Adams takes care of business at ASU
Jonathan “Jay” Adams Jr. sits with his eyes wide and palms sweaty. His heart pounds as his mind wanders. Am I ready? Can I do this? “Ready for the big game tomorrow?” the doctor asks, breaking Adams’ concentration in an attempt to settle his nerves.
Adams nods his head and gives a half smile. Tomorrow, he’ll play his first game at Arkansas State University’s Centennial Bank Stadium as a Red Wolf. Though, his mind is far from the football field.
He’s about to be a father.
“I couldn’t stop thinking about having a son,” Adams said. “The things I was going to teach him, the things we were going to do together, the type of father I wanted to be.”
Jonathan “J-three” Adams III was born at St. Bernards Medical Center in Jonesboro on Sept. 15, 2017. Less than 36 hours later, his dad scored his
first collegiate touchdown for Arkansas State.
“He’s just another reason why I do what I do,” Adams said. “I just want to be here for him and give him everything I didn’t have or didn’t get to do as a kid.”
Those who know Adams best say he’s always been that way. In everything he does, from being a dad to excelling on the football field, he does it with a purpose.
As he enters his final season at ASU, Adams hopes to leave a lasting legacy as a Red Wolf, much like his father, Jonathan Adams Sr., did 20 years ago. And he’s well on his way to doing so, making the Biletnikoff Award preseason watch list, an award given to the best wide receiver in college football.
Adams is quick to credit Jonesboro for all that he has and will continue to accomplish — his parents were raised in Jonesboro, he was born in Jonesboro, his son was born in Jonesboro. And soon, he will leave Jonesboro.
But not before he forges his own path, becoming the athlete, man and father he aspires to be.
“I couldn’t be more proud of him,” said Adams Sr., who played for ASU from 1998-01. “I think the sky’s the limit — football or no football. He’s got the talents to do pretty much whatever he wants to do.”
IN THE GENES
Adams Sr. had recently finished his freshman season at ASU when Zandra Clayton gave birth to Adams Jr. on Jan. 21, 1999.
While his dad played his final three years at ASU, Adams grew up mostly under Clayton’s care. They attended most games, with a young Jonathan watching his father become the school’s fourth alltime leading rusher, totaling 3,005 yards and 17 touchdowns in his career.
But it wasn’t until Adams grew older when he realized how good a player his father was. Adams Sr. was never and still isn’t one to talk about his career, breaking out his old film only on special occasions. Parents of other kids at Adams’ elementary and middle school would often talk about his father as if he were a living legend.
Finally, Clayton had Adams search his dad’s name on the internet.
“I told him to Google his dad’s name,” Clayton said. “And that’s where he kind of figured out where he came from.”
With his father’s athletic genes and mother’s work ethic, Adams quickly became a standout in football and basketball, playing both since elementary school.
“He was fast, he could run, he was athletic — so I knew he had the potential to be a special athlete,” Adams Sr. said. “I always say he’s a better athlete than I was. He’s just more well-rounded.”
Today, the younger Adams humbly agrees. And he proved that in high school, even though he didn’t always want to play football.
His favorite sport was basketball. At the beginning of his sophomore year at Jonesboro, Adams had no intention of playing football and wanted to focus solely on basketball. It wasn’t until he attended the first football game that year when he changed his mind.
“He came to my office on the following Monday and asked to play. Of course, I said yes,” Jonesboro Coach Randy Coleman said. “We had to start pulling him out of JV games at halftime just because, to be honest, it wasn’t fair. By Week Six, he started playing a lot on varsity.”
Meanwhile, Jay continued to excel on the basketball court. At 6-3, he could play any position and always guarded the other team’s best player.
“He’s one of the best athletes I’ve ever coached,” Jonesboro basketball Coach Wes Swift said. “I remember at the end of basketball games we had a little home run play called ‘Cowboy.’ We would back screen for Jay and send him deep. Even if it was oneon-one, we’d just throw it up. And he would just catch it and dunk it.”
Adams averaged over 12 points and seven rebounds per game his senior year. He helped Jonesboro to a 32-0 record and a 6A state title victory over El Dorado, where he scored 15 points and grabbed 11 rebounds while guarding now-Chicago Bulls forward Daniel Gafford.
Simultaneously, he helped Jonesboro’s football team become one of the most high-powered offenses in Arkansas. He helped the school to its first conference championship since 1987 his senior year and at the end of the season, played safety and returned kicks to help the team. Coleman added “he probably could have deep snapped and punted for us, too.”
“He made my job easy,” said Tyson Williams, Adams’ high school quarterback. “I remember his junior year we were playing North Little Rock, and we were trying to decide what to run for a late two-point conversion. Jay said ‘just throw it up.’ That’s what I did and, well, he caught it.”
Adams was a two-time allstate selection and was the Arkansas High School Class 6A Player of the Year, catching 76 passes for 1,402 yards and 26 touchdowns his senior year.
“I’ve never seen a player like him,” said Coleman, who’s entering his 13th year as Jonesboro’s head football coach. “I believed then and I believe now he’s going to play in the NFL.”
CLOSE TO HOME
Adams’ high school success led to local stardom.
He became a role model for kids in the area, helping with football and basketball camps. He was a familiar face as locals often stopped him in public to introduce themselves. And he was the big man on campus at Jonesboro High School, even if he didn’t want to be.
