Vernon Adams is a quarterback without a team — for now

CHENEY, Wash. — Halfway through the workout, the receiver calls for a break.

"Let me catch my breath," says Daniel Johnson, and for a few moments, he and Vernon Adams Jr. pause their organized game of catch.

It is mild for this winter day on the northern edge of the Palouse, and when the sun was out earlier in the day, it was pleasant. But a chilly afternoon breeze arrived with the clouds, making the low 40s seem colder. A hundred yards away, a dozen teenagers play pickup soccer. A firefighter slowly jogs around the surrounding track. But except for Adams and Johnson, the middle school's football field is empty.

"You got anybody else helping you?" Johnson asks Adams. "Who else do you have coming out?"

"Nobody," Adams says.

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Welcome to the new, if temporary reality for Adams. A few weeks after announcing he would transfer from Eastern Washington University to the University of Oregon, the record-setting college quarterback finds himself virtually on his own. If all goes according to plan, Adams will graduate in June with a degree in interdisciplinary studies — a switch in the last few days from recreational management — and move to Eugene, Ore., the next day.

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But for now, for Adams, Cheney is Limbo.

He says he's not upset that Eastern Washington officials have denied him access to the athletic facilities and prevented him from working out with teammates.

"It's understandable," Adams says. "We play each other Game 1, so …"

And that's perhaps the most intriguing piece of a unique circumstance. Adams is a bona fide star at the FCS level — two-time Big Sky Conference offensive player of the year, two-time All-American, twice runner-up for the Walter Payton Award, the FCS's top individual honor. He plans to move up to FBS power Oregon, immediately eligible as a graduate, and hopes to help the Ducks pick up where they left off after Marcus Mariota's departure a year early for the NFL Draft.

That alone makes it one of the quirkiest stories of college football's offseason. Though graduate transfers have become fairly common in the last few years, with varied results — Russell Wilson's move from North Carolina State to Wisconsin worked out pretty well, but so far Jacob Coker's switch from Florida State to Alabama has not — Adams' transfer comes with the added layer of moving up a division.

And then, there's the season opener. The Ducks host Eastern Washington on Sept. 5.

"That's the suckiest part of this whole thing," says Adams, shaking his head. "That just — it's just gonna be so weird."

But then, what about this situation isn't?

***

Adams was not offered a scholarship by any FBS school coming out of Bishop Alemany High School in Mission Hills, Calif. Dean Herrington, his high school coach, coached NFL quarterbacks Kyle Boller and Matt Moore, and says Adams' skills compared favorably. But colleges saw the quarterback's size — 5-foot-10, though he has since grown maybe an inch and packed on 15 or 20 pounds — and weren't interested. Among FCS schools, only Portland State and Eastern Washington offered scholarships.

But a couple of months ago, when the possibility arose Adams might be available for one season, several were very interested. After receiving permission from Eastern Washington, Adams contacted Oregon, UCLA and Boise State. Texas and Maryland pursued him, too.

"I wouldn't ever have thought any big schools would come after me," Adams says. "When they did, I was like, 'Wow, this isn't real.' "

But In three seasons at Eastern Washington, Adams threw for 10,438 yards and 110 touchdowns and was 28-6 as a starter, with three appearances in the FCS playoffs. And this was very real: He twice made splashes against Pac-12 opponents, totaling 518 total yards in an upset win at Oregon State in 2013, then throwing for 475 yards and seven touchdowns in a 59-52 loss at Washington last season. Eastern Washington coach Beau Baldwin believes those performances were not outliers.

"I have zero doubt, from the get-go, that he'll perform at a high level, no matter what that level that is," Baldwin says. "The toughest thing for him (moving to Oregon) is just getting the lay of the land and (learning) the system. But as far as ability? I have no doubt."

Baldwin's compliments aside, almost everyone involved acknowledges the current situation as uncomfortable.

"It's probably most awkward for him," Baldwin says. "He's trying to figure things out and he's somewhat on his own. Obviously, you can't work out with the team you're playing in four months or five months. For us, we're moving on with 100 guys in the locker room, and going forward."

