Vernon Adams a Marcus Mariota-Like Transfer Option for Oregon Ducks

Marcus Mariota wrapped up his career with the Oregon Ducks in 2014 by taking the program all the way to the College Football Playoff National Championship before falling short against the Ohio State Buckeyes. En route to the big game, Mariota put together a season for the ages, winning just about every award that he could including the Heisman Trophy in a landslide. With the news that Mariota would be leaving school for the NFL this spring, the talk around Eugene has centered around who could replace him in 2015.

Looking at the Oregon roster, there doesn’t seem to be a ready-made replacement that fills fans with confidence.

Jeff Lockie has been the backup to Mariota over the last two seasons and has seen spot duty in blowouts, which makes it hard to know if he’s ready to take the reins. In two seasons of garbage-time action, he’s completed 29 of 41 passes for 264 yards with a touchdown and an interception while rushing for 26 yards on 10 attempts. He isn’t nearly as athletic or dynamic as Mariota was and his best quality on paper is his experience in the offense.

But as it stands, he’ll lead the way into spring practice at the top of the depth chart, most likely. There, he’s going to have to hold off a host of young quarterbacks looking to break into the starting lineup much like Mariota did back in 2012. Redshirt freshmen Taylor Alie and Ty Griffin, true freshman Morgan Mahalak, and 2015 early signee and four-star recruit Travis Waller will be chomping at the bit for opportunities to prove themselves and leap Lockie for the starter’s job.

But all those players chasing Lockie have zero collegiate experience and Oregon has a roster that could contend for the Pac-12 title again and a shot at the College Football Playoff in 2015. Mark Helfrich might be hesitant to turn things over to an untested player, which has made Oregon a popular rumored destination for graduate transfer quarterbacks this offseason. While the early buzz was about Ohio State quarterback Braxton Miller coming West, that talk has quieted down as of late and the Ducks seem to be looking closer to home for quarterback help.

Enter Vernon Adams of the Eastern Washington Eagles. According to multiple reports, Adams has already been granted his transfer release from EWU as a graduate transfer and is visiting Eugene this weekend. The thinking is that the FCS star sill make the leap to the FBS power and compete for the starting job right away.

While many people may not know much about the incredibly talented Adams, his skill set, toughness, and playmaking ability have kept Eastern Washington in the thick of the FCS National Championship race year in and year out as one of the elite FCS college football programs in the nation. Adams has led the Eagles’ offense for three years but really came into his own as a playmaker over the last two seasons. Since 2013, Adams has accounted for 100 total touchdowns (90 passing, 10 rushing) and was a runner up for the Walter Payton Award in 2013, given to the top player in the FCS, when he racked up 4,994 passing yards.

And Adams has shown zero fear against playing FBS competition. In 2013, Adams led EWU into Corvallis to face the then-No. 25 Oregon State Beavers. The Eagles racked up 625 yards of total offense in the game with their quarterback accounting for 411 yards passing and 107 yards rushing with six total touchdowns in a wild 49-46 upset victory. He displayed incredible toughness after being forced from the game on two separate occasions (once with cramping and again after taking a hard hit on the sideline), and played with absolutely fearlessness of the situation.

This last season, he nearly pulled off another upset against a Pac-12 opponent. This time, Adams took Eastern to Seattle to play the Washington Huskies and put the team on his back to try and secure the win. The quarterback threw for 475 yards and seven touchdowns on the day as Eastern pushed the Huskies to the limit in a 59-52 shootout loss for the Eagles. Despite the loss, Adams proved how clutch he could be, rallying Eastern from an early 21-0 deficit, including being a perfect 4-for-4 on fourth down conversions, and even took the lead at 45-44 after three quarters.

So in two games against Pac-12 foes, Adams accounted for 1,009 yards of total offense with 13 total touchdowns and zero turnovers. That’s downright Mariota-like. If he even comes close to averaging the 504.5 yards of total offense per game that he has put against Pac-12 foes in his career, Oregon will run away with the conference title in 2015.

All the while, Adams was doing this without the caliber of offensive weapons that he would have at his disposal under center for Oregon. The Ducks return a wealth of offensive talent in 2015, including their top three running backs, top five pass catchers, and three starters on the offensive line from the 2014 squad and will get some key contributors back from injury. There are few teams in the country that boast the kind of talent at the skill positions that Oregon figures to roll out with next fall.

So adding a dynamic, intelligent playmaker like Adams could go a long way in soothing the sting of losing Mariota to the NFL. It would only be for one season but the Ducks have the offensive talent to do big things in that one season. And for a talent like Adams, who has proven himself at the FCS level, it would be chance to test himself at the highest level of college football.

While many Duck fans were clamoring for Miller to make a move, they should be very excited about the prospect of Adams leading their team next season. He doesn’t have the star power that Miller does after playing at the FCS level for the last three seasons, but he has the talent to make a huge splash with the Ducks.

While there may never be a quarterback like Mariota to come through Oregon ever again, securing the transfer of Adams will give them a Mariota-like playmaker next season to help the post-MM era get off to a smooth start.

You can follow Tyler Brett on Twitter @ATylerBrett, on Facebook and on Google.