While Tennessee has Will Levis, who started 12 games last season, it would be anything but surprising if Ward is the starter in Week 1 of the 2025 campaign. It's not as if Levis was excellent while going 2-10 with 13 touchdown passes to 12 interceptions in those 12 starts, and the Miami product brings a much higher ceiling.

The reason Ward started at a smaller college was that he didn't get many chances to show off his passing talents in high school. He ran the Wing-T offense during high school in the small town of West Columbia, Texas. He didn't have one FBS scholarship offer coming out of high school.