Top portal QB dishes on why he chose Miami over draft

Cameron Ward. Joe Nicholson-USA TODAY Sports

Top transfer portal QB dishes on why he chose Miami over 2024 NFL Draft

By Michael Gallagher | Last updated 1/14/24

Less than two weeks after he declared for the 2024 NFL Draft, former Washington State quarterback Cameron Ward changed his mind.

Ward, who entered the NCAA transfer portal a month earlier, announced on Saturday that he was transferring to the University of Miami instead, giving him one more season to up his draft stock after receiving feedback that he was projected as a Day 2 QB prospect (Round 2 or 3) in the 2024 draft class, according to The Athletic.

“Once I declared, something always lingered in the back in my mind as far as going back to college,” Ward told The Athletic. “There were a lot of sleepless nights just thinking about it. I feel good about the decision and I’m excited. … At the end of the day, I think I’m a Day 1 quarterback. I think coming back to college can solidify myself.”

✍ pic.twitter.com/bRUdvXJsd5
— Cameron Ward (@Cameron7Ward) January 14, 2024

The 21-year-old Ward began the season as a likely Day 3 pick, and his 3,735-yard, 25-touchdown season at Washington State elevated his draft stock as high as the second round in the eyes of some scouts.

The 2024 draft class is top-heavy at QB, and best-case scenario for Ward would have seen him go as the seventh signal caller taken behind USC’s Caleb Williams, North Carolina’s Drake Maye, LSU’s Jayden Daniels, Washington’s Michael Penix Jr., Michigan’s J.J. McCarthy and Oregon’s Bo Nix.

After losing three-year starter Tyler Van Dyke, who threw for 2,703 yards, 19 touchdowns and 12 interceptions in 2023, to Wisconsin via the transfer portal, Miami head coach Mario Cristobal has now landed to transfer QBs in the last week in Ward and University of UAlbany's Reese Poffenbarger. UM was also linked to Maryland QB Taulia Tagovailoa last week.

Miami previously lost out on several of the top available signal callers including USC’s Malachi Nelson (transferred to Boise State), Arkansas’ K.J. Jefferson (transferred to UCF), UCLA’s Dante Moore (transferred to Oregon) and Kansas State’s Will Howard (transferred to Ohio State).

The Hurricanes' QB depth chart next season now reads: Ward, rising sophomore Emory Williams, rising junior Jacurri Brown, Poffenbarger, a rising junior and incoming freshman Judd Anderson.

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