Hard work pays off for Troy guard Adams

TROY — When it came down to selecting a college, Steven Adams played a game of “Father Knows Best.”

Adams, a Bruce, Fla., native, had one scholarship offer from Central Florida. Other schools, such as Troy, wanted the offensive lineman to walk on.

A free ride for five years versus paying your own way while hoping a scholarship might open up later? It sounds like an easy decision.

Until the Adams family visited Central Florida, coached by George O’Leary. The first impressions made a lasting impression on Adams’ father.

“He didn’t like his attitude,” Adams said. “He didn’t like the way he approached us. It was just nonchalant. He was kinda rude to my mom.

“I don’t remember what he said to her, but it made my dad really mad. He said, ‘You’re not coming here.’”

The distance from home proved too great as well, as Adams didn’t want to go eight hours away even with a full ride.

But it made for a more difficult path to stardom. Adams walked on to Troy, paying his own way with the help of some academic scholarship money for two years, then was put on a football scholarship before last season.

Now, the 6-foot-3, 306-pound redshirt junior is a starter. He made his first career start at right guard for the Trojans in the opener at Middle Tennessee, and he’s expected to start Saturday when Troy hosts Alcorn State at 6 p.m.

“My dad said I had to get scholarship money to pay for school or otherwise we wouldn’t be able to afford it,” Adams said.

After two years, he earned it. He remembers going to visit the coaches when they rewarded him.

“I would have had to get a summer job (at home) if I didn’t get a scholarship,” Adams said. “I wouldn’t have been here for weights. Thankfully, they gave me one and put some other walk-ons on scholarship also.”

Adams played in seven games last year with mixed results. He split reps with Danny Franks this spring at center, but Franks held on to his starting job there.

Then, Adams beat out three seniors at right guard.

“He became more physical,” offensive coordinator Neal Brown said. “That’s the biggest difference between this year and last year.

“The other thing that held him back was that he’s a really smart kid, but he’s made silly mistakes. He knows what to do. He knows the offense and he can play every position on the line, but he’d always have a brain fart that would be a big mistake that would hurt us.

“Over the last month or so, he hasn’t made those mistakes, so his playing time has increased.”

Adams always had plus speed, size and strength for an offensive lineman, and now he’s putting it all together, even though odds were against him coming from Freeport High School, one of the smallest in Florida.

“None of the people I played high school ball with are even playing any more,” Adams said. “It made me feel good that I was the only one, so I could prove everybody wrong. Everybody said ‘He’s not going to be able to do it because nobody’s ever done it from my high school.’”

And while Adams has found success at Troy, a black eye cast upon UCF’s program when football player Ereck Plancher died March 18 after a workout.

“When that happened, (dad) said ‘I’m glad you didn’t go down there,’” Adams said.