Cam Ward added to his highlight reel on Saturday with a dazzling 20/26, 304 yards 4 total TD performance against the FAMU Rattlers. He met with the media after the game to discuss the team’s performance:
On how he’s enjoying the season: I’m having a lot of fun. The only thing that matters to us is if we get a win. If we get a win, by all means, you had a good day. That's the biggest thing. I put up numbers in the past, so the numbers don't really shock me. I know what type of player I am, what I'm capable of being in the future. Anytime you get a win, it's fun. We just gotta cherish these moments in the locker room and move on to the next moments too.
On spreading the ball: It shows the playmakers we’ve got. It also shows the depth we’ve got, too, from the freshmen to the seniors like Strep and JG, to Zay Horton, who's going to end up being a big-time player for us right now and as we get going to the future of the season. It just shows the depth, the chemistry that we all have with each other on and off the field.
On the offensive line: Playing behind that O-line is a dream come true if you're a college quarterback, especially by how they prepare with Coach Mirabal and Coach Cristobal. They're some of the most hard-working guys on the team. They're also coached the hardest on the team. So anytime I come on a Saturday, I know I’ve got one of the best O-lines in the country. I know they're going to give me as much time as I need. At the end of the day, we're going to make plays.
On playing at Hard Rock: It was good, especially for a first game, playing a good opponent like FAMU. Me coming from FCS, they're one of the best FCS teams around. To host them, it's a good opportunity for them and us. But in the future, I can't wait to see Hard Rock sell out. We want to sell it out next week. We want to sell it out with Virginia Tech. But we’ve got to keep on holding up our end. We're just going to take it one day at a time, one week at a time, and continue to try and win games.
On the team’s business-like mindset: That’s just what Coach Cristobal instills in us. Every day, every Saturday is a new opportunity to get better. We got better than what we did last Saturday, and next Saturday we have to get better than what we did this Saturday. We only get one opportunity a week, and we have to lay it on the line for each other on both sides of the ball. That's what we did today, and we’ve got to continue to do that as we get into next week and the following games.
On his dive to the pylon: Continue to compete. Every time I'm on the field, I believe I'm the best player on the field. That's always going to be my mindset. Every time I step between those lines, I'm going to compete for my teammates, for the offense, and for the defense. It's really just the guys that I have around me. They make me want to be better. They make the team go. We're a very motivated team. We're a very connected team. And that's something that a lot of teams in the country don't have. We’ve got to continue to keep growing on what we're doing.
On the offensive clicking early: It was good, especially us being able to move the ball with base plays for us. We've still yet to get in our bag as an offense, but that's something Coach Dawson preaches: routine plays win games. That's something that we've been doing the last two weeks, and that's something that we’ve got to continue to do. Just keep on playing on both sides of the ball. Whenever the defense gives us a big play, we’ve gotta be able to respond on offense. Whenever we have a bad play or a turnover, we're allowing the defense to respond for us. So keep playing complimentary football and keep playing for each other.
On the running game: They make my job easy, especially when we do our play action stuff. I'm throwing to wide-open people, receivers are on a great route, the O-line is protecting. So having those two guys back there is a blessing. Damien finally got his first touchdown as a Hurricane, Mark is continuing to eat like he did last week.
We got a chance to get J-Lyle a touchdown on his birthday, Chris Wheatley-Humphrey played, Ajay [Allen] played. So you got to see the depth of our running back room. W
On the offense’s room for improvement: We’ve still got things to work on offensively. We did not have a great game the whole time, especially on fourth down. We’ve got to be better on fourth down. That's why I was glad we were in that situation today. We’ve still got a lot to improve on.
On the mindset to refocus on the next game: It’s very important because we still have yet to play our best on both sides of the ball. As we get into the season, we’ve got to really mature even more than what we already are. Just keep preparing like we've been doing the last two weeks, like we did in fall camp.
At the end of the day, it's all about winning games by any means. If it's gonna be a blowout, that's good. If it's gonna be a tight game where we need both sides of the ball to come with it, that's good. But the biggest thing for us is trying to continue to win games and keep playing as a team.
