Cam Ward looks for the open man while playing quarterback at San Antonio’s UIW in 2021. Credit: Instagram / camward

Former University of the Incarnate Word quarterback Cam Ward is heading to Nashville after the Tennessee Titans picked him as the No. 1 pick in the 2025 NFL Draft.

“All I needed was a chance to play in a quarterback-driven system,” Ward said at the NFL Combine in February, ESPN reports.

Despite his current status, the South Texas native from West Columbia — a town of about 3,500 — was a zero-star recruit when he landed in San Antonio. It didn’t take long for UIW coaches to understand that he had something special, though.

“The first time we noticed him was at a camp at Incarnate Word,” former UIW head coach Eric Morris recalled in an interview with CBS Sports. “We didn’t know who he was beforehand. Unusually at that point, especially at the quarterback position, you have four or five guys you want to evaluate in a camp setting, but he wasn’t on that list. Watching him during warmups, the ball was just popping off his hand.”

Ward spent two seasons at UIW before following Morris to Washington State University, where the athlete completed 64.4% of his passes for 3,231 yards and 23 touchdowns.

Ward considered entering the 2024 NFL Draft but opted to play one more season at the University of Miami, where he led the Hurricanes to a 10-2 record, barely missing the playoffs.

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This article appears in Apr 16-29, 2025.

Michael Karlis is a multimedia journalist at the San Antonio Current, whose coverage in print and on social media focuses on local and state politics. He is a graduate of American University in Washington,...