Baldwin says as Adams was weighing the decision, the coach explained a transfer would mean separation from Eastern Washington's football program, with this message: "Man, I'm all for it and I wish you the best, but you need to be real strategic."

"He knew in making the decision this would be one of the hurdles," Baldwin says.

The hurdles include no more access to the athletic department's weight facilities. Adams is also barred from working out with his former teammates on the Eagles' distinctive red artificial turf at Roos Field, where a banner with his picture hangs — and won't be taken down, according to athletic director Bill Chaves, who says Adams earned it by winning those national honors — and where his former teammates will go through winter conditioning workouts and spring practices.

Instead, Adams does 6 a.m. weight-lifting sessions at a 24-hour gym in a strip mall, working with a friend who has agreed to help train him and trying to decipher the instructions sent by Oregon, which uses terminology that is occasionally unfamiliar. Adams runs sprints or hills alone. And three or four times a week, he scrambles to find willing and able receivers so he can keep his arm in shape.

***

Adams recently made the 70-mile trip south to Pullman, Wash., and threw one afternoon to several Washington State receivers, but for a variety of reasons, it's probably not something he can count on doing very often. On an afternoon last week, Adams and Johnson — a former Eastern Washington receiver who graduated last June — worked out together at Cheney Middle School. It's a little more than a mile from campus, but the makeshift workout is a far cry from what he'd get with teammates.

Adams and Johnson warm up, then work systematically: 5-yard routes, then 10-, then farther. Out routes. Comebacks. Slants. Flags. Posts. Fades. Adams drops back, or rolls out. Right hash, then left.

While Adams wears a high-altitude training mask — you can hear his breathing from 30 yards away — Johnson finds himself in need of a breather after about 20 minutes. To help, Adams positions Johnson at the point where the route turns, then has him break from there.

Later, Johnson stands at the goal line, as if running a post, and then in the corner of the end zone, for lobs. After a little more than 30 minutes, they wrap up. Adams asks Johnson, who's working at a car dealership in nearby Spokane, if he has time for a run the next day.

The passes are almost all on target, but with no defensive backs, there's no objective measure of how well Adams is throwing. And with only one receiver, there's only so much work that can be done. It's just two guys playing a very high-level game of catch.

Later, Adams admits it's only a rough facsimile of the kind of workouts he'd be doing with a full team. Still, it's something, and both say they'll continue for the next few months. For Johnson, it's a way to get fit for beach weather: "Summer's coming up," he says, "and I'm trying to look right. That's motivation."

For Adams, it's essential, a way to keep his arm in shape. But he admits: "I'm kind of worried about not getting timing with the (Oregon) receivers over there. We've got some fast guys here, but that's Oregon. Those guys are the fastest of the fastest. It's gonna be different timing. Not throwing the timing routes with those guys, it's gonna be tough. And getting the chemistry. And leading by example. It's gonna be really tough."

Before timing and chemistry, Adams must attempt to learn Oregon's system from long distance. He is studying the Ducks' formations, plays and signals using HUDL, an online game film program. He talks a couple of times a week with Scott Frost, Oregon's offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach, and has been in regular contact with Ducks receiver Bralon Addison, among other future teammates.

He plans to visit Eugene during Eastern Washington's spring break, and would like to make the seven-hour drive several more times in the next couple of months. Meanwhile, several other quarterbacks already on campus in Eugene have a huge head start in the race to replace Mariota. Those include Jeff Lockie, who was Oregon's backup the last two seasons. All of the competitors except Adams are expected to participate in Oregon's spring practices.

With a slight grin, Adams says, "I have some confidence in myself."

***

Chaves, Eastern Washington's athletic director, says, "We all love Vernon," and notes the quarterback "absolutely did things the right way," asking the school for a release to give other schools permission to contact. He says things might have been different if Adams was transferring anywhere other than to the school the Eagles will play in the season opener, though Baldwin isn't so sure.

