Cheney, WA (SportsNetwork.com) – Eastern Washington junior quarterback Vernon
Adams Jr. will continue to practice this week with a goal of returning to
action in Saturday’s key Big Sky Conference game against Montana.
Coach Beau Baldwin of the fifth-ranked Eagles (8-2) said Adams practiced
Tuesday for the first time since he broke two metatarsal bones in his right
foot in an Oct. 4 game. He has missed four games leading up to the visit by
11th-ranked Montana (6-3).
“He went through some stuff yesterday, maybe not to the level where he was
going through it before the injury,” Baldwin said Wednesday on a conference
call. “We’re going to just evaluate the week, similar to how we’ve done with
(running back) Quincy Forte or (wide receiver) Cooper Kupp in Week 1, whoever
it might be.”
Redshirt sophomore Jordan West has gone 3-1 as the starting quarterback. He is
coming off perhaps his best game, throwing for 314 yards and two touchdowns in
a 54-3 win over North Dakota.
In EWU’s first six games, Adams threw for 2,157 yards and 24 touchdowns with
four interceptions, with a passing efficiency rating of 176.8. Last season
against Montana, he threw for 457 yards and six touchdowns in the Eagles’ 42-37
win in Missoula.
“You have to assess to what percentage he can play the game at,” Baldwin said.
“Then you’ve got to assess, is Vernon at 60 or 70 percent better than Jordan
West at 100 percent? So that’s what I’m getting at, who’s going ultimately by
the end of the week give us the best chance to win.”