Oregon Coaching Profile: Junior Adams
In the coming weeks, ScoopDuck will publish profiles on each member of Dan Lanning’s Oregon coaching staff.
Past profiles:
- Offensive coordinator Kenny Dillingham
- Defensive coordinator Tosh Lupoi
- Associate head coach, run game coordinator, and offensive line coach Adrian Klemm
Next up is co-offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach Junior Adams.
The following is a review of Adams’ career along with a few relevant stats for each season.
Early days
Note: this section will be longer than usual. Why? Because I found more info on Adams than I could for past coaches and he has a remarkable story. If you don’t like it, skip it!
Alton Johnson Adams Jr. was born in Fremont, CA where he played football (running back and corner), basketball (guard), and baseball (shortstop and second base) at Amador Valley High School. He excelled at the former two sports, being named to multiple all-region watch lists and teams.
Adams was an insanely good high school player. He amassed 63 touchdowns and over 4,000 yards at Amador Valley, including six touchdowns and 314 yards in one game. As an All-American in the class of 1997, he turned down offers from USC, UCLA, Oregon, Washington, and others to go play under Dennis Erickson at Oregon State.
The 5’9″, 169-lb. Adams played slot receiver in college, but his time in Corvallis did not go well. He broke his thumb in the final scrimmage of fall camp and sat out his ’98 freshman season. Two more years saw only four more appearances, and in March of ’01 he was arrested for beating someone up at a party.
I only mention this because Adams couldn’t have responded to it better. He transferred from an 11-1 team to an 0-11 team, Montana State, and became a program legend there. In his second game, Adams had 153 receiving yards and a 53-yard punt return TD to help snap MSU’s 18-game losing streak.
- Oddly enough, Adams’ second game for the Bobcats was supposed to be a return trip to Corvallis, but the game was canceled in the wake of 9/11.
In his senior season (’02), Adams earned honorable mention all-American and first-team all-Big Sky honors. He also made one of the biggest plays in school history: a 53-yard catch-and-run that gave the Bobcats a 10-7 win over No. 4 Montana on the road. It was MSU’s first win over their bitter rivals since 1985.
Despite playing just two years there, Adams’ name adorns many Montana State records. He’s top-10 in all-time receiving yards, as well as single-season receiving yards, catches, and touchdowns. His name appears in the MSU record book 63 times.
Adams took an extra year to graduate, fulfilling a promise he made to his late father. He had to pay his own way for it, too, having run out of NCAA eligibility.
Montana State (2004-06)
Alright, time to get to the coaching part. In 2004, at age 24, Adams joined Mike Kramer’s staff in Bozeman as a wide receivers and kick returners coach. He coached alongside Jimmy Lake (safeties) and Pete Kwatkowski (DC) while there, both of whom he would reunite with at Washington.
There are very few stats available for the 2004-06 Montana State football teams, but the official record book shows they were pass-heavy offenses with an awesome quarterback (Aumsville, Ore. native Travis Lulay). They had a couple of great receivers (Rick Gatewood and Eddie Sullivan) as well.
| Year | Role | PPG | Record |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | WR/KR | 26.9 | 6-5 |
| 2005 | WR/KR | 25.0 | 7-4* |
| 2006 | WR/KR | 20.1 | 8-5^ |
^FCS Playoff Quarterfinalists
Kramer and his entire staff were fired just before the 2007 season.
“Let’s just say it this way,” Kramer said. “What happened to myself and my staff there in 2007 is an open wound that will never heal.”
Kramer was fired just three months before the 2007 football season, after a 6th player during his time as head coach had been either arrested or charged with selling drugs.
Later that year, Kramer filed a lawsuit for wrongful discharge and he and the school later settled.
Kane O’Neill, NBC Montana
Adams spent the 2007 season at Prosser (WA) High School in the same role under head coach Tom Moore (father of Kirby and Kellen). Prosser went 14-0 in Adams’ single season there. Adams then accepted a job at Chattanooga.
Mike Vorel wrote a fantastic feature about Adams at Prosser in the Seattle Times.
Chattanooga (2008)
According to Chattanooga’s media guide, Adams coached running backs during his lone year there.
| Year | Role | Yds/Carry | PPG | Record |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | RB | 2.3 | 12.8 | 1-11 |
The Mocs were a dumpster fire. Head coach Rodney Allison was fired before finishing out his last four games (all losses). I wouldn’t put too much stock in this year of Adams’ career.
Eastern Washington (2009-13)
Adams joined Beau Baldwin’s second-year staff at Eastern Washington in 2009. Seven of Adams’ wide receivers earned all-Big Sky first- or second-team honors during his five years there.
That includes a first-team all-conference EWU wide receiver for four straight years (2010-13).
| Year | Role | Yds/Catch | PPG | Record |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | WR | 12.7 | 33.7 | 8-4 |
| 2010 | WR | 11.7 | 31.5 | 13-2*^ |
| 2011 | WR | 12.7 | 32.4 | 6-5 |
| 2012 | WR | 14.6 | 33.7 | 11-3* |
| 2013 | WR | 15.5 | 39.5 | 12-3* |
^FCS Champions
One of those all-conference wide-outs was Cooper Kupp in his 2013 redshirt freshman season. He and Vernon Adams Jr. were the only unanimous first-team selections that year.
Junior Adams and Kupp overlapped for two years (2012-13) at EWU. Adams made a huge impact on Kupp, who is currently one of the best wide receivers in the NFL.
Adams is responsible for bringing in Kupp (famously a zero-star recruit out of high school) and helped develop him into a baller.
