Roughriders’ rookie Adcock is catching on to CFL game
Tackle likes taking passes in practice
When football scouts are assessing an offensive lineman, one of the things they look at is the way the big man uses his hands.
Saskatchewan Roughriders tackle Levy Adcock uses his hands well — but in more ways than one.
The 6-foot-6, 320-pounder typically employs his mitts to fend off defenders during the CFL team’s practices or games.
But in the early stages of every practice, Adcock also snags passes from Saskatchewan’s quarterbacks.
He looks like a natural, too, snaring footballs with his hands as flawlessly as a receiver.
“I just do it to get warmed up,” the affable 25-year-old from Claremore, Okla., said of playing catch with the QBs.
“I’ve done it since Day 1 here, so I keep doing it. It’s a superstition kind of thing now.”
It also could represent some wishful thinking from a few years back.
In his first season at Oklahoma State University in 2009, Adcock was deployed as a fourth tight end by the Cowboys’ offence.
“Never had a (pass) play called for me; I just blocked every time,” Adcock said with a smile. “I asked. It just never happened. I asked all the time, every week. It didn’t matter; I wasn’t going to get the ball.
“We had pretty good receivers and they didn’t want to chance throwing it to me. I thought that maybe if we got up by a lot they’d give me something, but they never did.”
Perhaps the Cowboys’ coaches knew what they had in Adcock.
In high school, he was the first athlete in Rogers County history to be named all-county in each of football, basketball and baseball. He also was named all-district and all-conference in all three of the sports.
He was a first baseman and catcher in baseball and a power forward in basketball, but he opted to pursue football.
“Basketball, I wasn’t quick enough and couldn’t jump high enough,” Adcock recalled with a chuckle. “Baseball, I probably could have made a living with it. But hey, whatever; I think I’ve done fine with football.”
After high school, Adcock played at Northeastern Oklahoma A&M College for two seasons before transferring to Oklahoma State in ’09. Following his stint as a tight end that season, he became a starting tackle on the Cowboys’ offensive line in 2010.
He didn’t allow a sack that season and subsequently was named first-team All-Big 12 by the conference’s coaches and The Associated Press.
Adcock earned the same accolade the following season and was named a consensus first-team all-American, which put him on the radar as a potential pick in the 2012 NFL draft.
Despite all of that, Adcock wasn’t selected in the lottery.
“I was disappointed at first, but life goes on,” he said. “You can’t sweat that, so I signed (as a free agent with the Dallas Cowboys) and tried to do my best.
“You can’t change it after it happens, so I was kind of like, ‘Whatever.’ ’’
Adcock played in two pre-season games with Dallas in 2012 before being released. He spent the 2012 UFL season with the Sacramento Mountain Lions, then signed with the NFL’s New York Giants in December of ’12.
He was waived by the Giants in May of 2013 and was inactive for roughly one full year before the Roughriders called.
“I didn’t know anything about (the CFL),” Adcock said. “I had never been informed about it. Then my agent approached me with it and I was like, ‘Yeah, I want to play. It doesn’t matter what it is.’ He said we’d give it a shot and I said, ‘Great.’
“Next thing I know, I’m up here.”
Adcock didn’t dress for any of the Roughriders’ first five games, but he was activated for their contest Aug. 7 against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.
Five more weeks of inactivity followed before he started at left tackle for Xavier Fulton in Saskatchewan’s game Sept. 21 against the Ottawa Redblacks.
Fulton returned the following week, but Adcock has been the starter in each of the Roughriders’ past two games — and he’s expected to get the nod again Sunday when the Edmonton Eskimos visit Mosaic Stadium.
“It’s tough (to sit and wait),” Adcock said. “Every guy out here, whether they start or don’t start, wants to play.
“I was told from the get-go that it’s all about seizing the opportunity you get, whether it’s because of injury or whatever. That’s what I did. I waited my turn for a few months, I finally got my shot and now I’m trying to play the best that I can.”