By Amy Tennery
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Cam Ward will complete an improbable rise from an overlooked and unranked high school recruit to the presumptive first pick in the NFL Draft on Thursday as the quarterback caps his underdog story in the league’s spotlight.
The Tennessee Titans are expected to select the Heisman finalist first when the draft kicks off in Green Bay, a pick that experts have called as close to a sure thing as one can get in the league’s biggest off-season event.
Few could have scarcely imagined it when Ward was toiling under a run-heavy, Wing T offense that did little to highlight his throwing ability at an unheralded high school program in West Columbia, Texas.
"It does inform some of your toughness. I always like it when you get quarterbacks that maybe didn’t go to the powerhouse high school," NFL Network draft analyst Daniel Jeremiah told reporters ahead of the draft.
"When I go through and watch his tape, one of the things I loved most about him was his ability to pull through tackles. You get guys that get free runs at him and he’s able to just kind of shrug them off."
Ward’s humble origins have merely added to his lore.
He famously received only one college offer - from a second-tier Division I FCS program at Incarnate Word - and played there for two seasons before clawing his way into the top tier of college football at Washington State.
Ward transferred to Miami in his final year of eligibility, coming alive in his send-off season with 4,313 passing yards and 39 touchdowns, school records in each category, and setting the NCAA Division I record for career passing touchdowns.
HUGE EXPECTATIONS
While he may have only had one collegiate team knocking at his door as a high school senior, he had all 32 NFL teams in attendance at Miami’s Pro Day last month, where scouts and reporters piled in to watch him show off his arm.
"It goes back to me not forgetting where I came from. There was one point where I didn’t have one camera looking at me - now the whole world’s looking at me," he told reporters.
"So I carry myself a certain type of way. All I want to do is play football and be with my teammates. So as long as I am a good person, be a good person in the locker room as well, I think it will work out in the long run."
Ward will hope to shrug off the colossal expectations with the Titans just as well as he brushed off the early sceptics, as Tennessee fans pin their hopes on the Heisman finalist to turn things around after three straight losing seasons.
The Titans finished last season with three wins and 14 losses, as starting quarterback Will Levis had 13 touchdowns and 12 interceptions - including four pick-6s - in an injury-dented season that saw him sacked 41 times.
Ward told the team during Pro Day that he was "solidifying" his spot as the number one pick - a statement that reflected the kind of killer confidence that head coach Brian Callahan said the team would welcome.
"I like confidence. I think that’s a good thing. When you’re in the conversation for the number one pick there’s a lot that comes with it," he told the NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo.
"To have fun with that is a good thing."