For weeks, just about everyone in and around the NFL knew that the Tennessee Titans were selecting University of Miami quarterback Cam Ward with the No. 1 overall pick. After the draft, Ward was asked how he's going to prove that the Titans were right to take him with the top pick.

The name Cam Ward has very different meanings in North Carolina's Research Triangle and the rest of the country. In Raleigh, N.C., he is forever the nerve center of the Carolina Hurricanes' 2006 Stanley Cup team—the rookie who backstopped his squad to the promised land.