Potential first-round NFL Draft pick Cam Ward had a spectacular college football season playing for the Miami Hurricanes in 2024. The quarterback played his last game in the Pop-Tarts Bowl, which apparently ended in controversy as Ward didn’t show up in the second half of the matchup despite securing a 31-28 lead for his team.
Former NFL player and current analyst Emmanuel Acho came forward to share his opinion on the situation and gave advice to head coach Mario Cristobal, who was likely protecting his QB in the press conference.
Emmanuel Acho Issues Blunt Remarks on the Cam Ward Situation
Mario Cristobal wants to stay quiet to the detriment of Cam Ward, and the fan base. But I just received the other side to the Cam Ward situation from those in the know: https://t.co/vRSfqeBnlJ pic.twitter.com/r3DqbV0R2v
— Emmanuel Acho (@EmmanuelAcho) December 30, 2024
Draft prospects often choose to opt out of postseason games to focus on the NFL Scouting Combine and pre-draft conditioning. But players like Ward refused to follow this trend and showed up for one last time in a Miami jersey.
He threw for 190 yards and completed 12 of 19 attempts while also setting a new Division I passing touchdown record with 158. In the second half, though, Ward didn’t suit up, which apparently was an agreement between him and the head coach.
Acho, who believes in transparency, claimed that Cristobal should have mentioned it in the postgame presser.
“I can’t make sense of it. You probably can’t make sense of it, but that was the agreement. It seems to me, like Mario Cristobal, the head coach hung him out to dry. Why am I saying that? Because if that was the agreement before the game, that Cam was only going to play until halftime, then after the game, Cristobal say that,” Acho said.
“Because now you got Cam Ward looking crazy to potential general manager scouts, but more importantly to the fan base, to people that might have bet on the game, and might have bet that Cam Ward was going to pass for over 200 yards or so. Cristobal, you’re the head man, say that. I understand being coy before the game and trying to not disguise the strategy.
“But if the approach was that Cam was going to play for a half, and then you wanted to see the backup quarterback, Emory [Williams], for the second half because he is going to be the future of the program, then say that and protect the player, jump on the grenade, fall on the sword. But now you got Cam looking crazy because it looked like Cam wanted to chase a record,” he added.
Ward is expected to be a top-five pick in the 2025 NFL Draft, with the Cleveland Browns or Tennessee Titans as potential suitors in contention for the Miami QB. The Titans, specifically, are on the lookout for a future franchise quarterback. Having Ward in the locker room would help head coach Brian Callahan build a roster for the future.