NFL draft prospects opting out of their bowl games to avoid injuries has become so commonplace in college football that it’s actually surprising when players like Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders and Travis Hunter don’t do it. But Miami quarterback Cam Ward did something on Saturday that takes opt-outs to another level.
Ward played in Miami’s bowl game, threw three touchdown passes in the first half to set a new NCAA Division I career record, and then sat for the second half and watched as his teammates lost a 42-41 heartbreaker to Iowa State.
Even some NFL personnel evaluators who have no problem with players opting out of bowls entirely may have a problem with what Ward did: To play long enough to pad your own individual stats, and then leave in the middle of a game while your teammates are fighting to finish their season as winners, isn’t going to sit right with some in the NFL who are considering whether to draft Ward.
At Miami’s post-game press conference, Miami coach Mario Cristobal declined to say whether he was on board with Ward’s decision.
“All meetings with players, and decisions like that, we made them in private, we keep them in private,” he said, via ESPN. “So, I’ll prefer not to answer any questions as it relates to that. But I know he played his best while he was in there.”
Ward entered the game needing three touchdown passes to hit 156 in his career, which would be one more than the previous record set by Houston’s Case Keenum from 2007 through 2011. Ward got that third touchdown pass of the game in the second quarter and continued playing until halftime, when Miami had a 31-28 lead. He played very well in the first half, but NFL teams will undoubtedly have some questions for him about the second half.
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