CaneSport's Inside the Lines with Miami Hurricanes quarterback Emory Williams

When the Miami Hurricanes were able to land Washington State quarterback Cam Ward in the transfer portal, there was a trickle-down impact felt by the entire Miami roster. Obviously everything changed for Miami’s receivers and the outlook of the entire Miami offense took on a different mindset.

But no player on the Miami offense may have been more affected than quarterback Emory Williams.

When you add the addition of Albany transfer Reese Poffenbarger, who was initially lured to compete for the starting job with Williams, the quarterback room at Miami has gotten better and also more crowded.

But Williams is at the early stages of his Miami career and now faces a possible redshirt this season that would leave him with three seasons of eligibility.

CaneSport sat down with Williams and discussed that and several other topics as Miami prepares for the August 31 season opener at Florida. The complete interview is posted here.

“I’m 100% looking to learn from Cam Ward,” Williams said. “A guy like him, he’s seen it. He’s done it at a very high level his whole career.

“So just picking his brain, anytime I get the opportunity, it has always been helpful. I can already see numerous instances where just learning from him and hearing what he has to say, both on the field and off the field, it has been a tremendous help.”

The last time we saw Williams was when he was trying to lead a Miami comeback at Florida State and suffered a compound arm fracture while scrambling for a first down. He extended his arms as he crashed hard to the ground and his left arm took the brunt of the impact. Players and coaches surrounded him on the field as his arm was placed in a sling. He was taken from the field to a Tallahassee hospital before flying home with the team.

That injury obviously ended his season.

“Luckily, I mean, we are blessed with the best sports medicine staff in the business, and they’ve done a great job getting my arm right, and it feels 100%,” Williams said. “It looks good, and everything’s ready to go.”

Williams saw action in five games for Miami last season and finished with 470 passing yards and three touchdowns on 44-for-71 passing (62.0 completion percentage). He started the Clemson game and helped lead the team to a double-overtime victory, finishing 24-for-33 for 151 yards with one touchdown and one interception. The FSU game was his second start and he threw for two touchdowns and 175 yards before exiting with arm injury.

“My mind is just focused on getting better. How can I get better, and how can I improve?” Williams said. “I’m learning from Cam, even learning from Reese who has done at a high level, too. So just learning from both those guys, and letting the chips fall where they fall, and we’ll see where that takes us.

“What would mean the most to me is if I continue just to get better and I’m ready whenever my name is called, whenever you’re needed, right, kind of like last year. It was extremely huge. I mean, playing at that high of a level against the best teams, some of the best teams in the nation, it really shows you where you’re okay and definitely the areas you need to improve.”