The week leading up to Oregon’s season opener, the nation wondered whether transfer Vernon Adams Jr. would replace career back-up Jeff Lockie as the Ducks’ starting quarterback. Two weeks later, we’re back to square one.
Adams Jr. reportedly broke his index finger against Eastern Washington, opening the door for Lockie to reclaim the job he briefly owned.
Adams Jr. played the duration of Oregon’s 31-28 loss to Michigan State despite the injury. He fared adequately: he completed 56 percent of his passes for 309 yards, a touchdown and two picks, and ran for another score. He also overthrew a wide open Byron Marshall in front of the goal line on what would have been the go-ahead touchdown with just over a minute to play.
Adams Jr. wore a splint on his finger during his press conference Saturday. Doctor of Physical Therapy Colin Hoobler wrote a “simple” fracture involves splinting for three to four weeks, and an unstable fractures requires more time.
With his health in peril, head coach Mark Helfrich is considering whether to let Adams Jr. rest for part or all of Saturday’s contest against Georgia State, one of the worst FBS teams, and hand the reins to Lockie.
Mum’s the word, though, for Helfrich, who gave no hints as to which quarterback he had in mind.
Do you know who’s starting at quarterback on Saturday, or when you say “game-time decision,” is it truly a game-time decision?
Maybe, maybe not. We’ll find out. Both guys have done really good things. Taylor Alie, too. We’ll figure it out.
On Sunday you talked about the tempo of the team struggling. How has the tempo ramped up in the past week?
This has been our best week of practice so far in a lot of ways. Today was our best Thursday. The tempo was a bit of an overreaction to that. The things you’re going to do against Michigan State are a little bit different from those against some other teams. Part of that is our gameplan and part of that is what they do when there’s not a tremendous advantage.
Does practicing indoors change the flow or approach of practice at all?
A little bit. I wanted to get in there yesterday just because we hadn’t had to do that at all. We’d been outside every day. Once we go to school there will obviously be times when we’ll have to. There’s a little bit different flow. It’s a faster flow, only because they don’t have to move so far when transitioning from drill to drill. The kicking game is a little different—things hit the ceiling, all that kind of stuff.
What’s the talent level of Georgia State?
The talent level is really good. They have a ton of guys who can run, and speed on their special teams. They have skill guys on both offense and defense, and a really productive quarterback. There’s a ton of great football in the Atlanta area.
Coming off a loss, do you notice this team or teams you’ve had in the past approach the next game a little more antsy or excited to erase what happened the week before?
I’m sure, to a certain extent, that exists. The big part about it is they were excited to prepare. People always talk about the pregame speech. Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday — that’s when you need to have your pregame speech. Those guys need to be motivated to prepare. I think that started Saturday night in the locker room.
Follow Kenny Jacoby on Twitter @KennyJacoby