Cam Ward reveals Miami used him to help recruit Jeremiah Smith

QB Cam Ward was coming to Miami when he transferred in the portal an offseason ago. Once that was the case, the Hurricanes put him to work to recruit the top recruit in the country.

On ‘Bussin’ With The Boys’, Will Compton asked Ward about something crazy he’d maybe seen while in college in relation to the portal or name, image, and likeness. His answer was recalling when Miami had him trying to make a late push in recruiting WR Jeremiah Smith, the No. 1 overall recruit in 2024 who they would have had to flip from Ohio State.

“I did see something. I was a part of it, actually – when I was going to Miami, and they wanted Jeremiah Smith,” said Ward. “And, at the time, I didn’t know who he was because he was young and I’m trying to get me a place to play (in the portal). And so, they told me to just look him up, watch him a little bit – and that boy a baller.”

“And so, they gave me his phone number, I called him, and I had told him, like, I’m going to Miami. This is before, like, it had went out because I had told him this maybe a week earlier before I told him, so I knew where I was going to go but I’m always going to do everything on my time,” Ward said. “And so, you know, I called him, you know, we chopped it up.”

Smith has discussed this as well in the past, most recently at Big Ten Media Days last month with On3’s Andy Staples and Ari Wasserman. There was a noted holdup that day in getting his paperwork in on signing day, with Smith admitting he had spoken to Ward at some point that day about coming to join him at The ‘U.

“What went into that, me taking a long period of time to send my NLI in, is just people were, stuff like that, you know, the business side of things,” Smith said to them, thinking back on National Signing Day. “But, that night, I definitely talked to Cam Ward. Thought about something, but. I didn’t really tell him. We just got on the phone and he was like, ‘What are you going to do?’. I was like, ‘I don’t know. I don’t know’. Then, like, a couple hours later, I sent the NLI in. I haven’t spoken to him since.

However, having not officially committed and announced that he was going too, Ward thinks that cost the ‘Canes a better chance at actually flipping Smith. He would go on to sign with the Buckeyes, over in-state schools like Miami as well as Florida and Florida State, which Ward couldn’t even blame him for.

“He ended up going to Ohio State,” said Ward. “I was kind of salty but, you know, I’m glad he went to Ohio State.”

“I already knew the offers he had, but I tried to get him there for me, for me so I can have him, you know, a good pass-catcher. But they already had good receivers there, so,” said Ward. “I mean, he was one of the best players to come out of high school. I think he made a great decision going to Ohio State. Just because, productively, what they’ve done in the receiving room there? He’s going to have a chance, you know, in another year or two to be one of the best, you know, receivers to come out of there.”

“I think, if I would’ve committed earlier, I might have had a better chance to get him, but I just waited so long. I literally waited ’till the last day. It’s just, he got, you know, dreams too, he got to make his decision,” Ward added. “So, I think, I think, if I would have, you know, did it a little bit sooner, I think I’d have had a better chance.”

Being two of the best players in the country last season, one could only imagine the numbers that Ward and Smith could have put up had they connected. Ward still led the No. 1 offense in the nation with Miami as a Heisman finalist, throwing for 4,313 yards and 39 touchdowns en route to being the No. 1 pick in the 2025 NFL Draft. Meanwhile, Smith went on to post 76 receptions for 1,315 yards and 15 touchdowns at Ohio State, winning a national title as a true freshman and introducing himself as one of the top overall prospects in recent memory.

In the end, last season still very much worked out for both. What could have been, though, had Ward convinced Smith to come to Coral Gables?