Believe it or not, the NFL draft is right around the corner—and it's shaping up to be an interesting year. After a quarterback-led class in 2024, the chatter around signal callers for 2025 has primarily centered on two candidates: Miami Hurricanes quarterback Cam Ward and Colorado Buffaloes quarterback Shedeur Sanders.
Seeing as there are plenty of QB-hungry franchises in the league right now, both players will surely go quickly, if not in the first two picks. Still, Ward has a message for any teams that choose to skip over him, particularly if it's a result of his decision to sit out the second half of the Pop-Tarts Bowl.
"O.K., you're either going to draft me or you're not," Ward said Monday, perThe Associated Press. "If you don't draft me, that's your fault. You've got to remember you're the same team that's got to play me for the rest of my career, and I'll remember that."
The QB's decision to exit the December game came after he broke the NCAA D1 record for career touchdown passes, which meant online critics perceived him as leaving his team out to try after notching a win for himself. But Ward says he and Miami coaching staff made the choice before the contest had even begun.
"I just think we all got what we needed out of it. They seen things that they think they need to work on ... for this season coming up. And they also knew, you know, what I had on the line," Ward said, per the AP. "We feel like we're doing what's best for the program and myself. I mean, it was a hard decision, especially when, you know, some guys on our team didn't play who I thought should have played. It was also, you know, those guys thought about their future the same way I thought about mine."
Miami ended up losing the game 42–41, despite a 31–28 lead at halftime. But Ward thinks this "quitting" narrative around him, which Miami coach Mario Cristobal has also refuted, would never have taken hold had the team won.
"If I could do it again, I'd do it the same way," the QB continued, while eventually noting, "I wish we could have ended up winning the game. If we had won the game, they wouldn't have said nothing. And so, that's usually how it goes. And you know, you just got to take it on the chin and just keep pushing."
Ward, who finished his college career with 158 touchdowns and 18,189 passing yards, was honored Monday night in the ceremony for the Davey O'Brien Award, given to the nation's best collegiate quarterback.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Cam Ward Issues Stern Warning to NFL Teams About Passing on Him in Draft.
