Montreal Alouettes
It’s not that Vernon Adams Jr. isn’t appreciative of the opportunity in front of him on Thursday.
He’s happy to be back in Montreal for his second go-round with the Alouettes and the 25-year-old is thrilled to be his team’s starting quarterback on Thursday.
He just knows what’s up.
“I’m just out here to make plays and have fun,” he told reporters in Montreal on Wednesday.
“I know in the back of my mind. Everyone in the world knows he’s coming here to play. We all know that but I’m not worried about that right now. I’m worried about winning this game.”
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Hyper aware that Johnny Manziel looms, with Mike Sherman’s promise to play Manziel echoing in his ears, Adams is trying to focus on the one thing he can control: what he can do with this one start.
Adams is cut from a similar cloth as Manziel. Through three years at Eastern Washington and his senior year at Oregon he threw for 13,081 yards and 136 touchdowns while rushing for 1,352 yards and 13 touchdowns. There’s a bitter irony in there for Adams that a higher profile QB with the same type of game waiting in the wings.
Still, Thursday gives Adams the chance to be the first Alouettes quarterback to win at home since…Vernon Adams Jr. led the Als to a 17-8 win over Calgary on Oct. 30, 2016.
Adams started the team’s final three games of the 2016 season, winning them all. He was traded to Saskatchewan seven games into the 2017 season.
Adams’ CFL story is laced with premature departures, none by his choice. He started out on the west coast, on the BC Lions’ negotiation list. His rights were traded to the Alouettes on May 20, 2016. The Als signed him to a three-year deal, then sent him to Saskatchewan in 2017. The Riders flipped him to Hamilton on Feb. 2 this year to get Charleston Hughes. Late in Hamilton’s training camp, coach June Jones said that Adams would be traded. When that didn’t happen, the team tried to use him as a receiver. He was released on June 21. The Als brought him back five days later.
It’s a journey of Kevin Glenn-esque proportions, shrunk down and played in fast-forward. Adams has every reason to be bitter, or to be annoyed at questions about his cross-country shuffle. With the same amount of transactions (four as of Thursday) as starts on his resume, though, he remains shockingly positive about where he’s been. He talks about maximizing opportunities, being a good teammate and networking at each stop so he can set himself up for a coaching career.
“I think anybody would be disappointed to be the last quarterback to win here and not really get an opportunity, but it’s a business and it’s just what happens up here,” Adams said.
“You never know what’s going to happen and they thought that was the right way to go. I had a good time in Sask and Hamilton so it’s cool.”
In the lobby of the Edmonton Eskimos’ hotel in Montreal, Kevin Glenn was about to venture out into the city he played for from Oct. 2015 to Sept. 2016. There’s no one more traveled in the CFL than Glenn, whose move to the Eskimos this season put him at least on the roster of every CFL city in the league through his 18-year career. He and Adams played together in Montreal and in Saskatchewan. He’d love to see Adams get a legitimate shot somewhere.
“That’s the way professional sports are at times. I’m a prime example of it, being affiliated with every team,” he said. He struggled with how to describe Adams’ career.
“You feel for him but at the same time he’s still getting the opportunity. My gripe would be how sometimes people assess him (for moving so frequently). He hasn’t ever gotten an opportunity on any of the teams. That’s the crazy part.”
In Adams, Glenn sees someone that puts team over everything. It’s probably how he ended up being looked at as a receiver in Hamilton this season, he said.
“He’s the type of guy that’s going to make the best out of whatever situation it is. That’s the whole receiver thing,” Glenn said.
“If someone would have done that to me when I was his age, I would have said, ‘No, I’m not playing receiver.’
“He would run the routes if we needed another receiver, if we didn’t have one because they were in special teams or something. He was the guy to do that stuff. He’s that type of guy. He’s a guy you would love to have on your team.”
Glenn goes out of his way to talk with younger quarterbacks that he’s been on teams with. He mentored Brandon Bridge the week he had his first start of the season in Saskatchewan. He’s still in touch with Marquise Williams, who was released by the team in late May. And he regularly talks with Adams. Glenn would love to see a team bring Adams in and give him a long-term role.
“My thing is just giving the guy an opportunity,” Glenn said. “You hear the media or certain people talk about it, he’s been on this many teams or whatever. It’s not a bad thing because he’s never really had an opportunity to play on any of these teams.”
“I think we could hurt teams, honestly,” Adams said of he and Manziel as a one-two punch.
“We’re two of the most elusive college quarterbacks to ever play the game. I think if they did do something like that, I think it’d be really cool but I’m sure it’s not (the plan). I’m here to help him out and he’s helping me out, and we’re going to get the W.”
