Oregon Names Senior Transfer QB Vernon Adams Mariota’s Replacement

Written by Ryan Wright
Twitter: @HogManInLA

With the opening kickoff the 2015 college football season just eight days away, Oregon head coach Mark Helfrich ended the inevitable decision of naming a starter under center tabbing senior transfer quarterback Vernon Adams the Ducks’ leader.

Adams has some big shoes to fill replacing 2014 Heisman Trophy Award winning quarterback Marcus Mariota but if anyone in college football is on a similar overachieving level, the former Eastern Washington star is the man. Mariota completed his junior season passing for 4,454 yards with 42 touchdowns against just four picks. The dual-threat also ran for 770 yards with another 15 scores.

Now Adams is Eugene hoping to replicate his personal numbers from 2013 and 2014 when he was twice named the runner-up for the Walter Payton Award given to the top player in the FCS division.

In 2013 Adams passed for 4,994 yards with 55 touchdowns against 15 picks in 486 pass attempts. He also ran for 605 yards with another four touchdowns. The 6’0”, 200 pound, signal caller’s stat line dipped slightly in 2014 after missing four games due to a foot injury but he was still electric throwing for 3,483 yards while completing 66.1 percent of his passes. Adams left Eastern Washington with 10,438 yards passing and 110 touchdowns averaging 315.4 yards per game.

Adams beat out redshirt sophomore Jeff Lockie who was the primary backup for Mariota in 2014 completing 21 of 28 passes for 207 yards with one touchdown.

In an odd turn of events, Adams’ first game with Oregon will be against his old EWU team.

Photo credit: foxsports.com; No. 3 Vernon Adams at EWU.