Start calling Cam Ward the Human Alarm Clock.

Ward, the Tennessee Titans‘ No. 1 draft pick and quarterback of the future, is keeping his college routine to the best of his ability a couple weeks into his pro career, and that means arriving at the Titans’ practice facility at 5 a.m. daily to get a little extra study and prep time in.

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Naturally, he’s brought some friends along.

“Xavier Restrepo told me that he and Cam did that in college,” tight end Gunnar Helm said. “That was all Cam. Obviously, we all want to get better, but (Ward) took the initiative. We started coming in at 5 in the morning. We first got the text the night before our first day. We were ready to go.”

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As Ward explains it, he’s always been the type of person who needs to get his mind right early in the morning to prepare for a day. He did this sort of thing at his stops in college, when practice times are limited by NCAA rules and the need to go to class. And now he’s doing it in his early days as a professional, a time when rookies have so many other classroom, on-field and recovery responsibilities that there isn’t much other time in the day for personal growth.

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For other rookies like Helm, Restrepo, Elic Ayomanor and Chimere Dike, the process is valuable twofold. For starters, it’s a nice crash course into life as a pro. And secondly, it’s a glimpse at Ward’s expectations.

“We started off with film, just watching the game film, seeing the speed, seeing how everything that we’ve installed unfolds on the field. Cam talking us through ‘Hey, I want you to break like this. I want you to be here on this play so that it opens up this other play,’” Helm said. “Just kind of going through that. We’ve started going over the install just so we’re all square on that before practice. And then obviously just asking the quarterback questions.”

Titans coach Brian Callahan encourages these meet-ups, but also has offered Ward some wisdom about dialing back the intensity to preserve energy for November, December and January. NFL seasons are long, and rookies experience the transition differently. JC Latham, the Titans’ first-round pick in 2024, hasn’t hidden the fact that he feels he’ll have to make some significant adjustments to better stay in shape for Year 2.

Of course, Callahan isn’t exactly surprised by Ward’s early enthusiasm.

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“Everybody always starts out out of the gate pretty hot,” Callahan said. “But then you get into actual routine and you understand how long of a season it is and the marathon it is for young players from the time they finish a college season versus the time they finish an NFL season. I’ve made that point. I’m not telling him what to do. But I’m just making the point that there’s a lot ahead of him that he’s not aware of yet when it comes to just the length, the week to week-to-week grind that comes up for these guys. It’s a marathon.”

Ward can’t know the grind until he experiences it. But to this point in his life, he says he’s never been the type of person bothered by being awake before dawn.

“I’m always energized,” Ward said with a smile. “I’m playing football. I’m doing what I love. Not a lot of people can do that in this world.”

Nick Suss is the Titans beat writer for The Tennessean. Contact Nick at nsuss@gannett.com. Follow Nick on X, the platform formerly called Twitter, @nicksuss.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Go inside Cam Ward’s 5 a.m. Titans meetings to understand his goals