Eric Morris Turned an Overlooked Triple-Option QB Named Cam Ward into a First-Round Pick

STILLWATER — After only 13 years at the coordinator or head coaching level, Eric Morris spent nearly half of that coaching Patrick Mahomes, Baker Mayfield and Cam Ward.

He’s either the luckiest offensive coach in the last decade, or it’s not a coincidence. Oklahoma State is betting on the latter.

“We really believe in the process, number one, that we have recruiting-wise, and our process is different than everybody else’s,” Morris said. “Sometimes it’s a little bit slower than everybody else’s. Because all those guys are uniquely talented in their own way, none of them are the same.

“The one thing that sets all those guys apart is their ability to process information really fast and what’s going on in between the brains. And so we have a way that we’re able to judge that in the recruiting process.”

Morris is the first to admit he learned a lot about identifying talented quarterbacks from Kliff Kingsbury and Mike Leach, two giants when it comes to offensive success on the football field in recent decades.

Speaking of which, Morris’ time with Mahomes and Mayfield came during his stint under Kingsbury at Texas Tech. Crediting all their success to Kingsbury would be easy.

Even though North Texas quarterback Drew Mestemaker led the nation in passing in more ways than one this fall, opposing coaches on the recruiting trail could attempt to dismiss this point by arguing that Mestemaker’s accomplishments came at the non-Power Four level.

What Morris did with Ward proves none of it was coincidental.

The two first crossed paths when Ward surprised Morris and his assistants at a camp during his time at Incarnate Word.

“He (Ward) starts throwing the ball, and Mack (Leftwhich) comes over and says, ‘hey, you got to come down and watch this guy throw,’” Morris said. “We’re just warming up the time, like 10 yard throws, getting the kids warm, and the ball is popping off this kid’s hand, and so, you know, you mark his number. And so we went through evaluating.

“So he had such a good day at camp, we kept him afterwards to kind of put him through a personal workout, and put him through some of the throws that he’s going to have to make in our offense. And just was as good of a camp as I’ve ever been around, besides Patrick Mahomes.”

Morris prioritized watching Ward’s tape and realized one reason he’d been completely off everyone’s radar. Ward ran a triple-option offense, which rarely utilized his arm.

“You could see a couple of downfield shots early on some heavy play action where, you know, everything came to life and was exactly what we needed,” Morris said. “And then really, we fell in love with watching him play basketball, and all time, leading scorer at his high school, unbelievable shot, kept his eyes up, saw space extremely well.”

That isn’t a unique situation to Ward. Morris said he likes to recruit quarterbacks who play other sports.

“It’s hard to really tell their temperament and the way they interact with teammates with a helmet on, you know, when you’re evaluating them. And so I think you can gather a lot of information about what kind of teammate they are with baseball or, you know, all these guys. John Mateer, I offered a scholarship on the baseball diamond. You know, same thing with Baker Mayfield on the baseball diamond.”

Morris played a huge role in Ward’s development, serving as either his head coach or offensive coordinator for his first three years of college football, the same ones that turned him into a coveted transfer portal asset, which eventually led him to Miami in 2024.

The once-overlooked triple option quarterback never completed less than 60% of his pass attempts in a season, threw at least 23 touchdowns every season, and only threw double-digit interceptions once (10 in his second season when he attempted nearly 600 passes).

“And so if I take a three-star quarterback, nobody get mad at me,” Morris said. “Like that’s all I can say. We have a set of qualifications in a kind of a formula that we have to recruiting these guys.”