Mario Cristobal has won a lot of recruiting battles. But none were bigger than the signing of elite QB Transfer Cam Ward, who chose Miami over the NFL. Ward met with reporters after spring practice to discuss the chip on his shoulder, Coach Dawson's offensive scheme and fishing:

On earning the trust of his teammates: It means everything. As a quarterback, you’ve got to win over the guys in the locker room. If you come in acting a certain type of way, that won't happen. It all comes down to being a team player. You’ve got to be a team player with the coaching staff, with the guys in the locker room, with the walk-ons. It’s been everything that I expected when I came here. I'm just happy to be here.

On his decision to come to Miami: That was one of the hardest decisions I had to make, from thinking I was ready for the NFL Draft to knowing that I'm still not done yet in college. There's still food left on the table for myself and for this team. The guys that we returned from last season, the majority of the O-line, we get the whole receiving core back, key pieces to the defense. It's just plug and play.

A playmaker like myself in the backfield, along with good running backs like [Mark Fletcher, Chris Johnson, Ajay Allen] when he gets back. This is the right program, not only for myself, but the guys who are here right now and who are going to end up coming here.

It starts one game at a time and one practice at a time. I play with an edge. I wasn't given anything. I had to earn my way all the way. I had to start off at an FCS. I only had one offer out of high school. So I never lose that. I carry that with me every day. Every time I wake up, I tell myself, “Let's go get it.” What you're going to see from me, from the team, is a team who plays hard. From the first snap to the last snap of the game, we're going to play hard.

On his favorite part of Miami, aside from football: The fishing. I caught a couple mangrove snapper. I want to go mahi fishing. I haven't done that yet. My least favorite thing is the traffic. If you’re on Red Road, US 1, that traffic ain't no joke.

On talking trash to his teammates: Somebody’s got to do it. I really do it to get the D-line activated. If they hear it from me, the whole team’s going to start doing it. Everybody has got to bring it to practice every day. If you come out and talk a little something, they're going to end up clapping back.

That's what I love about our defense. When we talk, they're going to clap back. It’s all love at the end of the day. None of it carries over into the locker room. We're a competitive team, from the top of the depth chart to the bottom of the depth chart. When it's game time, we’re together.

On his fit in Shannon Dawson’s offense: It's real good. I describe it as an Air Raid, just in the huddle. It's a lot of concepts that I've been running since I started college.

Coach Dawson allows me to be myself. He lets me really coach the receivers on what I see. So that's a big “hat’s off” to him. When I came in, he took me under his wing and showed me the offense within a week. We’ve just been learning and growing ever since.

On his relationship with Shedeur Sanders: We’ve got a good relationship. I met Shedeur about two-and-a-half years ago. We work with the same quarterback coach out of Houston, Daryl Colbert. He's a good dude. The things he's done in Colorado already, I'm not surprised as much as people are. He’s going to continue to prove people wrong this year. Hopefully, we'll get a chance to meet him in the playoffs if we get there.

On the tight end room: Probably the best tight end group I’ve played with in college. And I played with some talented guys. They all give us a different way of how they move. Elija Lofton, the freshman, he's a do-it-all. He can one-hand, two-hand. We have him at running back right now. I describe him as more of a Deebo Samuel who can do it all.

Arroyo, he's a dog. You put him out there versus linebackers, versus safeties, he knows how to win in man coverage. He's good versus zone. And then finally getting Cam [McCormick] back, who's great in pass protection. He's great in the flat routes for us. I feel like we have just different varieties in our tight end room.

On Meesh Powell: That's the reason why I go so hard every day in practice. I never beat Meesh. I'm 0-2 against Washington. It still bothers me to this day, but he's a great player.

He's really starting to be that leader on defense, which they need, especially in the back end. Him and Strep (Xavier Restrepo), they’re going at it each and every day. Strep has the highlight plays in one-on-ones. When we go team [drills], they go back and forth. Meesh is a good add for this team and he's gonna make plays for us this season. I'm just happy I'm be on the field with him now, so I don't have to play against him.

On protecting the ball: Ball security is job security in my position. That’s something that I've been putting an emphasis on since I got here. Coach Dawson has, too. I know it's on me to protect the ball. That’s something I got to get better at. I'm looking to improve on it this year.

On the wide receivers: They're good. From JoJo Trader, X, [Jacolby George], Isaiah Horton, who's had a great spring. Those guys see the field the way I see the field. The biggest thing we see in the field is space. You’ve got to know where to get to and when to get there. You can't lollygag around. You’ve got to run.

I told them if we play fast and we play hard, there's not going to be a lot of teams in the country with answers for us. My job is just putting the ball in space. Those guys will make all the plays. The O-line does the hard work. I just put the ball in play and let those guys eat.

On whether the Canes are back: We don't really get into that because at the end of the day, we haven't won an ACC championship. We’re just starting from the ground up and going day-by-day, not worrying about August 31st. Our last spring practices out here were probably our best ones on both sides of the ball. We’re really just trying to plug and play guys who we feel can create matchup problems for our defense and other teams when we get into the season. It’s playing one play at a time and just playing together. That's the biggest thing.

On the offensive line: When I watched the film before I got here, they gave up 10 or 11 sacks. But when I really watched it, they only gave up six. That was the biggest thing that stood out to me. From Anez Cooper, leading the charge up front, [Jalen Rivers], Zach Carpenter, the center we just got in. It's been good.

The thing about those guys is that they wanna do it. They wanna be those big bodies. I do the easy stuff. I don't really have to touch nobody. I spread the ball around, hand the ball to the running backs, and we’re all gonna eat at the end of the day.

On coleslaw as a side: Coleslaw is nasty in my opinion. I'm not getting no coleslaw.