It was exactly two weeks ago tonight when Oxford quarterback Parker Adamson and his family left the baseball stadium at New Hope High School, got into their vehicle and started driving west towards Arlington, Texas.Adamson’s quest revolved around him being a participant in the Dallas Elite 11 camp, which approximately 70 quarterbacks from around the nation took part in.
“We stayed in Monroe (La.) that night. We got to the hotel about 2 a.m. Went to bed at 2:30. We left the hotel the next morning at about 9:30. We drove all the way from there to Arlington and got there about 2:30, so we got to registration right at 3. There were no stops on the way, just driving all the way, just get there.”
Adamson said the family stopped, briefly, for fast food, but even that quick stop seemed to be rushed. The 6-foot-4, 200-pound rising senior, who is already starting to get some looks from Division I schools, said he had a great time taking part in the camp held at Cowboys Stadium.
“It was fun. I thought I did average to what I saw in myself. I missed some of the throws I should have made but overall I thought I did pretty good,” Adamson said. “I liked doing the footwork drills just because I think I work footwork so much. I rep that so much during practice, just rolling out to your left, rolling out to your right, throwing the comeback, throwing the out, just drills like that. I felt like I did pretty well with those drills.”
Adamson competed against some of the top-rated quarterbacks in the nation for the 2013 recruiting class, including Devante Kincaid, who is rated as the No. 16 dual-threat quarterback in the nation and Kenny Hill of Southlake (Texas) Carroll who is rated as Top 250 player by Rivals.com.
“There were guys from all over with all kinds of offers. All different types of quarterbacks. I remember the guy that won, Devante Kincaid, he was from Colorado,” Adamson said. “There was a guy from Texas there who had an offer from Texas, there was a guy from Utah (Cooper Bateman).”
The camp lasted two hours and there were a lot of positives taken away from the way Adamson performed. ESPN recruiting analyst Tom Luginbill was one of those who came away impressed with Adamson’s ability as a pro-style, pocket passer.
“Parker is a really good, long, lanky pocket passer that maybe isn’t the athlete of some of the other guys in the class but when he gets into a rhythm he can really stroke the football. He is very consistent with his mechanics,” Luginbill said in a post-camp video. “He is the type of player that has worked from under center so he experience dropping, setting and getting the ball out. One of the things that surprised me about him was his ability to throw the football on the move, whether it was the right or left. He certainly looks like a pocket passer and by in large he is one, but he showed some pocket movement and the ability to move out of the pocket and throw the football on the move which was also impressive.”
Adamson said he found out about the video a few days after returning to Oxford.
“That kind of shocked me because I came out of the camp thinking I could have done better, should have done better. When I got home someone called my mom and said there is a video of you on ESPN.com about Luginbill saying you did good,” Adamson said. “So I looked it up and I was kind of surprised. I guess there is always somebody watching. Even when you think you’re not doing that good, you’re showing somebody something.”
Busy month
Baseball and then spring football drills will dominate the next month, month and a half of Adamson’s calendar. In between practices and games, Adamson said he will work on drills two or three times a week.
“The first hour (of the camp) was just drills and how they rated you on your drills. They taught me a lot of drills, footwork and arm drills and how you get into the right position and throw over guys instead of trying to throw through something,” Adamson said. “(Oxford quarterbacks) Coach Stan (Hill) has also taught me tons. I think have a good set of drills just to work on.”
More to come
Camps will follow spring football in the summer at Ole Miss and Alabama and other schools such as Vanderbilt and Duke. Adamson has already visited Alabama and toured the facilities, but he is going back to throw and compete at a camp in front of head coach Nick Saban. Ole Miss has also asked for Adamson to come to one of its summer camps.
“I think Coach (Jason) Russell and Coach (Chris) Cutcliffe are going take me and (offensive lineman) Clifton (Smith) around a couple of camps for a week. It’s going to be fun.” (April 6, 2012, Page 9A)

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