Tennessee Titans select Cam Ward No. 1 overall in 2025 NFL Draft pick

Texas high school afterthought, Miami Hurricanes quarterback is still angry, motivated by lack of opportunities, thankful for supportive family, unyielding faith

Miami Hurricanes quarterback Cam Ward drops back to pass against the Iowa State Cyclones during the Pop Tarts Bowl at Camping World Stadium. / Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images

Cam Ward will got the last laugh when he was drafted No. 1 overall, Thursday night in the 2025 NFL Draft, by the Tennessee Titans. 

But chances are, the kid from Columbia High School, out of West Columbia, Texas, an hour south of Houston, won’t be laughing at all. He’s still teed off. Hurt. Perplexed even. 

Nov 23, 2024; Miami Gardens, Florida, USA; Miami Hurricanes quarterback Cam Ward (1) looks on from the field after the game against the Wake Forest Demon Deacons at Hard Rock Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Sam Navarro-Imagn Images / Sam Navarro-Imagn Images

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Ward might be the first No. 1 overall pick of the NFL Draft to have no recruiting stars out of high school, and largely because of it, wasn’t offered a single Division 1 scholarship.

Instead, at the last minute, he got a ride to Incarnate Word, an FCS school out of San Antonio, Texas. 

By no surprise of his own, or those close in his circles, Ward catapulted his way up the college football food chain, throwing for nearly 7,000 yards and 71 touchdowns in a season-and-a-half at Incarnate.

He then transferred to Washington State, where he flung it around for another nearly 7,000 yards in 25 games and accounted for 61 touchdowns. 

He declared for the 2024 NFL Draft, but reconsidered, transferred to an even bigger stage at the University of Miami and finished fourth in the Heisman Trophy, won the ACC Player of the Year, along with the Davey O’Brien and Manning awards, all while throwing for 4,313 yards and 39 touchdowns. 

Over his five seasons of college football, Ward threw 158 touchdowns, more than any player in the history of Division I college football. 

Those are a whole lot of numbers for zero stars in high school, which Ward said drives him today and will do so throughout his professional career.

“It’s really on my mind a lot,” he told Christy Cabrera Chirinos of miamihurricanes.com  “I really don’t think I’ll ever be able to leave it just because it’s permanent. It makes me have a lot of hate in my heart, makes me hate a lot of things. I don’t know if that’s good for me, but I just try to pray about it. I’m not free yet. Maybe later in life I will be.” 

Miami Hurricanes quarterback Cam Ward (1) runs with the ball against the Iowa State Cyclones during the Pop Tarts Bowl. / Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images

In some ways, it makes sense he received no recruiting stars.

Ward played for a high school team that ran the Wing-T offense, a run-first, second- and third-down attack, based on deception and blocking schemes. 

As a junior, Ward threw just 124 passes, completed 72 for 1,070 yards and seven touchdowns. As a senior in 11 games he was 49 of 109 for 948 yards and eight more touchdowns. 

He rushed for 331 yards in his three years as a starter and 11 touchdowns. 

The numbers alone didn’t attract college scouts, and the Roughnecks were a combined 19-10 in Ward’s three seasons.

While ESPN yammers about what is going on with No. 2 pick, Cam Ward goes No. 1. What a story. O recruiting stars to No. 1 pick. Perfect. pic.twitter.com/Pl1XCZFnOt

— Mitch Stephens (@MitchBookLive) April 25, 2025

His high school coach, Brent Mascheck, said he would have loved to utilize Ward’s massive skills — but his team simply wasn’t built for it. 

Ward may have been able to sling the ball on a dime, long and short, but catching it was another matter. 

“Our team wasn’t built to throw the ball 60 times,” Mascheck told Nick Suss of the Nashville Tennessean. “We didn’t have those receivers. The one game we did lose (in Ward’s senior regular season), we dropped quite a few passes. I hate saying that because I never want to knock other kids. But we had to do what was best for the entire team.” 

Ward, a scholar-athlete, understood.  

“A lot of small-town Texas teams live and die by (the Wing T),” he told Chirinos. “We were 9-2 my senior year, so if you’re a head coach, you’re thinking ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.'” 

Without big numbers or a recruiting rating, Division I coaches simply didn’t want to take a chance on Ward. Many big Division I schools had tryouts for the 6-foot-3, 225-pound standout, but opted for safer bets. 

As Julia Roberts says in Pretty Woman, "Big mistake. .... huge!"

Miami quarterback Cam Ward talks to the press during the 2025 NFL Combine. / Stephanie Amador Blondet-Imagn Images

Ward's bigger numbers and better odds of playing college sports appeared to be on the basketball court.

He averaged 23 points per game as a junior and 20.6 points, 4.6 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 2.6 steals per game as a senior, leading his team to a 20-11 season. 

Even though he came from a basketball family — his mother is a high-level coach — Cam’s first love was football.

He took that one college scholarship opportunity and will likely turn it into the No. 1 spot in Thursday’s draft. 

Taking that unusually long route has been a blessing and curse, Ward said. 

“It was hard, especially me being 16, 17 and seeing some of my peers who I would play against in 7-on-7, to go to camps with and compete against knowing I was better than them,” he said. “But at the end of the day, that just wasn’t what God had planned for me.”

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