Tarrion Adams
From NCAA College Football Information & Resource
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Tarrion Adams (born December 27, 1985) plays running back for the University of Tulsa Golden Hurricane in the NCAA college football tournament. In 2007, Adams sparkled for the Conference USA West Division champions Tulsa as he achieved several rushing milestones for his career. His 1,225 rushing yards placed him on fourth place in the school's single-season records enroute to making his way into the top 10 of the program's all-time rushing list. In addition, Adams collaborated with record-setting quarterback Paul Smith to become only the second tandem after Houston's David Klingler and Chuck Weatherspoon as the NCAA's only 5,000-yard passing and 1,000-yard rushing tandems. Apart from taking home the GMAC Bowl trophy, Tulsa also became the first team in NCAA history to have a a 5,000-yard passer (Smith), three 1,000 yard receivers (Brennan Marion, Trae Johnson, and Charles Clay), and a 1,000 yard rusher (Adams).
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Personal Life
Tarrion is the son of Henry Adams and Sally Smith. Adams, who considers himself as "ambitious" and a people-person, majored in psychology in hopes of following the footsteps of his mother Sally, who is a counselor specializing in substance-abuse. Tarrion would like to someday become a high school counselor and have his own practice afterwards in order to be able to help and talk to people especially those who are in trouble. Tarrion idolizes the late NFL player Walter Payton and cheers for the San Diego Chargers in the National Football League. He says that if he could play any other position aside from running back, it would be as a safety. Outside football, he also is a basketball fan, in fact he cheered Michael Jordan during his Chicago Bulls days. His favorite food is seafood and considers his Bible as his most prized possession. His favorite movie is Friday but his favorite movie character is Jim Carrey's role in Bruce Almighty, because he was "God" and he got to do whatever he wanted to do. [1]
High School
Adams suited up for the Moore High School football squad where he was a three-year letterman and starter under head football coach Tom Noles. He started to shine during his junior year when he rushed for 1,447 yards and 14 touchdowns to earn for himself a spot at the Daily Oklahoman's Big All-City first team. By virtue of his performance as a second year starter, he garnered a spot at Tulsa World's preseason Blue Chip and the Daily Oklahoman preseason all-state selections entering his senior year. He wound up playing both the running back and free safety positions in his final year of eligibility and ended the season with 1,358 rushing yards and 15 touchdowns on 168 carries with 156 receiving yards and three scoring catches on 6 total receptions. By the end of the year, he received an all-state West team selection from the Oklahoma Coaches Association (OCA), all-state honorable mentions from the Tulsa World and the Daily Oklahoman, a 6A-1 all-District selection, a second team Big All-City accolades from the Daily Oklahoman, and an invite to play at the Oil Bowl. Adams had a career totals of 3,742 rushing yards and 42 touchdowns on 454 carries to go along with 20 receptions for 486 yards and seven TDs.
College
Rivals.com's #15 player in the Oklahoma list considered several universities, including Tulsa, New Mexico, Rice, and TCU although he eventually signed his letter of intent with the former.
2004
Redshirted.
2005
Adams made his collegiate debut in a loss to Minnesota, rushing 7 times for 27 yards and catching 5 passes for 49 yards. He scored his first career touchdown in a lopsided 54-2 victory over North Texas, rushing 10 times for 40 yards and then followed it up with another touchdown the following game in an overtime win over Memphis where he racked up 71 yards on 5 carries. He recorded his second 10-carry game in a win over Southern Miss worth 60 yards and then set his career high in receiving yards at 65 in a loss to Texas-El Paso. After going scoreless for five straight games, Adams returned to the scoring sheet with a 2-touchdown performance (6 attempts for 39 yards) in a win against East Carolina. The following week, he tallied his first career touchdown reception in addition to a scoring run in a win @ Tulane before closing out the year with a season best performance @ Central Florida. He established his career high of 12 receptions and 84 receiving yards to go along with three total touchdowns (2 rushed, 1 caught) as the Golden Hurricane edged out the Knights, 44-27. In his postseason debut against Fresno State at the AutoZone Liberty Bowl, he amassed a season-high 102 yards on 11 carries with 1 scoring run as Tulsa defeated the Bulldogs, 31-24. He ended his rookie season with 89 carries, 574 rushing yards, 44.2 rush yards per game (2nd in the team), 8 TD runs, 24 catches, 273 receiving yards and 2 TD receptions in 13 appearances.
