Mel Kiper Jr. condemns Miami Hurricanes football coach Mario Cristobal’s ‘nonsense’ draft night accusation involving Cam Ward, Shedeur Sanders

ESPN analyst Mel Kiper Jr. and Miami Hurricanes football coach Mario Cristobal entered a potential blood feud on Wednesday.

It all started after the former caught wind of the latter’s accusation that Cam Ward was upstaged on the night of the NFL draft because of Shedeur Sanders’ infamous three-day slide down the board.

Cristobal told Action Network’s Brett McMurphy that he never heard from Kiper during the entire draft build-up, even though it was common knowledge Ward would go No. 1 overall to the Tennessee Titans.

“I can’t recall many NFL teams or TV people I didn’t speak to,” Cristobal said.

“Never heard from him. I don’t think I’ve ever talked to him.”

Kiper strongly rebuked that statement with a tweet oozing with resentment, though he confirmed Cristobal’s claim that they never spoke.

“Mario Cristobal claims he spoke to a million people about Cam Ward, yet the one he didn’t speak to, being me, had Ward ranked higher (6th on my Big Board) than any of the other draft experts. Interesting isn’t it. And oh by the way, I didn’t speak to Deion about Shedeur either. I need another Orange Crush after this nonsense,” Kiper said.

Cristobal stirring the pot is a great way to stick up for his former quarterback. As Shedeur aims to win the Browns' starting quarterback job, Ward will continue being buried in the news cycle with mostly positive headlines in Nashville.

A little drama from Cristobal and Kiper, who will finally speak soon if they haven’t already, is the perfect way to get Ward in on Shedeur’s “Prime Time” spotlight.