But take it from Kupp himself. Again, from Vorel:
“(Adams) lives in the world of being process-driven over results-driven. It’s not about just getting open and making a play and scoring a touchdown. To be consistent, you have to have the process down and do that over and over and over again…
“I really credit a lot of my mindset and the way that I’ve gone about my whole career – the mindset I’ve taken into my training, into my preparation – I credit a lot of that to coach Adams.”
Mike Vorel, Seattle Times
That process-oriented coaching mentality is not always the flashiest, but it is the most effective. Anyone who listens to Nick Saban (or any other elite coach) knows how important it is.
Boise State (2014-16)
After Bryan Harsin became the third coach to leave Arkansas State in as many years (Hugh Freeze and Gus Malzahn were the other two), he hired Adams as wide receivers coach at Boise State.
Part of Adams’ introductory press release included this interesting nugget about him gaining some pro-level insights.
Adams has received multiple grants as part of the Bill Walsh Minority Coaching Fellowship, giving him the opportunity to work at summer training camps with several teams in the National Football League. Included are the Oakland Raiders (2010), Indianapolis Colts (2011) and Minnesota Vikings (2012).
Boise State
| Year | Role | Pass Yds/Game (FBS Rank) | PPG (FBS Rank) | Record |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | WR | 280.4 (24th) | 39.7 (9th) | 12-2*^ |
| 2015 | WR | 309.9 (16th) | 39.1 (15th) | 9-4 |
| 2016 | WR/PGC | 298.3 (15th) | 33.8 (38th) | 10-3 |
^Fiesta Bowl Champions
Adams and Harsin enjoyed great success in Boise, going 31-9 in Adams’ three seasons there. The Broncos churned out impressive offenses each year, including a Fiesta Bowl-winning squad in 2014.
Adams developed a pair of stars — Cedrick Wilson Jr. and Thomas Sperbeck — while at Boise State. Wilson currently plays for the Dallas Cowboys, while Sperbeck is Boise State’s all-time leader in both receptions and receiving yards. Both players posted 1,000-yard seasons in 2016, the first such occurrence in school history.
Boise State finished only 63rd, 58th, and 68th in 247’s recruiting rankings during each of Adams’ three seasons, but they had the best class in the Mountain West all three years.
Western Kentucky (2017-18)
Adams got a title upgrade as Western Kentucky’s offensive coordinator in 2017, joining new head coach Mike Sanford Jr.
| Year | Role | Yds/Game (FBS Rank) | PPG (FBS Rank) | Record |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | OC/WR | 395.8 (70th) | 25.5 (87th) | 6-7 |
| 2018 | OC/WR | 363.5 (103rd) | 21.1 (118th) | 3-9 |
In Adams’ first season at WKU, there were only two returning players on the roster with at least 25 catches in 2016. One of them, Nacarius Fant, caught 74 passes in 2017, good for fifth-most in program history.
Adams also developed Deon Yelder (a former walk-on) into an NFL tight end and helped quarterback Mike White lead the nation in completions (368).
Washington (2019-21)
Adams accepted a job as Appalachian State’s wide receivers coach in January of 2019, but was soon offered the same position at UW by Chris Petersen on Tom Moore’s recommendation.
Adams hit the ground running, securing some of Washington’s highest-ever-rated wide receivers.
His recruiting chops paid dividends for the Huskies immediately as he helped secure a flip of Puka Nacua a few weeks after taking the job. Adams then went out and added 4-stars Rome Odunze, Jalen McMillan, Jabez Tinae, and Germie Bernard over the next 3 classes while also helping to get transfers Giles Jackson and Ja’Lynn Polk.
Max Vrooman, UW Dawg Pound
| Year | Role | Pass Yds/Game (FBS Rank) | PPG (FBS Rank) | Record |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | WR | 243.4 (57th) | 32.0 (41st) | 8-5 |
| 2020 | WR | 226.5 (67th) | 30.3 (49th) | 3-1 |
| 2021 | WR* | 225.0 (73rd) | 21.5 (108th) | 4-8 |
There’s a bigger story behind these numbers: namely, that UW could not find consistency at quarterback in the past two seasons. From a numbers standpoint, it’s tough for talented receivers to look good without a consistent QB (see: Oregon, 2021).
Washington also had their top four receivers all injured at one point last season.
Adams assumed OC duties for the end of 2021 after Oregon sent John Donovan packing, though to no statistical improvement.
Despite claims of upgrading to JaMarcus Shephard, Washington fans were not happy to see Adams go. New head coach Kalen DeBoer wanted to retain Adams.
So why didn’t Adams stay in Montlake?
Adams earned $375k and $400k in his final two seasons at Washington. His Oregon contract is good for at least $575k per year. UO paid UW $500k for Adams’ buyout.
Final thoughts
It’s always nice to get one over on your rival. Poaching Adams from UW shows Dan Lanning and Rob Mullens are willing to do whatever it takes for Oregon to be the best they can be.
Adams is one of, if not the, best wide receiver coach hires Oregon could have made. His West Coast recruiting ties and depth of experience make him an ideal candidate for this job.
There are tons of quotes I could have picked from Vorel’s Cooper Kupp article, which I highly recommend reading. One point Kupp kept making was that Adams always maximized the potential of the guys in the wide receiver room. Apply that concept to Oregon’s WR talent, and we should be in for a treat.
Adams’ story is inspiring, and it undoubtedly helps him on the recruiting trail. He’s had stops at almost every type of program: he was part of some doomed teams (Chattanooga, Western Kentucky), some great teams (Eastern Washington, Boise State), and somewhere in between (Washington).
The only thing he’s missing from his resume? Being a crucial part of a team at the highest level of college football.
