Seizing opportunities is nothing new for Treshaun Ward.
The walk-on tailback has done it during each of his first two seasons at Florida State, and he did it again on Saturday.
With starting tailback Jashaun Corbin seeing limited reps and Auburn transfer D.J. Williams getting nicked up early in the Seminoles' first spring scrimmage, FSU gave Ward a heavier workload than expected. And the Plant City, Fla., product was arguably the star of the day, rushing 13 times for 134 yards and three touchdowns (according to our unofficial statistics).
"I'm very, very excited about what I'm seeing from him," FSU head coach Mike Norvell said of Ward. "He's a young man that showed some great flashes as the season went this past year. I know in the Duke game had a couple of really explosive runs. I like what he's showing what he can do."
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Indeed, Ward received his first carry of the 2021 season late in the first quarter of the Seminoles' season finale against Duke, and he immediately broke loose for a 26-yard touchdown. His next carry came in the fourth quarter, and he took that one for 28 yards.
One year earlier, Ward was pushed into playing time as a true freshman when the Seminoles were without several top running backs in the Sun Bowl. He carried the ball 10 times for 44 yards in that game.
In both instances, FSU was slightly short-handed in the offensive backfield. And in both instances, Ward delivered.
"We put him in the game vs. Duke, he scores a touchdown" offensive coordinator Kenny Dillingham said, "Comes out in spring ball, continues to produce."
Ward is producing so much that he might not need to wait for opportunity to come knocking once again. He might just have kicked the door down himself.
While offensive statistics can sometimes be misleading in spring scrimmages, Ward earned most of the yards he gained Saturday. On one 27-yard gain, he broke through a tackle attempt by safety Brendan Gant just past the line of scrimmage. On another, he juked Gant in the open field.
Ward had three runs of at least 25 yards.
"I've been very excited about his growth," Norvell said.
The Seminoles are so intrigued by the talented walk-on that Norvell said he actually factored Ward's potential into his decisions about signing additional running backs in the 2021 recruiting class.
While FSU did bring in Williams, the transfer from Auburn, the Seminoles did not sign a high school running back in this cycle. Norvell implied that's because they believe Ward has the potential to be as good as, or better than, anyone that was on the open market.
