Miami football's Cam Ward was as good as advertised in his debut against the Florida Gators last Saturday. The senior quarterback completed 26-of-35 passes for 365 yards in the Hurricanes' 41-17 victory. Ward came into the season as a Heisman hopeful and is off to an emphatic start after laying it on a strong Gators team.

While there is still a lot of season left to play, it's never too early to start predicting college football's most prestigious honor. Ward was showered with awards following his Week 1 dominance. He was named the ACC Quarterback of the Week, The Maxwell Award Player of the Week, made the Davey O'Brien Great 8 List, and Reese's Senior Bowl Offensive Player of the Week, per Miami Hurricanes Football on X, formerly Twitter.

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There is likely more excellence on the way from Ward after a successful Week 1. Miami's statement victory against their in-state rival is the first of many signs that the program is all the way back this year. The ‘Canes have moved up to No. 8 in the top-25 rankings, and host a Florida A&M team for a potential repeat outing from Ward on Saturday. September 7 at Hard Rock Stadium.

Ward showed off why he was one of the most coveted transfers in the portal over the offseason. While he's certainly happy to be playing for a surging Miami squad, he wasn't overly enamored with the crowd noise last week at The Swamp.

“Some advice to the fans: If you're going to be loud, you have to be loud when we're huddling, said Ward, via ESPN. Can't just be loud once we break the huddle. By that time, there's no point. We hear the play. We communicated already. But it was a good atmosphere to play in. And I'm just excited now we were able to get a victory.”