"We get thrown into the box of, 'It's Eastern Washington, he's moving up, they should (accommodate Adams),' " Baldwin says. "If we were at the same level in FBS, even if we weren't playing each other, I don't even think anyone would bring it up. It would be, 'Of course he's not working out with them. He's going from there to there.' But because we're Eastern Washington, it's like we're supposed to do something else.

"It's just like anyone if they decided to transfer and move on, we'd wish them the best. … I mean, really, say it out loud: He's the quarterback we're facing in Week One!"

But there have been some tense moments. One of Adams' former teammates ripped down several photographs of the quarterback from the Eagles' locker room last month — they were hanging because of his All-America and Big Sky honors — and taped up his locker. Adams says he's since talked things out with the former teammate. If they're not quite OK, he says, "We're … whatever."

At least externally, the Eastern Washington officials are supportive of Adams' decision. Chaves, who has expressed his disagreement with how the NCAA's graduate transfer exception has been applied, both in Adams' case and others, says he's glad to have to deal with the issue of an athlete leaving after earning a degree, and says the vibe around Cheney has been of disappointment, but also understanding.

Although Chaves pointed out Adams' continuing attendance at men's basketball games, the quarterback was heckled a couple of weeks ago. Adams realizes the Oregon sweater he wore — light gray, but with the distinctive neon yellow O over a breast — probably had something to do with it.

"Everybody was just looking at me," he says.

He says he hasn't heard many negative things — "I don't go searching for things," he says — and that most of his former teammates continue to support him. Several, he said, have told him they'd have done the same thing if they had the chance.

Baldwin says the football players' reactions have been "a mixed bag of feelings," adding, "No matter how they feel, no one is wrong. Everyone is entitled to a different feeling or opinion."

But Adams says the reaction from individual students has been positive. Moments after he describes a typical interaction as, "We're glad for you, but we hate to see you go," it plays out almost exactly that way, at the Starbucks on the edge of town.

"Are you excited to go to Oregon?" a barista asks.

"Yeah," he says.

"I'm like so excited for you," she says, smiling. "But I'm sad, too."

***

That probably goes for Adams, too. His decision, prompted when Herrington suggested it was a possibility, turned out to be what Herrington calls, "just too good an opportunity to pass up." Herrington first had the thought when he realized UCLA would be losing Brett Hundley early. In the end, Adams says, he ruled out UCLA, and Texas and Maryland never had a real shot. The choice came down to staying at Eastern Washington or going to Oregon. And it wasn't as easy as you'd think.

"A lot of guys don't understand how hard I thought about this, and how hard a decision it was for me," he says.

Ultimately, he wanted to prove those performances against Oregon State and Washington were indicators rather than aberrations. He says he's working toward his future, and trying to position his eight-month-old son, Vernon Kash Adams III, for success. He hopes to play in the NFL, or perhaps the Canadian Football League, and believes success at Oregon would alleviate doubts about quarterback who doesn't measure up to the prototype.

"I feel like they're like, 'OK, you can do that at a FCS school, but he's a short guy,' " Adams says. "But what if I could do that at a FBS school in one of the hardest leagues in America? What if I'm doing what I'm doing here at Oregon, against UCLA and USC? In the Rose Bowl? In the national championship? They'd be like, 'Wow, he's 5-11, but OK, he's doing his thing.' "

***

The most important hurdle — and this shouldn't be overlooked — is graduating on time. Adams recently switched majors in part because recreational management would have required a summer internship, further delaying his arrival in Eugene. As it is, he must pass six classes (three in the winter quarter, which ends March 20, and three in the spring quarter).

He's finishing up a class on lawsuits, a budgeting class and his senior capstone, which requires a lengthy term paper. Next quarter, he'll take two African-American studies classes and a math class. Though he has been promised access to the athletes' study hall if needed, he's spent more time in the school's library.

"I have to pass these classes," Adams says. "I have to make sure I've really buckled down. If I do happen to slip up, then I can't graduate, and I can't get to Oregon — and my senior year (of football) is done. I'm just hoping for the best, and trying to work my hardest."

Graduation is June 13. The plan is to leave for Eugene on June 14.

Until then, Adams will remain in limbo.

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