TEMPE, Ariz — Before I take you to Oregon’s fourth and goal from the nine yard line, with 23 seconds left in the game at Sun Devil Stadium, let me first take you back to the practice fields at Eastern Washington University.
It was four years ago, during a practice in his freshman season, where the nickname, “Big play V.A.,” was given to Vernon Adams Jr. Adams was running from the pocket, backwards about 20-yards, making all his teammates on the defense miss. He then rolled to his right, located an open receiver, and fired a touchdown pass.
“It was there everyone started calling me Big play V.A.,” Adams said after Oregon’s 61-55 triple-overtime win over Arizona State.
But after Adams’ performance Thursday night — in which he went 23-of-40 passing for 315 yards and four touchdowns — the graduate-transfer’s teammates gave him a new nickname. It was a testament to his seemingly impossible escapes from herds of blitzing Sun Devils defenders all night.
“Now,” Adams said with a smile, “it’s Houdini.”
A smile wasn’t something Adams could muster after Oregon’s 31-28 loss to Michigan State on Sept. 12. Instead, the Oregon quarterback with a broken finger on his throwing hand sat at the postgame stage and relayed a simple message to reporters.
“It starts with me,” he said over and over again. “I’m putting this game on myself. I need to be better.”
The spotlight was on, and “Big play V.A.” had a shot to show the country in his first major game with Oregon that he had what it took to succeed. He missed it, overthrowing an open Byron Marshall for a chance to take the lead late in the fourth quarter.
A broken finger caused him to miss three of the next four games — he played against Utah but was pulled after completing two-of-seven passes for 26 yards — leaving the missed throw against Michigan State still fresh in his mind. He said it was tough for him. His teammates noticed, too.
“He’s a guy that wants to be the best,” Oregon wide receiver Bralon Addison said. “When he feels that he doesn’t play perfect, he puts himself in that place where he wants to be better. I think he’s a competitor — a true competitor.”
But after months of learning the team’s offense, Adams now feels a lot more comfortable.
“More so than I was (against) Eastern Washington and Michigan State,” he said. “And against Michigan State my finger was broken. But I feel really good now.”
An adjustment Adams had to make, aside from getting healthy, was learning to stay in the pocket. Coach Mark Helfrich made it a point with Adams during the bye week.
“He just needs to continue to trust the scheme a little bit and get his eyes in the right place, his feet in the right place, and then improvise,” Helfrich said. “That’s where a guy like that could be really lethal.”
Against Arizona State, Adams said he tried to stay in the pocket more. But he said he knew when he needed to escape, that he had the ability to do it.
A succesful scramble play is often two-fold. Adams needed to escape the pocket, but his receivers needed to get open too. Addison said it’s something they work on with Adams a lot in practice.
“We have a guy that can make people miss in the pocket,” Addison said. “He might seem like he’s wrapped up, but then he’s squiritng out of there.”
On fourth-and-goal from the nine-yard line, trailing Arizona State 41-34 with 23 seconds left, Adams pulled out a play reminiscent of one produced on the practice fields at Eastern Washington — the place where he became “Big play V.A.”
Adams dropped back, escaped the pocket, rolled right, and went backwards about 15 yards before locating Dwayne Stanford open in the end zone. He heaved it, and made the big throw to tie the game at 41 and send it into overtime.
In one play, Adams became Oregon’s version of Houdini.
“We have a quarterback out there who can be Houdini at any time,” wide receiver Darren Carrington said.
“It’s just exicting because you know whenever he’s out there, he’s going to make a big play. That’s why we call him, ‘Big play V.A.’ You have to always stay alive because the play is never over with him.”
Follow Joseph Hoyt @JoeJHoyt.
‘Houdini’ played by Oregon’s Vernon Adams Jr. in ‘big play’ performance at Arizona State
Joseph Hoyt
October 29, 2015
Cole Elsasser
TEMPE, Ariz — Before I take you to Oregon’s fourth and goal from the nine yard line, with 23 seconds left in the game at Sun Devil Stadium, let me first take you back to the practice fields at Eastern Washington University. It was four years ago, during a practice …
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