Cam Ward | Postgame Press Conference | 8.31.24

for you today it is real special um them boys they bring it everyday practice since I got here in January uh the one side we gave that's on me that was a bad pocket Movement by myself they been they played a clean game all all day from a Russian attack U that a standpoint that we wanted to hit on all this uh preparation for this game and from the passing attack uh you know they really protected me uh receivers did their job but you know the oan they had a great job toight cam your first game as a hurricane with basically about as well as it possibly could have gone just um what was what's the like for you you know going into a big rival stadium and getting a win just how what are you feeling like right now I'm feeling good um bodywise shout out to the old line um prepar preparation wise I think this one of the best you know prepared I've been since coming into college um but you know we only enjoining it for a short amount of time you know I think that's the biggest thing we got to be able to handle success and you know really just be able to you know focus on you know the next thing not really not necessar looking to you know the past and the future but continue to take it step by step having to prove something what kind of statement do you feel like you made today um I had to prove it to myself to my to my 17 18y old self um when I want to you know be a sec Corbat high school and you know I can grateful say that God put me in this position to play against SEC team it didn't work out how I wanted early on but you know he got a different plan for me and you know just just the you know things that I had to go through personally on recruiting wise let me all to this moment around great teammates around great coaching staff and you know we all we all just you know wanted to win and that was the biggest thing no one's in it for for the stat boo no one's in it you know for the self you know we got the the biggest thing that we want today that was win feel like you made a statement uh I believe we did um and I think we I think we made more of a statement on you know physicality not not so of just you know ourselves I feel like the best thing for us that we did this game we're very physical in the trenches your arrival at Miami has been uh anticipated by a lot of people a lot of Miami fans waiting for you know the Resurgence of this program what was it like coming in having a lot to put on your shoulders a lot of expectations for you personally and what you were going to do with this team and and what's it like now to to get through a major test early you know do it really well um I'm not really into the into the pressure stuff uh at the end of the day football's a game uh I'm more hard on myself than anybody can ever be on me media wise uh friends wise family wise I'm I'm most hard of myself I'm my biggest critics so you know I feel like the the more I can just stay in the moment the more this team can stay in the moment you know everything would you know hope out for the best for us coach really had to drag you off the field there at the end at that timeout why why did you want to stay in till the L end uh just just so you know we can you know happily take that that Victory need uh run the ball out and you know it just shows the hard work that we did you know since January uh summer fall Camp um and you know him taking us out you know it's smart move by his by his decision you know I'm not going to knock him for it but you know coach Chris balls you know he's he's one of the best coaches you know out here in the country um he allows us to be ourself and you know he really wants what's best for each person on the team he also wants to the best for the team you take us through the touchdown pass to jaob um really just a good play by Jobe um them me allowing to extend the play uh that's something that I feel like it was one of my best traits um but I feel like once I got what I got better at since last year is staying in the pocket more and you know jacobe George he's one of the best receivers in the country uh he showed that today he's one of the best receivers in scramble Drew and he'll continue to show that throughout the throughout the year and you know we got a receiving Court like that you have a tight end Court like us you know it's hard to you know Play Man or Play Zone uh cuz at some point someone someone's going to break on the defense and we really didn't get a chance of get in our bag like that as an offense that we really wanted to but you know routine plays wins games and you know that's something that we did offensively you know defensively they helped us out R play though that was not a routine play you know I made I made a play like that before uh so you know it's a routine play to me uh great catch by him uh you know he was able to have good spal awaring back in C was your first game with uh with playing with X um was there anything about his game that kind of surprised you like you know obviously had a very good game today uh nothing surprised me about X he shows up every day uh and it starts in practice uh if y'all see the plays that he made in practice U you know it's remarkable and then the corner touch down to him that's something that you know we work uh at the end of the day that concept that we run is going to be hard to defend because how me and ex uh see space so I can drive it on I can throw him back Cross Field I can throw it the true Corner route uh so that that that con it was a win-win situ situation for us and that was a great play call by coach Dawson did you have any critiques for him on that uh that wide receiver pass play uh that was a c low key Sam Sam got a Sam got a one hand that one for him but he he threw a good ball had a big decision to go to the NFL but you decide to come back to college football how how you feeling about your decision to come to University of Miami today right now it was the best decision I made um even going through that process back in January that's one of the hardest decision I had to make as a as a person as a player um but you know I I wanted to accomplish lot uh in college and especially at the FBS level I won a lot of games at the FCS level uh so when I made that jump to power five I didn't get the experience that I want it early on and you know God gave me another he gave me another shot to come do it in Miami and you know what other uh place would you want to do it that I mean especially in the city like that with fans like that who's going to travel um like they did today so you know uh shout out to them you know they came they showed out stayed the whole game you know you know we going try to keep on honoring them how do you how do you keep these guys levelheaded and focused you know after a big victory like this um really just sticking to the process I would say not really get getting into the into the future um you know we going to celebrate this one until we get to that plane ride soon we land back in Miami we're on the F you so you know that's how that's just how I am as a person that's how you know we are as a team that's how we're going to continue to be as a team and you know just stick to the stick to it day by day and you know take it one step at a time more there were 990,000 people full throws at the beginning of this game loud as hell I don't know if this was the loudest environment it wasn't um I played I played at USC USC wasn't pack but it was louder than this um I played Oregon it was louder than this um the Pack 12 the pat 12 get been stoken for been spoken for the pat 12 that's where I believe real real uh football is played uh Mech pal even come from Wasington Washington was one of the L environments I played um and some I say advice to the fans um if you're going to be loud he have to be loud when we're huddling can't just be loud once we break the Huddle but that time it's no point you know we hear the play We're communicate we communicate already um but you know it was a good it was a good atmosphere to play in and you know I'm just excited that you know we were able to know get a victory last last question part two of Manny's uh okay about the crowd because I want to ask that I mean that has to give you guys confidence to to play like you did in front of 90,000 people who are screaming a lot of to the end kind of yeah um practice was way way Louder Than This u i mean we have a speaker blowing your ear from five yards behind you it's kind of hard to hear stuff in Ho so you know the coaches and Coach staff coach Chris and Coach staff they prepared us for this moment they prepared us for this game and you know we're going to have another you know Big Town roll game uh eventually down the road where the crowd's going to be uh you know sold out and you know we're going to continue to you know play our brand of football be physical and not not let the crowd noise you know distract us and just continue to you know make plays uh day in and day out awesome Camp thank you