Veteran QBs — ‘gunslinger’ Cam Ward and ‘gamer’ Graham Mertz — at forefront of UM-UF opener

If you’re looking for a key matchup for the No. 19 Miami Hurricanes’ season opener against the Florida Gators on Saturday, just look at who will be under center for both teams.

For Miami, it’s Cam Ward, entering his fifth season of college football and first with the Hurricanes.

For Florida, it’s Graham Mertz, entering his sixth season of college football and second with the Gators.

Experience is a valued commodity in college football, especially at quarterback.

That will be the case both this weekend and for the entire season for both teams entering a pivotal Year 3 under their respective head coaches.

“They will have a massive impact on this game,” Hurricanes coach Mario Cristobal said.

Ward continues to get ‘better and better’

For Miami, the attention is on Ward, who has received a heap of recognition since transferring to UM in January before even throwing his first pass for the Hurricanes.

He is the Atlantic Coast Conference Preseason Player of the Year and on watch lists for the Davey O’Brien National Quarterback Award, the Maxwell Award and the Walter Camp Player of the Year Award.

The praise is warranted considering what he has done in his career to this point. Ward has thrown for 13,871 yards and 119 touchdowns during his first four seasons of college football. This included 6,963 yards and 48 touchdowns in two years at Washington State after spending his first two seasons at FCS Incarnate Word.

“Cam Ward has been at different places and at every place he’s been, he’s just gotten better and better and better,” Cristobal said. “Sometimes, he’s been playing from ahead, and sometimes, from behind. But he just plays, and he plays at an extremely high level, and he’s done that since the day he got here. There’s no limitations as it relates to installs, game plan. Sometimes, you’ve got to slow it down so that everybody gets it, but a quarterback like him, he’s so focused and concerned about the team doing well that he’s willing to do whatever it takes to make the team do well. All in all, a winner and an alpha leader.”

Ward on Wednesday said his biggest area of growth since arriving at Miami has come on the mental side and being able to “communicate on the fly.”

Beyond that, he plans to be the same player he has been during the past four years.

“I’m a gunslinger,” Ward said. “That’s just what I do. Continue to be a leader for this team. Continue to put guys in situations that they can be successful and just get the ball to the playmakers.”

Ward has been a quintessential example of valuing the team over individual results. While he knows that a lot of the success will come from what he can do with his right arm, he also is cognizant that how he impacts those around him and how he gets his teammates in a position to thrive is just as important.

“I would say he’s done a really good job of incorporating within our team,” Miami offensive coordinator Shannon Dawson said. “This is not about one person, and that was the one thing I sold to him in recruiting, was I’ll give you an opportunity to come be a part of something that that I feel could be really special and you can be surrounded by really talented guys and showcase your ability. Just conforming to our offense and to our culture is probably the biggest [thing]. I don’t know if he’s been a part of a culture like ours. I know I haven’t before I got here, and so you can see him through time, really incorporate into our culture and embrace it, which is huge, obviously.”

UF’s Mertz ‘decisive,’ ‘on point’

Meanwhile at UF, the Gators are heading into their second season with Mertz as their starting quarterback.

And while the Gators struggled as a whole last season, going just 5-7, Mertz had a breakout season individually.

He completed 72.9 percent of his passes for 2,903 yards and 20 touchdowns against just three interceptions in 11 games (he missed Florida’s season finale against FSU with injury).

His completion percentage ranked third in the country last season, and he was one of just four players (out of 46) in college football with at least 350 pass attempts to throw no more than three interceptions.

“Not enough can be said about their quarterback,” Cristobal said. “I mean, statistically, he leads the country in accuracy under pressure. Certainly, the touchdown-to-interception ratio leads you to understand how accurate, how decisive [he is], what kind of caliber decisions he makes. He’s on point. He’s a very well-coached player. He’s a very smart player, but he is also elusive. He’s got great feet, great body control, [and] he’s got great awareness in the pocket. He’s a winner, and I think now going through a second year in their system, he’s certainly a guy that you have to control throughout the course of the game.”

So how is the Hurricanes defense preparing for that?

“We’ll have to disguise a little bit maybe against him,” Hurricanes defensive coordinator Lance Guidry said, “but he’s gonna know where to go with the football. He’ll take the check down. He won’t always throw it downfield. He’s smart. And then he can run. He can buy time, and when he gets out on perimeter, he’ll try to get you off your feet by pumping the ball and things like that. He’s a gamer.”