OPINION: With Cam Ward off to the NFL, where the Miami Hurricanes quarterback transfer portal search goes from here
Perhaps it wasn’t the best omen that Washington State quarterback Cam Ward pushed back a planned decision from around Christmas to New Year’s Day, foreshadowing his decision today to go pro instead of play next year for the Miami Hurricanes. It’s kind of like waiting for your date to show up at the bar for an 8 p.m. reservation, and a couple of hours later you’re still in a holding pattern.
Usually that doesn’t work out well in the end.
But there are more fish in the sea, right?
And Miami and coach Mario Cristobal is casting out his net.
As of now it appears there are four main possibilities, although more could emerge.
There is, of course, Will Howard. The Kansas State quarterback has been rumored to be heavily considering Ohio State, but he officially visited Miami before the dead period and remains very much a possibility.
ANALYSIS: WILL HOWARD AND HOW HE’D FIT IN AT MIAMI
Then there are some new names emerging on the radar.
One is USC 5-star 2023 signee Malachi Nelson. Ranked the nation’s No. 11 prospect regardless of position in that cycle, he had a shoulder injury that held him back prior to his USC arrival and wound up losing the backup battle behind Caleb Williams to Miller Moss. But there is no disputing Nelson’s elite level of talent.
CaneSport spoke to a source close to Nelson’s situation who said that the quarterback wants to make his portal search “as private as he can.” So don’t expect a lot of public information out there. But the source did confirm Nelson has communicated with Miami coaches … and that he also has numerous other suitors.
Perhaps helping Miami a bit in the Nelson chase is that Cristobal already has a good rapport with Nelson and his family after recruiting him hard to Oregon while he was coaching there. The next step would be taking a visit to Miami after the dead period lifts for transfers Jan. 3, but a visit date has not been confirmed.
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A final option that seems perhaps less likely than the aforementioned two right now is Taulia Tagovailoa, Tua’s younger brother who starred at Maryland and set a Big Ten record with 11,356 passing yards in his career there.
Tagovailoa sat out his team’s bowl game and there are unconfirmed reports he will head to the NFL. If he does opt to return to college it would be expected he’d transfer, and Miami would be considered a frontrunner. But Tagovailoa would also need an NCAA waiver becaues he played five games as a freshman at Alabama in 2019 (to redshirt you need to have played in four or fewer). Because of that situation it’s unclear if Tagovailoa would be able to practice in the spring or even be on the team next year. So that would be a wait-and-see gamble.
Add it all up and the Ward decision is certainly putting a lot of things in motion.
Where it all ends up could have date night turning into a total disaster … or winding up in a perfect marriage.
