Cam Ward has led the Miami Hurricanes’ offense to new heights through his first four games with the team.
But as far as Ward is concerned, the slate has been wiped clean.
“These games don’t really matter,” Ward said of Miami’s routs of the Florida Gators, Florida A&M Rattlers, Ball State Cardinals and, most recently, the USF Bulls. “The only games that matter is ACC play.”
For the No. 7 Hurricanes (4-0), ACC play begins when Miami hosts Virginia Tech (2-2) on Friday, with kickoff from Hard Rock Stadium set for 7:30 p.m. on ESPN.
And when the game does begin, it will pit Ward against a familiar face in Virginia Tech quarterback Kyron Drones.
Ward and Drones are cousins, with Ward saying they found out they were related around his junior year of high school. Ward is a year older than Drones and both still work out together in the Houston area during the offseason.
“It’s been good,” Ward said of their relationship. “We’ve been building ever since. We work with the same quarterback coach. I’m just ready to play the game.”
At the ACC Football Kickoff in July, Drones said the two had some back-and-forth banter heading into the season. They both have immense respect for each other and want to settle on the field who is the better quarterback.
“It’s just competitiveness,” Drones said. “We trained together all summer, so me and him are going to bicker back and forth and then we going to see who the real quarterback is when we play Miami.”
So far this season, Ward has been the better of the two.
Through four games, Ward has completed 72.3 percent of his passes (89 for 123) for 1,439 yards and 14 touchdowns with two interceptions. He has thrown for at least 300 yards and at least three touchdowns in all four games.
His 14 passing touchdowns lead the country, as do his 28 passing plays of at least 20 yards, and his 1,439 passing yards are second only to Ole Miss’ Jaxson Dart (1,554).
Drones, meanwhile, has completed just 59.8 percent of his passes (64 for 107) for 765 yards and four touchdowns with three interceptions. He also has 209 rushing yards and two touchdowns.
Last season, Drones’ first at Virginia Tech after transferring in from Baylor, Drones threw for 2,085 yards and 17 touchdowns with three interceptions.
“He’s good,” Ward said at ACC Football Kickoff. “Being able to work with Kyron from high school all the way to now, and seeing his progress, I’d probably say he’s gotten way more fluid as a passer. “I thought he was very stiff as we were in high school. He’s way better now. He’s very more accurate now. You obviously know about his running abilities. He’s been doing that since he was a little kid.”
As for how much they have talked since the season started?
“This is the last time that me and Kyron are going to be associating until we play Virginia Tech,” Ward said back in July.
They will connect Friday, but not before Ward attempts to build on what has been a successful start to his season.
Ward had arguably his best game on Saturday against USF. He completed 24 of 34 passes for 404 yards and three touchdowns with one interception (on a play in which the ball popped out of Jacolby George’s hands and into the arms of a USF defender).
The 404 yards are a season high and the fourth time in his career that he threw for at least 400 yards in a game at the Football Bowl Subdivision level.
Even with that, Ward was far from his sharpest against the Bulls.
“I missed a lot of easy throws,” Ward said postgame Saturday. “That’s something I’ve got to [correct]. The O-line gave me enough time and I just didn’t connect downfield. The receivers were winning early on and I just didn’t connect.”
That mind-set is Ward being Ward — and what Hurricanes coach Mario Cristobal wants from his team. Everyone can always get better, no matter how good they perform on a weekly basis.
Safety Mishael Powell, who spent two seasons going against Ward when both were in the Pac-12 (Ward at Washington State, Powell at Washington), has seen that steady growth from Ward since they became teammates this season.
“It’s kind of something you expected after playing against him,” Powell said. “I would say for sure I think he’s taking his game to an even higher level I think this year with his offense, the O line that he has, and the type of receives he has. He’s able to extend his game and show more than that he could before. That’s just the biggest thing with him is he’s always trying to get better.”
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