Vernon Adams is transferring from Eastern Washington to Oregon where he hopes to be the successor to Heisman Trophy winner, Marcus Mariota with the Ducks.
The Oregon Ducks added a highly intriguing candidate for their quarterback competition with Marcus Mariota headed to the NFL with the transfer up from Eastern Washington quarterback Vernon Adams.
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Adams is making the unusual move to transfer up from the FCS level to the FBS for his fifth year and joins a quarterback competition that is now six deep. It is not uncommon for FBS players to transfer down a level because they won’t have to sit out the necessary one year for FBS-to-FBS transfers, but Adams could be one of the first to transfer to the biggest stage.
Oregon it is! First off, I want to thank God for this amazing opportunity. I want to thank all of… http://t.co/yMkAHNt1f2
— Vernon Adams Jr. (@VernonAdamsJr8) February 9, 2015
A two-time runner-up for the Walter Payton Award, the equivalent to the Heisman Trophy, Adams put up prolific numbers while making Eastern Washington a championship contender. In his three seasons as the starter, Adams completed 64.8 percent of his passes, threw for 10,438 yards, 110 touchdowns and only 31 interceptions while adding 11 rushing touchdowns.
The quarterback competition was already going to be one of the more interesting position battles this offseason, but now the wrinkle of a proven commodity like Adams, albeit from the FCS, adds a new dimension for the Ducks who will have a a talented offense around whoever wins the job.
Betsided
Competing with Adams for the right to succeed Mariota are junior Jeff Lockie, sophomores Ty Griffin and Taylor Alie, redshirt freshman Morgan Mahalak and incoming freshman Travis Waller.
Oregon returns leading rusher Royce Freeman who looks like a future superstar and top backup, Thomas Tyner in addition to their five leading receivers from the 2014 team. Should Adams win the job he will have an arsenal of weapons at his disposal and his fit in Oregon’s spread offense should be perfect match.
Certainly the level of competition Adams dominated at the FCS level won’t be what he sees when Oregon plays the likes of USC, UCLA, Stanford and the rest of the Pac-12 conference where 300-pound defensive linemen who run like linebackers are the norm.
Having said that, he also didn’t have the same level of talent playing with him at Eastern Washington so it is going to be an interesting battle for the quarterback job for the Ducks opening week game. As fate would have it, the Ducks open against Eastern Washington on Sept. 5.
Next: Top 25 Heisman Candidates for 2015
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