Margie Olivares

Crisp mornings and hot afternoons—it was a change in the weather from what the University of the Incarnate Word football was used to during its regular fall season. 

The team faced a variety of changes because of the COVID-19 pandemic, moving the season to the spring in addition to uncertainty at the quarterback position.

Following the departure of Jon Copeland, who started for UIW the previous two seasons, there was speculation as to who would take the lead for the Cardinals behind center. It was a mystery to those outside, but not inside the locker room.

Cameron Ward wasn’t a household name. There was little to no film as he played the triple option in high school, barely making use of his arm. His astonishing performance at a UIW camp two summers ago displayed his raw talent and led quarterbacks coach Mack Leftwich to offer him a scholarship.

“Coming out of high school, I wasn’t heavily recruited because of the offense I played,” Ward said. “Coach Leftwich got a hold of me on twitter and wanted me to come out to a camp. So I came and immediately right there I took over camp with my throwing ability.”

Despite the impressive showing at camp, Ward was going into his first year of college, during the pandemic, which meant practices were different and the adjustment wasn’t easy.

“It was kind of rocky because I didn’t know what to expect,” Ward said. “When I first got here, trying to learn this offense, it was terrible. I had to learn from my mistakes.”

But it was nothing a little bit of coaching couldn’t fix.

“I’m handing the ball off when I am supposed to throw it was kind of a rough start for me, but coach Leftwich helped me a lot,” Ward said. “He brought me along, we had one-on-one meetings to talk about everything and that helped me a lot.”

Ward ran out to the field on a windy day in Lake Charles, Louisiana, in the first game of the season to emerge as the new face behind center. In his debut, he matched a true-freshman record for most touchdown passes in a game, accounting for four of the five, to open the season with a 48-20 win.

Ward found his home in head coach Eric Morris‘ air raid offense.

“I love to throw the ball,” Ward said. “I like the deep ball, Coach Morris knows I like to go deep. I think about every series I tell him ‘Let’s go deep, Coach, let’s go deep!’”

The following week, Ward continued his explosive play with four touchdown passes and another on the ground against Lamar for another big win on the road.

The momentum didn’t stop there as Ward turned in another impressive performance in UIW’s homecoming matchup against a ranked Southeastern Louisiana team. The teams went blow for blow to start the game, but three consecutive touchdown passes from Ward put the game out of reach despite a high-scoring fourth quarter by the Lions. The freshman had now set a new program-record six touchdown passes in a game.

After three weeks of top-notch performances, the nation and conference took notice as Ward was named Southland Conference Offensive Player of the Week and also received FCS National Freshman Player of the Week.

The Cardinals took their perfect 3-0 record on the road to then-No. 17 Nicholls. Despite a rough loss, Ward still managed to tie his record-six touchdown passes in a game for the second week in a row.

Despite closing out the season with two losses at home against Northwestern State and the conference champion Sam Houston, Ward ended the season on a high note, setting the record for most touchdown passes in a single season, in just six games.

“[Breaking that record] means a lot to me,” Ward said. “It shows all the hard work that I have put in throughout the years to get to where I am.”

His performance in those six games garnered enough attention to land him on the finalist list for the national freshman of the year award at the FCS level, the Jerry Rice Award, eventually winning the honor.

“I think receiving the award is a blessing, it just shows [recruiting] stars don’t mean anything,” Ward reflected. “Coming out of high school, I was a zero-star recruit with one offer. So if you put in the time, you can achieve anything.”

Ward expected to win the award, but it doesn’t block his ambition for his future at UIW.

“I think next season might be the best season yet,” he beamed. “Everyone is ready to play next season, we’re locked in [during the] offseason. I think we’ll have a chance to compete for a conference championship.”