On how he’s enjoying the season: I’m having a lot of fun. The only thing that matters to us is if we get a win. If we get a win, by all means, you had a good day. That's the biggest thing. I put up numbers in the past, so the numbers don't really shock me. I know what type of player I am, what I'm capable of being in the future. Anytime you get a win, it's fun. We just gotta cherish these moments in the locker room and move on to the next moments too.
On spreading the ball: It shows the playmakers we’ve got. It also shows the depth we’ve got, too, from the freshmen to the seniors like Strep and JG, to Zay Horton, who's going to end up being a big-time player for us right now and as we get going to the future of the season. It just shows the depth, the chemistry that we all have with each other on and off the field.
On the offensive line: Playing behind that O-line is a dream come true if you're a college quarterback, especially by how they prepare with Coach Mirabal and Coach Cristobal. They're some of the most hard-working guys on the team. They're also coached the hardest on the team. So anytime I come on a Saturday, I know I’ve got one of the best O-lines in the country. I know they're going to give me as much time as I need. At the end of the day, we're going to make plays.
On playing at Hard Rock: It was good, especially for a first game, playing a good opponent like FAMU. Me coming from FCS, they're one of the best FCS teams around. To host them, it's a good opportunity for them and us. But in the future, I can't wait to see Hard Rock sell out. We want to sell it out next week. We want to sell it out with Virginia Tech. But we’ve got to keep on holding up our end. We're just going to take it one day at a time, one week at a time, and continue to try and win games.
On the team’s business-like mindset: That’s just what Coach Cristobal instills in us. Every day, every Saturday is a new opportunity to get better. We got better than what we did last Saturday, and next Saturday we have to get better than what we did this Saturday. We only get one opportunity a week, and we have to lay it on the line for each other on both sides of the ball. That's what we did today, and we’ve got to continue to do that as we get into next week and the following games.
On his dive to the pylon: Continue to compete. Every time I'm on the field, I believe I'm the best player on the field. That's always going to be my mindset. Every time I step between those lines, I'm going to compete for my teammates, for the offense, and for the defense. It's really just the guys that I have around me. They make me want to be better. They make the team go. We're a very motivated team. We're a very connected team. And that's something that a lot of teams in the country don't have. We’ve got to continue to keep growing on what we're doing.
On the offensive clicking early: It was good, especially us being able to move the ball with base plays for us. We've still yet to get in our bag as an offense, but that's something Coach Dawson preaches: routine plays win games. That's something that we've been doing the last two weeks, and that's something that we’ve got to continue to do. Just keep on playing on both sides of the ball. Whenever the defense gives us a big play, we’ve gotta be able to respond on offense. Whenever we have a bad play or a turnover, we're allowing the defense to respond for us. So keep playing complimentary football and keep playing for each other.
On the running game: They make my job easy, especially when we do our play action stuff. I'm throwing to wide-open people, receivers are on a great route, the O-line is protecting. So having those two guys back there is a blessing. Damien finally got his first touchdown as a Hurricane, Mark is continuing to eat like he did last week.
We got a chance to get J-Lyle a touchdown on his birthday, Chris Wheatley-Humphrey played, Ajay [Allen] played. So you got to see the depth of our running back room. W
On the offense’s room for improvement: We’ve still got things to work on offensively. We did not have a great game the whole time, especially on fourth down. We’ve got to be better on fourth down. That's why I was glad we were in that situation today. We’ve still got a lot to improve on.
On the mindset to refocus on the next game: It’s very important because we still have yet to play our best on both sides of the ball. As we get into the season, we’ve got to really mature even more than what we already are. Just keep preparing like we've been doing the last two weeks, like we did in fall camp.
At the end of the day, it's all about winning games by any means. If it's gonna be a blowout, that's good. If it's gonna be a tight game where we need both sides of the ball to come with it, that's good. But the biggest thing for us is trying to continue to win games and keep playing as a team.
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