Varez Ward hasn't been in the starting lineup for long.
"Everything is up for grabs," said coach Tony Barbee in a press conference late last year. "I told these guys they've got to earn it on their performance on the floor."
Ward made the starting lineup his sophomore year of high school while playing under coach Terry Posey at Jefferson Davis High School in Montgomery.
"Varez is a very intelligent kid," Posey said. "He really understands the game of basketball. He picks up on things. He's very coachable and very talented. You don't teach talent."
Ward also played on the 2005-06 Alabama 6A state championship team.
"His junior year, he is one of the main reasons we won the state championship," Posey said. "We beat Huffman in the state finals and they had three very good players. (Ward) was a main force for us."
After high school, Ward had his sights set on an out-of-state college.
"I had originally committed to Cincinnati, then I de-committed," Ward said. "Later on in the recruitment I opened it back up whenever more schools started to open, so I took a visit to UTEP where coach Barbee was coach.
"I enjoyed the time out there. I went to Kentucky. I went to Texas. And it came down to it, and I love Texas so that's where I chose first."
After playing 32 games as a freshman, he suffered a season-ending injury, rupturing his right quadriceps tendon three games into his sophomore year.
In fall 2010, Ward transferred to Auburn to be with his mother.
"She was sick and, you know, I was twelve hours away," Ward said. "And it was hard going back and forth, so I wanted to be close to her."
His decision was also swayed by prior relationships.
"I already had a relationship with the coaching staff," Ward said. "Because I already had a visit to UTEP, it made it an easy decision for me to come back and play for coach Barbee."
Ward was a redshirt his first year at Auburn and didn't see any action until 2011.
"Sitting out was horrible for me," Ward said. "That was one of the hardest things in my life to do--to sit out of basketball for two years, because I have been playing all my life."
That's when Barbee announced to his team that starters had to earn their spot.
"I'll never let (sitting out) stop me from going out there and getting out there and competing," Ward said. "That's where I get my motivation from, because this game can be taken away from you at any time, so that's where I look for motivation."
This is Ward's first season starting since 2009, but he isn't letting his prior absence keep him from reaching his own expectations.
"Sitting out all these years, it's been kind of hard to come back," Ward said. "I'm just now getting back to where I used to be as far as my explosiveness. It's been a kind of up-and-down year for me, but you know, the season isn't over, and I'm still trying to get better."
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