Adams stands out at crowded position
When South Carolina lost Alshon Jeffery to the NFL a year early, the question became who would fill the void as the go-to receiver in crunch time. There are several candidates among the wide receivers, but the best option might be a player that had a year’s detour before enrolling at South Carolina.
Freshman tight end Jerell Adams has drawn rave reviews from coaches and players since preseason camp began. He had a logjam of talented players ahead of him in Justice Cunningham, Buster Anderson and Drew Owens. But the former Scott’s Branch High standout has done enough to make an early impression.
“We’ve never had the kind of tight ends that we have here right now,” coach Steve Spurrier said. “Jerell Adams is here and he’s a big-time talent. He’s 6-5, runs about a 4.5 or something, 240 (pounds). He’s impressive. We’ll use a lot of two tight end offense, no question about it.”
Thoughts of the New England Patriots offense with All-Pro tight ends Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez come to mind when looking at this array of talent for the Gamecocks. But that wasn’t the case last year. Cunningham and Anderson combined to catch 26 passes and scored four touchdowns. Adams could easily surpass that mark alone.
In Saturday’s scrimmage he had two catches for 66 yards and a touchdown. Another long reception was negated by a penalty.
“Jerell has been impressive so far, but we have a lot of guys in the mix at the tight end position,” USC tight ends coach Joe Robinson said. “He just needs to remain consistent and I’m sure he will get his chances.”
Adams thought he would be part of the mix last year. After scoring three touchdowns in the North Carolina vs. South Carolina Shrine Bowl in 2010, he wasset to sign with USC in February 2011 but ended up not qualifying. He spent last year at Fork Union Military Academy. He was intent on making the most of the situation.
“When I first found out I wasn’t able to come to Carolina, I had a lot of support people helping me and telling me not to worry about it,” Adams said. “They told me to do what I needed to do and everything would take care of itself. I knew I was going to eventually get here. It just took a little time.”
The wait to enroll was extended in January. Adams thought he could be on hand for the spring semester and go through spring practice with the Gamecocks but a snag in his transcripts caused the NCAA to step in again. He finally arrived in Columbia in May and has tried to make the most of his opportunities.
“I feel good about how things are going so far,” Adams said. “I’m just trying to learn the playbook and do all the little things to be able to get on the field.”
Adams felt the year away helped. He faced competition while playing with Fork Union that was instrumental in his development. Adams competed at Class A Scott’s Branch, where he played quarterback, tight end, linebacker, defensive end and punter. It is one of the smallest schools in the state, and he was the first player from his high school to be named to the Shrine Bowl. More often than not, he was the biggest player on the field.
“I was able to play against guys my size finally,” Adams said. “I didn’t really face that much in playing Class A ball. I was glad to get a chance to show my skills against better competition. But this has been even a bigger step up. I just need to keep grinding and working on the playbook and things will work out.”
This story was originally published August 14, 2012 at 12:00 AM.