him.
02:11We all know about X and JG.
02:13So I think being able to get those guys to buy in, to not being selfish,
02:20being team players, get the whole team to buy into that aspect.
02:23I think we'll do something special this year.
02:26Do you feel like the offense is a good fit for you?
02:28I know that there were a lot of air raid principles in the previous offenses you
02:32were.
02:32How's the fit been with Shannon Dawson's system?
02:35This has been like plug and play.
02:36He's an air raid guy.
02:37He was at University of Houston, so he knows that I like to throw the ball.
02:40I know he's gonna throw the ball a lot.
02:42But I think the best thing about us is that we have to be able to manage our
02:46passing and running attack because we are gonna be able to run the football, I believe.
02:50And being able to just be more dynamic in both and
02:54being one dimensional is gonna be able to help us in the long run.
02:57He's Cam Ward, QB1 at the Miami Hurricanes.
02:59Cam, thank you so much and best of luck to you this season.
03:02Yes, sir, I appreciate it.
03:03A couple extra spots.