Roughriders have seen Adams Jr. evolve into CFL starter

While Vernon Adams Jr. has become the motor that drives the B.C. Lions’ offence, one member of the Saskatchewan Roughriders can recall a time when both of them were battling for playing time.

Linebacker Derrick Moncrief joined the Roughriders in 2017, the same season the CFL team acquired Adams from the Montreal Alouettes. The quarterback was in his second CFL season at the time and still learning the ropes.

“He was energetic and always a vocal leader,” Moncrief recalled when asked what he remembered about Adams Jr. “(He was) a very smart guy and very attentive with everything he was doing with the details and stuff like that.

“He has always been a great player.”

Now both players find themselves leading their respective teams in different ways, and their teams will collide Saturday when the Roughriders visit B.C. Kickoff for the game in Vancouver is set for 5 p.m.

Adams Jr. has bounced around the league during his seven-season CFL career.

The Riders traded him to the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in February of 2018 for defensive end Charleston Hughes. After the Tiger-Cats released Adams Jr. in June of that year, he re-signed with Montreal. The Als traded him to the Lions last August.

Now, he has emerged as a bona fide starter and has the 4-1-0 Lions leading the West Division. He has thrown for 1,540 yards with nine touchdowns and eight interceptions and has rushed for 106 yards and a touchdown.

“It’s his resiliency – just being focused and being dialed in at all times,” Moncrief said. “It doesn’t matter whether he was Quarterback 1 or Quarterback 2, he always kept that same approach.

“I just watched from afar and really admired that from afar.”

Riders head coach Craig Dickenson is also familiar with the play of Adams Jr. Dickenson was the special-teams co-ordinator in Saskatchewan in 2017 as a member of Chris Jones’ coaching staff.

“He can do everything that other quarterbacks can do, but on top of that, he is super-tough,” Dickenson said. “He just looks like he’s really well-rounded this year. I credit Rick (Campbell, the Lions’ head coach) and (offensive co-ordinator) Jordan Maksymic, the coaches over there. They’ve done a good job giving him stuff that he’s good at and really allowing him to grow.

“But I also think it’s experience … When you’ve seen it a few times, you gain confidence. When you gain confidence, your performance increases.”

While Adams Jr. has the Lions considered one of the top teams in the league, their one loss came when the quarterback threw six interceptions against the Toronto Argonauts.

“You’re going to throw interceptions in this league,” said defensive back Nic Marshall, who leads the Riders with two interceptions this season. “Toronto was on that game. He made a couple bad mistakes, but then he also bounced back the next week and had a great game.

“It’s going to be a big challenge for us going in there. They are the No. 1 team in the West but at the end of the day, it all boils down to us. If we go out there and do what we’ve got to do, we should come out victorious.”

Notes: Centre Peter Godber (hand) and defensive end Anthony Lanier II (foot) have both been ruled out for Saturday’s game … Kicker Brett Lauther (leg) will play.