The ACC has been a breeding ground for quarterbacks in recent years, and the consensus best quarterback in the ACC wears orange and green. Cam Ward sat down with EJ Manuel of the ACC Network to discuss quarterback play:
On the most important aspects of playing QB: The most important piece is seeing the field, seeing space, seeing leverage off guys, being a leader. The best thing that I try to help other quarterbacks in our room with is just seeing space. Because the more you see space, the more you can put the defense in a predicament.
On the qualities he’s brought to Miami: I think I bring a lot of qualities from a leadership standpoint, to a communication standpoint, to just overall getting guys to play with each other. We have a lot of talent on both sides of the ball. The only thing that can be the enemy of us is selfishness. That's something that we harp in our locker room. A selfish team won't win a lot of games. We’ve just got to keep being player-led and want to go out there and fight with each other.
On handling expectations: We handle it good in the locker room. There's no egos in our locker room. We don't play that stuff. Everybody comes with the right mindset. We want to get better. We want to compete on both sides of the ball. At the end of the day, it's all about putting the team in the best situation to win. The key is team first and take it one day at a time.
On his personal goals: I would say being a 10-12+ win team. I haven't had the opportunity to do it at the Power Five level, so that's a big personal goal for me. If I can reach that, myself and a lot of my teammates will get a lot of awards.
On the Gator game: It's going to be a good game. Both sides have got a lot to prove. They have a lot to prove. We have a lot to prove. Heads are going to be high. It's football. Who's not ready for the first game of the season? We're going to come out ready to play. They're going to come out ready to play. And we're going to try to win that game.
On Xavier Restrepo: I know what routes he never loses in. I know what routes that me and him have to get better at. I have the ability to check that route at any given moment.
That's why I love playing here. Coach Dawson gives me the freedom to play the style that I want to play. I'm always going to put ‘Strep in the best situation. He's always going to put me in the best situation. We have a relationship that not a lot of guys have with their quarterback. We're just going to do everything we can to keep building on that during camp.
On the most important aspects of playing QB: The most important piece is seeing the field, seeing space, seeing leverage off guys, being a leader. The best thing that I try to help other quarterbacks in our room with is just seeing space. Because the more you see space, the more you can put the defense in a predicament.
On the qualities he’s brought to Miami: I think I bring a lot of qualities from a leadership standpoint, to a communication standpoint, to just overall getting guys to play with each other. We have a lot of talent on both sides of the ball. The only thing that can be the enemy of us is selfishness. That's something that we harp in our locker room. A selfish team won't win a lot of games. We’ve just got to keep being player-led and want to go out there and fight with each other.
On handling expectations: We handle it good in the locker room. There's no egos in our locker room. We don't play that stuff. Everybody comes with the right mindset. We want to get better. We want to compete on both sides of the ball. At the end of the day, it's all about putting the team in the best situation to win. The key is team first and take it one day at a time.
On his personal goals: I would say being a 10-12+ win team. I haven't had the opportunity to do it at the Power Five level, so that's a big personal goal for me. If I can reach that, myself and a lot of my teammates will get a lot of awards.
On the Gator game: It's going to be a good game. Both sides have got a lot to prove. They have a lot to prove. We have a lot to prove. Heads are going to be high. It's football. Who's not ready for the first game of the season? We're going to come out ready to play. They're going to come out ready to play. And we're going to try to win that game.
On Xavier Restrepo: I know what routes he never loses in. I know what routes that me and him have to get better at. I have the ability to check that route at any given moment.
That's why I love playing here. Coach Dawson gives me the freedom to play the style that I want to play. I'm always going to put ‘Strep in the best situation. He's always going to put me in the best situation. We have a relationship that not a lot of guys have with their quarterback. We're just going to do everything we can to keep building on that during camp.
