Following Oregon transfer, Vernon Adams can't train at EWU facilities
New Oregon QB Vernon Adams will be utilizing the Eastern Washington student rec center for his offseason workouts.
His now-former coach at Eastern Washington said Adams can't train at EWU's football facilities after his decision to transfer to Oregon. As a graduate transfer, Adams is playing at Oregon in 2015 and is eligible immediately when he enrolls after graduation at EWU this spring.
At EWU, he's been the runner-up for the FCS player of the year award the past two seasons. He was 35-8 as a starter for the Eagles.
"I want what's best – when I had a conversation with [Oregon coach Mark] Helfrich and I told him this. At the end of this – I disagree with a lot of parts of this," Eastern Washington coach Beau Baldwin said on Spokane's ESPN 700. "Both with Oregon, both with the rule, but all I want is for Vernon is to have success as a senior … We're all going to keep moving on with new players and new things. He has one senior year. So with a lot of pieces that go into this with when he can get there, the timing, what he's going to do for the next four months, workout-wise.
"We're not rolling out the red carpet around here for a guy that's playing against us game one. So he's got to figure out where he's going to work out and that stuff."
Yes, Oregon opens the season against Eastern Washington. Two years ago, EWU beat Oregon State in the first game of the year. While you may think it's petty given that college athletes aren't paid like professional players, you can also see why Eastern Washington won't let him into the facilities.
Adams sounded like he was preparing to work out at other places after his announcement.
"That's one of the tough parts," Adams told OregonLive.com earlier in the week. "Definitely going to work out twice a day at our rec center and probably trying to find some guys who used to go here or something for me (to throw to). Trying to keep my arm loose. That's going to be the toughest part."
Baldwin isn't the only EWU employee that's not a fan of the NCAA graduate transfer rule. After Adams announced his decision, EWU athletic director Bill Chaves criticized it too.
But as you know, Eastern Washington is hardly the first or the last team that has been impacted by the graduate transfer rule. It happens (cough, Russell Wilson, cough) among teams at the FBS level. Adams is just the most high-profile case of a player making the jump in levels while transferring.
"It's just a strange deal," Baldwin said. "It's not what the rule is intended for. When you're Oregon and we've got a guy, and you guys said it, that we recruited when no one else was, so ultimately we feel like, you know what, we're the ones that also developed him from a level – where obviously out of high school he wasn't that level."
"When you're Oregon and over the last three or four years you're you're not recruiting a number of guys that can fill in for when Marcus leaves, I'm kind of asking the question – I'm flattered I guess – but what are we doing over there? I don't think Urban Meyer is going over to Northern Iowa for his next guy."
For more Oregon news, visit DuckSportsAuthority.com.
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Nick Bromberg is the assistant editor of Dr. Saturday on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
