Vernon Adams' transfer from Eastern Washington (EW) to Oregon turned some heads, but it is also not sitting well within the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS).
Adams is making the jump from the FCS to the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) without having to sit out for a season thanks to the grant in-aid agreement he signed with his new school. But the standout QB cannot actually participate in Oregon Ducks' football activities until he graduates from EW in the spring.
It turns out he can no longer participate with the EW Eagles either.
The team's head football coach, Beau Baldwin, spoke with ESPN 700 in Spokane and said Adams' decision triggered a rule that bars him from team activities and facilities. The coach also came off disappointed that Adams decided to transfer to Oregon, an FBS program that plays in the Pac-12.
"It's not what the rule is intended for, and when you're Oregon and we've gotten a guy that we recruited when no one else was," Baldwin said. "Ultimately we feel like, you know what, we were also the ones who developed him from a level where obviously out of high school he wasn't at that level."
EW plays in the Big Sky, which is part of the NCAA Division I-AA level of competition, whereas the Pac-12 is Division I-A. Though they are both above DII, the Pac-12 and Big Sky may well be a world apart. A member school of the DI Power 5 conferences, Oregon gets far more exposure and therefore added recruiting power.
Even though Adams is leaving the Big Sky, the coach of a team the QB has torched over the last two seasons was not too pleased as well. Bob Ash, Montana State's head coach, told ESPN Adams' transfer supports the thought that the FCS is to the FBS was Triple-A baseball is to the Majors.
"We're Division I like the other level," Ash said. "Our guys need to start and finish at the same school. We cannot be perceived as a farm system or Triple-A ballclub or anything like that."
Adams is benefitting from an NCAA rule that allows student-athletes to transfer schools after completing their undergraduate degree to play an additional year elsewhere while working on a graduate degree. It is a rule Ash is not fond of.
"I'm really opposed to this rule the way it's starting to be manipulated by FBS schools," he said Ash. "As FCS coaches, we need to lobby now to get this rule changed. It's going to be potentially a very difficult, bad situation for FCS with really good players that we recruit, we develop, being tempted to move on for that fifth and final year."
Though Adams put up huge numbers at EW, if he were in this year's NFL Draft class, he may well have to settle for being a free agent signing after the fact. If he can prove his ability to play at the next level, even in one season at Oregon, Adams could be a middle-rounds draft pick.