2006
As a redshirt sophomore, Adams was on his way to becoming one of Tulsa's go-to-guys on the ground and he was off to a good start after producing two touchdowns (1 rushed and 1 caught with 41 rush yards on 10 carries) in the win over Stephen F. Austin. The following game against BYU, he produced 89 yards on 7 catches and tallied his second scoring run of the year as Tulsa got humbled by the Cougars to the tune of 24-49. After rushing 6 times for 19 yards against North Texas, Adams was sidelined for the next three games because of an injury. He returned in limited capacity in a win @ Memphis and notched 91 receiving yards on 5 catches but was once again shelved for a game in a win against UTEP. AFter that, Tulsa sustained three successive losses, first @ Houston (2 carries for 11 yards), in overtime against Rice (15 carries for a season high 116 yards---lone 100-yard game for the season), and @ Southern Methodist (11 carries for 30 yards) before notching another victory against Tulane (2 carries for 47 yards). He made his second straight postseason appearance in a loss to Utah at the Armed Forces Bowl, where he was only limited to 12 carries for 37 yards and 9 catches for 63 yards. Despite seeing action in only 9 of the 13 games for the season, Adams still managed to rack up 329 rushing yards (#2 in the team) and 2 TDs on 68 carries with 31 receptions for 362 yards and 1 score.
2007
In his junior season, Adams returned to pair with incoming senior and the team's leading rusher Courtney Tennial at the backfield but before the season began, was forced to carry majority of the Golden Hurricane's ground game after Tennial suffered an Achilles injury in August. In the season-opener, he rushed for 129 yards and a score on season high 28 carries while catching 2 passes for 27 yards and another TD as Tulsa defeated Louisiana-Monroe on the road. He also added another score and rushed 18 times for 79 yards in a win against BYU. After a lackluster performance in a loss against Oklahoma, Adams bounced back with a career high of 183 rushing yards on 24 carries with 1 score in a win @ UAB before being held scoreless for the second time against UTEP (15 carries for 86 yards). In a 1-TD win over Marshall, Adams turned out a 1-rush, 1-catch TD performance (15 carries for 134 yards, 6 receptions for 35 yards) but was limited to a 10-carry, 47-yard rushing performance in a loss to UCF. In wins against Southern Methodist, Tulane, and Houston, Adams offense took a backseat to its equally effective air attack as he settled for a total of 24 carries for 107 yards and 1 score in that three game span. But against Army, Adams provided sufficient offense with his 118 rush yards on 17 carries with two scoring runs (from 7 and 3 yards out) and a halfback pass for an 18-yard Cameron Clemons touchdown as Tulsa turned back the Knights, 49-39. He tallied his 5th 100-yard game @ Rice (146 yards on 24 carries) but was limited to only 41 yards on 18 carries in the Conference USA title showdown against UCF.
In his third straight bowl game appearance, Adams went on a roll as he registered running, passing, and receiving touchdowns even before the game reached halftime and then went on to complete the game with 17 carries for 112 yards and 1 score, 4 catches for 57 yards and another score, with a 4-yard touchdown pass to Kyle Grooms in an all-around game as Tulsa clobbered Bowling Green in the GMAC Bowl, 63-7. He ended the year as the team's leading rusher with 219 carries for 1,225 yards and 8 TDs), and just second behind record-breaking quarterback Paul Smith in total offense.
2008
Adams returns to the Golden Hurricane fold for his senior season and will once again team up with Tennial, who earlier in the year was granted a 6th year of eligibility after missing the entire 2007 season.
Career Stats
| Rushing | Receiving | Fumbles | ||||||||||
| Year | Att | RshYds | Avg | Lng | TD | Rec | RecYds | Avg | Lng | TD | Fum | Lst |
| 2005 | 89 | 574 | 6.4 | 64 | 8 | 24 | 273 | 11.4 | 39 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| 2006 | 68 | 329 | 4.8 | 47 | 2 | 31 | 362 | 11.7 | 56 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 2007 | 219 | 1225 | 5.6 | 51 | 8 | 30 | 301 | 10.0 | 28 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
Highlights
| Tarrion Adams rushed for two TDs and passed for another in a 49-39 win over Army. |
Achievements
- 2007 CollegeFootballNews.com's #30 Player in the C-USA
- 2007 Conference USA Honorable Mention All-Conference
- 2007 Doak Walker Award Preseason watchlist
- 2007 Phil Steele All-C-USA Honorable Mention
- 2006 Conference USA Honorable Mention All-Conference