“When he walked down the halls, everyone knew who he was,” said Jennings Stanley, who played with Adams at Jonesboro and now at ASU. “He was and still is sort of a celebrity, but he doesn’t act like it. You’ll never find someone who would call him cocky. He’s so humble. I’ve never met anyone who has a bad thing to say about Jay. He’s everyone’s friend.”
Adams’ success and popularity, though, didn’t equate to scholarship offers. His recruitment was almost non-existent. Coleman thought Adams was easily a “Power 5, SEC-caliber” receiver. Instead, he was rated as a two-star wide receiver by 247Sports and ranked as the 211th best athlete in the country.
By his senior year, he only had three offers: Southeast Missouri State University, the University of Central Arkansas and ASU.
“I definitely felt like I was under recruited,” Jay added. “I won all those awards and was considered one of the best players in Arkansas, but I was only a two-star wide receiver. I didn’t really understand it.”
But ASU wasn’t going to miss out on the hometown kid and son of a Red Wolf legend. ASU offered Adams after his sophomore season. And for Coach Blake Anderson, it was an easy assessment.
“We didn’t know where exactly he would play, where he would fit, but we knew he was an athlete we wanted on our team,” Anderson said. “We were surprised, though, that his recruitment stayed as calm as it did because we felt like he was really a special athlete.”
Anderson said part of Adams’ minimal recruitment was because he didn’t attend many camps. After being offered by ASU his sophomore year, Adams was content with not going anywhere else.
And it wasn’t because of his father’s legacy, either.
“I didn’t put anything in his ear to go to Arkansas State because I went,” Adams Sr. said.
The younger Adams wanted to be near his mom’s Cajun pasta and have a place to drop his laundry off, Clayton jokingly said. Simply, he wanted to be close to home.
“I just knew he wasn’t going anywhere,” Clayton said. “It was kind of hard to get him to go to camps. And the only camps he wanted to go to were the camps that ASU did, like in Little Rock and here in Jonesboro. He wanted to stay as close to Jonesboro as possible.”
Adams’ success has continued in Jonesboro, this time donning the scarlet and black.
In his three years at ASU, he’s caught 87 passes for 1,195 yards and 9 touchdowns. He was a third-team All-Sun Belt Conference selection his junior year, despite playing alongside now-Miami Dolphins receiver Kirk Merritt and Carolina Panther Omar Bayless.
Replacing Bayless and Meritt will be no easy task, Adams admits. The two receivers combined for 2,459 yards and 29 touchdowns in 2019.
“With Omar Bayless and Kirk Merritt leaving, I guess one would think it puts a lot of pressure on me being the starting receiver and a leader,” Adams said. “But I don’t really take it as pressure. I’m ready for that role when the time comes, when we play that first game. I’m going to do whatever the team needs me to do. I’m going to be that spark for us.”
Adams is hoping to have a breakout senior season and get drafted in April. Anderson, and others who have coached him, certainly think he’s more than capable of helping an NFL team in 2021 and beyond.
But for many locals who watched Adams grow into the player he is today, they’re also trying to soak up his final days in Jonesboro, however many there may be.
“I think he has that kind of persona in the community that he’s just a great kid,” Coleman said. “He’s someone I think people in the community latch onto and say ‘that’s our guy.’ So it’s just a little different when he catches a pass in the stadium on Saturdays. There’s just a little different roar.”
YOUNG ROLE MODEL
It may not be long until another Adams is dominating the football field and basketball court.
Adams’ son, known as “J-three” by family and friends, will turn 3 in September. And Adams and his father expect him to be the next in a line of great athletes.
“I would love to see it. Jay would love to see it, too,” said Adams Sr., who works for FMH Conveyors in Jonesboro. “I’m sure he’ll be playing some sort of sport, I can guarantee that.”
Clayton, similar to Adams 20 years ago, takes J-three to all of his father’s games. He doesn’t quite understand how good or what his dad does, but as he’s gotten older, he’s started to copy his father in everything he does.
“He likes to do what I do,” Adams said with a laugh. “He runs around a lot and he’ll get down and do push-ups with me and throw the ball with me. He’s definitely learning. He talks a lot, too. He loves to talk, probably more than me.”
While J-three has learned a lot from his dad, the same could be said for Adams Jr.
In many ways, Adams’ son has forced him to grow up. At 21 years old, he’s often unable to go to parties or stay out late with friends. He’s responsible for another human being, which has forced him to become an adult earlier than he anticipated.
But that hasn’t deterred him from being the father he wants to be.
“It’s a blessing to have a son,” Adams said. “I want him to give a great life. He just gives me another piece of motivation. He’s also made me a better person. He’s helped me mature as a young man and cut out my childish ways. I have to think about someone other than myself.”
So while Adams will always be remembered for athletic abilities in Jonesboro, his greatest accomplishment as a Red Wolf will always be his son.
“I’m glad he’s not a statistic out there and is keeping his family together,” Clayton said. “I’m one proud momma of the father he’s become, more than any football player he’ll ever be.”
And no matter where he goes or what he does, whether it be playing in the NFL, coaching or just being a great father, Adams will always remember where he came from.
“I’m just glad I stayed home,” he said. “And I hope that when I leave, I’m remembered as someone who others could look up to in Jonesboro, Arkansas.”