Former teammates, coaches love Adams
OU FOOTBALL
Freshman running back Abdul Adams is in contention to become a part of the Sooners’ rotation, and his former high school teammates and coaches think he can do it.
When Antonio King told his high school football team that they were getting a four-star running back from Washington, D.C., they didn’t believe it.
Once the players in Durham, N.C., Googled Abdul Adams and watched his highlights, their skepticism grew even more.
A highly touted recruit who amassed 1,846 yards and 21 touchdowns as a junior and another 1,231 yards and eight touchdowns on 128 attempts as a sophomore? Why in the world would he come to Hillside?
Sure, the Hornets had a strong football program, but it was a far cry from the big stage in the nation’s capitol, and an even further cry from Norman where the true freshman is now competing for a spot in Oklahoma’s running back rotation with the season-ending injury to Rodney Anderson.
And yet, later that week wide receiver Daeshawn Stephens received a Twitter follow from Adams. Then came the direct message, then the phone call, and then, Stephens and a couple teammates were picking him up from his aunt’s house to show him around town.
“It was crazy because after we watched his film and he decided that he wanted to come to Hillside, everybody was shocked,” said Jamal Elliott, a fourstar running back at Hillside last year.
“We wanted to see if it was true. When he came down, he called us, so we met him at his aunt’s house. We realized then that he was coming to Hillside, that it wasn’t a joke or anything like that.”
It was unlike anything Stephens expected out of a guy who was being courted by dozens of major college football programs, including Oklahoma. With a four-star rating and a lot of buzz following him from Washington, D.C., Adams could’ve ridden his high horse into the Hillside Hornets’ nest. But that’s not what he did at all.
“He came in real humble,” King said. “He blended in well with the team. He was coming in to be a part of their team and he didn’t want all the fanfare. He wanted to help them win the state title.”
Adams wowed his teammates beginning with the first fall scrimmage when he ripped off a 50-yard touchdown run the first time he touched the ball.
“Our scrimmage was packed, and everybody was talking about Abdul,” Stephens said. “He scored with the first touch of the ball. So yeah, I knew he was pretty good.”
Despite a loaded offense, the team fell short of its collective goal, falling 52-15 to New Hanover (N.C.) in the N.C. High School Athletic Association 4A East semifinals.
In his only season with the Hornets, Adams racked up 180 carries for 2,036 yards and 21 touchdowns and 12 catches for 200 yards and was ranked as the No. 13 player in the state.
The day after the playoff loss, Adams committed to Oklahoma, a school nearly a thousand miles from any stop he made during his high school playing career.
But Adams is plenty familiar with leaving his comfort zone. He wound up in Durham after residency rules kept him from transferring to another program in the D.C. public school system school to play his final season of high school football.
Rather than continuing the fight in his hometown, Adams chose to leave his dad and relatives in D.C. and move to North Carolina to live with his aunt. The change gave Adams the opportunity to play his senior season, and living with his aunt helped him form habits to make him the best player and person possible.
“He knew he needed more structure and discipline,” King said. “And she was tough on him and that’s what he wanted. He knows what he wants, and he’ll go after it. He knew he wasn’t doing the best he could and he knew if he lived with her, she was going to be on top of everything, and it helped in the long run.”
He hasn’t played a down for Oklahoma, but with the season-ending neck injury to third-string running back Rodney Anderson, Adams will likely be competing for touches along with senior Daniel Brooks.
“He’s going to have a chance,” OU offensive coordinator Lincoln Riley said Monday. “We have to make sure the guy is ready to go. You don’t want to put a freshman out there who is not ready. But we anticipate that he will be ready and have a great opportunity to contribute.”
According to King, who’s now the running backs coach at East Carolina, Riley’s a big reason why the 5-foot-10, 208-pound running back ended up in Oklahoma.
Adams previously committed to the Pirates in April 2014, just 10 days after he received their offer, but decommitted the following fall when he received offer letters from programs like Michigan State and Illinois. In November 2015, Adams took an official visit to Norman and committed to the program eight days later.
Meanwhile, Riley made the move from East Carolina’s offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach to take the same post at Oklahoma after the 2014 season.
“I think it was his relationship with the offensive coordinator, Coach Riley,” King said, explaining Adams’ decision to attend OU. “ECU was the first school he committed to, and Coach Riley was recruiting him then. I think it was just his relationship with Coach Riley. He really had to fight off a lot of people.”
Adams’ lasting commitment to Oklahoma may pay off immediately if he works his way into a talented rotation anchored by Heisman-hopeful Samaje Perine and Joe Mixon. Though Adams is pretty green, his former coach believes he’s a college-ready talent.
“He’s going to shock a whole lot of people with his skill level,” King said. “I know it’s going to be hard to keep that guy off the field.”