Top 2025 Hoops Prospect Cam Ward Has Relationships With Notre Dame Staff
Cam Ward has already emerged as one of the nation’s top prospects in the Class of 2025.
The Florida power forward’s offer sheet includes schools like Notre Dame, Maryland, Georgetown, Florida State, Arkansas, Tennessee, Texas, Texas A&M and Syracuse among others.
The 6-foot-7, 205-pounder plays for his father at Largo High School.
Rodney Ward attributes the attention and offers to the way his son has performed as he’s gone through the ranks.
“I'd say playing the game the right way and being pretty talented and performing the right way and performing at a high level,” Coach Ward says. “Cam had great freshman and sophomore campaigns here at Largo High School, playing in the DC/Maryland area with pretty strong competition and also the level of success he had playing travel ball with Team Durant on the Nike EYBL circuit.
“I think that kind of separates him in that on all of those stages, he's still been the same guy he's been in high school, the same guy he's been pretty much since he's been playing basketball.”
Ward’s 6-11 wingspan, athleticism and versatility make him an attractive prospect.
“Those are the types of things they look like for in the modern era of basketball and how it's played,” his father says. “He can play multiple positions. They like that about him a lot too, the way he can guard 1 through 4.
“Also offensively, he's got a lot of versatility. He's played center for us at times last year and even on the circuit with Team Durant. They just love his ability to do a lot of different things in the court and that versatility.”
The offer from Notre Dame wasn’t a complete shock given the fact that Micah Shrewsberry was recruiting him to Penn State.
“That was the initial relationship and this whole recruiting game is basically coming down to just that, relationships with the programs and the coaches,” Coach Ward says. “Even Coach (Mike) Farrelly, the assistant coach who came on board with Coach this year.
“I've known him since I think he was a grad assistant or even just coming to the game working Hoop Group and Five-Star camps way back in the day. That means a lot, just knowing different guys and not having to start cold with relationships.
“Knowing Coach Shrews from last year at Penn State, that played a big part in in it not just being another offer amongst the 20 or 30 offers that he has. It's the fact that it is Coach Shrewsberry, a guy who picked up on Cam early last year and invited him up to Penn State for an unofficial visit. They let us watch practice and talked to us for quite a bit of time, came off as a really genuine dude.”
Ward is currently working on getting a visit set to South Bend soon.
“Coach Farrelly and Coach Shrews are trying to work that out hopefully this fall if all the dates line up,” his father says. “I guess he wants to make sure he can come up and see the campus and probably catch a football game, so it'll have to be one of the weekends when Notre Dame is playing a football game.”
Ward expects to make similar trips to schools like Florida State and Syracuse this fall.
Still, Ward is in no hurry to make a final decision.
“He’s getting ready to go into junior year, two more years of high school and just letting him enjoy the process of being a high school student and enjoying the high school experience, so no rush whatsoever,” his father says.
“I just want him to see what's out there and also be able to get on campuses for all the schools that he likes and see how he feels being there because ultimately it's going to come to a level of comfort that he has with the staff and also the areas and parts of the country.
“I just want him to see everything.”
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