The last time a Texan was taken first overall in the NFL Draft was 2019, when the Arizona Cardinals selected quarterback Kyler Murray. The draft is the league’s annual event where teams pick new players from college to add to their roster.

Murray had the typical pedigree of a first overall pick – he won three state championships with powerhouse Allen High School and was named Mr. Texas Football twice. His father was a star quarterback at Texas A&M. Colleges coveted him.

On Thursday, when the NFL holds the 2025 draft, another quarterback from Texas is expected to be the top overall pick: Cam Ward, who played at West Columbia High School, south of Houston. But his path to the professional ranks looked quite a bit different from Murray’s.

Michael Shapiro , sports reporter for chron.com, recently profiled Ward . He spoke to the Texas Standard about the quarterback’s circuitous route to the NFL.

Texas Standard: Well, Cam Ward most recently played for the University of Miami in Florida, but his high school ball was in West Columbia, about 60 miles south of Houston. What makes his story unique for a potential No. 1 pick in the draft?

Michael Shapiro: You know, as you mentioned, Kyler Murray was a quarterback that was celebrated throughout his high school career. Cam Ward was unknown throughout his high school career.

West Columbia is a population of under 4,000 people, and Cam Ward’s offense in high school was called the Wing T, which focused on running the ball and passing fewer than 10 times per game.

So Cam only had one collegiate offer. He was a zero star quarterback. And now four years later, he expects to be the No. 1 overall pick in the NFL draft.

So how did he get here? I mean, it’s some hard work, obviously, but turning the attention on himself. How did he work up that attention?

His one collegiate offer came from Incarnate Word in San Antonio, which is an FCS program, and the only reason he ended up there was because him and his dad went to a camp at Incarnate Word when he was in high school. Eric Morris, then the coach and Incarnate Word, saw his talent, offered him a scholarship on the spot, and Cam that fall went to Incarnate Word.

From there, he went to Washington State as a transfer. He then went to Miami as a transfer. And all these stops later will now place him likely with the Tennessee Titans.

That’s some hustling. I mean, tell me about going from Incarnate Word in San Antonio, which is not exactly known as a football powerhouse. What did he do there that got him to that next step?

When Cam arrived at Incarnate Word, he wasn’t even the starting quarterback there. He had to overtake the incumbent who had the job for multiple years. And that kind of is a story that Cam has followed really at every single stop.

He went from Incarnate Word, where he starred as a starter for two years, to Washington State. There, he was not immediately the starter, and guess what? He won the job again. Then Eric Morris left for a job at North Texas, and Cam Moore thought, I need to go expand my profile.

So where did he go? One of the biggest programs in Miami. He was not guaranteed the starting gig. And once again, he made it work and finished fourth in the Heisman Trophy voting.

Talk about his record. I mean, some touchdown numbers that are kind of unheard of.

Yeah, it’s actually really interesting because as we noted earlier, Cam Ward really never got to throw the ball very much in high school. Once he got to college, he really couldn’t stop throwing it, right? He, after four years, was college football’s all-time passing touchdowns leader.

And he kind of credits Eric Morris, the guy at Incarnate Word, for letting him fly. Eric Morris, when he recruited Cam, said, if you come here, you can throw the bowl about 50 times a game. And Cam said that’s all I needed to hear.

Let’s talk about the Tennessee Titans. They’ve got the first overall pick in this draft on Thursday. Why do so many people think they’ll pick Ward? What makes him worth it?

You know, I think there are two kind of things pointing to Cam going to Tennessee. First, there’s the need for the Titans, who are still looking for their kind of quarterback of the future after a few years in the NFL wilderness.

As for Cam Ward, I think two things are standing out. There is the arm talent and the physical tools. He’s been compared to Patrick Mahomes. He’s being compared to Murray himself. Then there’s this kind of self-belief and confidence.

Even though he’s a kid from a small town, even though he is a kid that really wasn’t heralded in high school, every coach I’ve talked into says, Cam thinks he can be one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL. And the plays he puts on tape kind of show that.

He has clearly worked so hard, overcome the odds. But you got to talk to Ward for this story, and something that stuck out to me is, really, he’s still kind of mad, right? Can you talk about that and how he’s using that to fuel himself?

100%. You know, he said kind of unprompted, there is a chip on his shoulder that people really just didn’t recognize his talents up until even later in his college years.

Now, he’s not a kid who’s necessarily bitter at a situation, but he remembers and thinks about the long hours him and his dad would drive around the state, different high school and college camps, looking for a collegiate offer that wouldn’t come until Incarnate Word believed in him.

For a while, it was really Cam and his parents as the people who believed in his football talent. Now it seems like the world is finally starting to figure out.