Chances are this won’t be the only time Cam Ward will be in this area over the next few months.
At the very least, the star quarterback should be a consideration for the Giants heading into the first round of April’s NFL Draft.
He would welcome the opportunity to help turn Big Blue around.
“I know if they have a chance to get me, they’ll have everything,” the Heisman Trophy finalist said Friday at the Marriott Marquis in Midtown Manhattan. “They would have this guy. They would find someone who doesn’t care about anything, about the way he moves, about the way he operates on and off the field, who is confident, someone who will challenge himself more than he challenges the team. At the end of the day, wins mean everything. You get a winner.
The 6-foot-2 Ward described himself as a “low-key guy,” but the ACC Player of the Year also talked a big game.
Although he began his college career in the FCS Incarnate Word program, his rise to the top of the sport came as no surprise to him.
He doesn’t believe there is pressure in sport.
He thinks he can make every throw.
He’s convinced he’s the best player, let alone quarterback, in this draft.
When asked to describe himself in one word, he responded: “Dawg.”
“I think the tape tells you everything,” Ward said. “I’ve said it many times: I’m the best player in the country. The tape says it all.
Ward, 22, showed a humble side, pointing out areas of improvement he can make, whether it’s missing receivers on occasion or taking too many sacks.
But that’s nitpicking.
Ward had a remarkable year, going from a quiet star at Washington State to a top-four Heisman finalist after leading Miami to its first 10-win campaign in seven years.
Ward threw for 4,123 yards, completed a career-high 67.4 percent of his passes and produced 40 total touchdowns.
Although Miami narrowly missed the College Football Playoff, Ward is still determined to play in the Hurricanes’ bowl game against Iowa State on Dec. 28.
Closing the year with a victory is important to him.
Then it’s time to start training for the NFL Draft.
If Ward lands with the Giants, his arrival will carry extremely high expectations.
He will be anointed as the savior, expected to help bring the Giants back after another lost season.
This doesn’t seem to bother Ward.
“I don’t really believe in pressure,” said the winner of the Davey O’Brien Award, given to the nation’s top quarterback. “I play football. Don’t call, that’s all I can say. Enjoy your life, play, everything will work out.
He added: “I like a team that’s going to pick me. I like a team that wants a winner. You want to win. You know who you’re going to get.
Ward had to take a circuitous route to get here.
He was an unranked prospect out of Columbia High School in Texas.
As a sophomore at Incarnate Word, he threw 47 touchdown passes.
He put up solid numbers the next two seasons at Washington State, but he was still an unknown commodity nationally.
That changed this year in a major way.
Today he is on the verge of stardom.
“It’s been special,” he said of the past year. “Personally, what we accomplished as a team in the regular season, everything went well. It just allows you to put things into perspective and see how hard you’ve worked to get to where you want to be. …I’m not surprised. I have been doing it since the Incarnate Word. I’m just doing it on a bigger stage now.
Ward’s only downside to living in this neighborhood would be the traffic.
He thought Miami was bad before he got to New York.
“It’s a good thing the Giants had me, the stadium isn’t here in New York,” Ward said with a smile. “It will be easy to get there.”
