Did Oregon Transfer QB Vernon Adams' Old Coach Betray Him?

Vernon Adams' anticipated transfer from Eastern Washington to Oregon was going to yield some raw emotions. Not only is one of the most successful Football Championship Subdivision players leaving one program behind, but he's still a few months away from officially joining his new one.

That puts Adams and Eastern Washington in a sensitive spot. Yes, their time together is over, but it's not really over. They aren't fully separated until Adams graduates this spring, and the two sides will see each other once again in the 2015 season opener when the Ducks host the Eagles on Sept 5.  

In the meantime, Eastern Washington coach Beau Baldwin is initiating the moving-on process by barring Adams from the team's workout facilities. From an interview with 700 ESPN in Spokane, Washington (h/t Kyle Bonagura, ESPN.com): 

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For the next four months, he can't prep down there with them and he certainly can't be in our weight room or throwing with our guys ... and I talked to him about that. I go, 'What's your plan for the next four months? How are you going to prepare for your senior year? I love you to death, but one, you're moving on, and two, you're moving on to who we're playing in Week 1.'

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That's a bold decision to make. Adams isn't just any transfer player; he took the Eagles into the Division I playoffs, skewered FBS defenses like those of Washington and Oregon State and was a Walter Payton Award finalist (think Heisman for FCS football). He threw for 10,438 yards and 110 touchdowns in three years with the Eagles. He also rushed for another 1,232 yards and 11 touchdowns. 

Imagine if Braxton Miller decided he was in fact going to transfer from Ohio State and head coach Urban Meyer told Miller he was banned from the program going forward. 

That'd be a big story, right?

It's the kind of move that can sound like sour grapes. In a world where coaches are free to come and go as they please—Baldwin, in fact, was briefly connected to the vacant Oregon State job in December—why can they dictate what a player can and can't do?

This is not the Jeremiah Masoli situation from 2010. Masoli, who transferred from Oregon (of all places) to Ole Miss, had legal problems, was dismissed from the Ducks and used the transfer as a means to play football elsewhere immediately. 

Adams is on track to get his degree. According to Jim Allen of The Spokesman-Review, Adams will receive his undergraduate degree in June in recreation management and must choose a grad school that offers a degree in that field. He's played by the rules.

However, in fairness to Eastern Washington, the school has been open about Adams' interest in exploring other options even before the transfer became official. None of this came as a surprise. Unless Oregon broke rules—and there's no indication that is the case—Eastern Washington gave Adams permission to contact the school, as well as his release. 

Certainly, it was a cleaner break than other grad transfer situations like Michael Brewer's departure from Texas Tech last year. All grad transfer stories are different, but the Adams-Eastern Washington separation is practically nonexistent on the drama-o-meter—even if there's skepticism about the application of the grad transfer rule. 

"It smacks of hired gun, for one thing," Big 12 Commissioner Bob Bowlsby told Ralph Russo of the Associated Press. "There typically are no good academic reasons for the transfer."

Every report about Adams has been about his impact on the field. It's no secret that Adams is being recruited first and foremost as a successor for Marcus Mariota. Along those lines, grad transfers are viewed through the scope of how they can help a football team. 

Since Adams' first game as an Oregon starter could theoretically be played against his old team, it's understandable that Eastern Washington is doing what it feels is best. The post-Adams era has already begun, even though he's still on campus. 

The teammates Adams would interact with in the facilities building and weight room? They're not his teammates anymore. 

EWU and Adams had some great years together, but he's choosing to finish college elsewhere. That's fine, because it could provide Adams with exposure he never had before. Maybe it will give him with a better shot at the NFL. 

The grad transfer rule might be a loophole, but so much of the bureaucracy of college athletics is made up of ways to tell athletes what they can't do. 

Eastern Washington has rights too, though. It can't win if Adams is around. If keeping Adams away from the rest of the team is the worst thing Eastern Washington is doing, well, that's pretty lenient in the grand scheme of things. 

Ben Kercheval is a lead writer for college football. All quotes cited unless obtained firsthand.