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or a chance to revive his dwindling football career, Abdul Adams had to leave Oklahoma. Two years with the Sooners without consistently seeing the field left the former top 10 high school running back with few options. So Adams transferred, and for the first time in nearly three years, finally had a steady role.

On the Syracuse scout team.

Adams had fallen a long way since rushing for 2,036 yards and 21 touchdowns during his senior year at Hillside (North Carolina) High School. When he got to SU, he waited and watched his team from the sidelines during home games and from his South Campus apartment during road games. Syracuse, a team he hadn’t yet played a minute for, ran through Florida State, almost dethroned Clemson, and eventually, made its first bowl game in five years.

The message to Adams throughout 2018 was simple: Stay ready.

“All season, they (were) like, ‘You could play in a bowl game,’” Adams said.

On Dec. 28, Adams finally got to suit up for the Orange’s first bowl game in five years, after sitting out the season due to the NCAA transfer rules. In his first game action since January, the fresh-off-the-scout-team tailback scored two touchdowns, leading the charge for SU’s 34-18 win in the Camping World Bowl. Adams hasn’t had the success in college he always thought he would. But on the first Syracuse team ranked in the preseason AP Top 25 since 1998, he finally has the opportunity he’s always wanted.

“You live and learn from things,” Adams said. “I don’t regret (any) of the decisions I made, and I’m happy at the place I am now.”

The Camping World Bowl was only a glimpse of the explosive, long-undervalued Adams that Syracuse had sought after. But his college career — bouncing between two teams, standing in the backfield sparingly — has been far from as smooth as it was in high school.

Adams entered Woodrow Wilson (Washington, D.C.) High School at 155 pounds as a talented, but skinny freshman who didn’t see many varsity minutes. Still, head coach Mark Martin said, as soon as he saw Adams, he knew he’d be a pro one day.

With one play left in the first half of a Woodrow Wilson game seven years ago, Martin recalled subbing Adams into the game to catch a bubble screen on the team’s own 20-yard line. They needed some sort of spark to stay in the game. And Adams, the scrawny freshman, maneuvered his way down the field, all the way to the end zone.

“That’s when we knew we had to have him on the field,” Martin said.

But the strength and agility he needed to fully realize his potential weren’t there. He began training with Sean Washington, dubbed the “Monster Maker,” who started to transform Adams’s physical development with Prowler sleds. By his sophomore year, Adams had gained 25 pounds. Two years later, he was 205.

“He would go practice after practice,” Martin said. “He would go workout before practice, leave for practice, and then go workout again.”

A scholarship at Oklahoma validated his hard work after a transfer to Hillside, but like his freshman year at Woodrow Wilson, Adams was far down the depth chart. Ahead of him were two future NFL running backs — Samaje Perine and Joe Mixon. As Adams largely watched from the sidelines, Oklahoma went on to win 11 games, including the Sugar Bowl, en route to a No. 5 ranking in the final AP Poll of 2016.

When the two backs in front of Adams were drafted following the season, it seemingly opened up a starting spot for Adams. But he was passed over again, remaining the third-string back.

When he did play, Adams was as explosive as any back in the country, leading the Sooners with 9.2 yards per carry. He even tied the NCAA record with a 99-yard touchdown against Baylor.

But that’d be his only highlight from that season. Again, he failed to make an impact in Oklahoma’s biggest games — the Big 12 Championship and the College Football Playoff.

“It was definitely an up and down year,” Adams said. “I just took it one day at a time.”

Adams decided to leave Oklahoma, noting “maturity” as one of the biggest reasons why. Oklahoma declined to comment for this story, citing “their focus is on this year’s OU players and team.”

Coming to Syracuse put his two years at Oklahoma in the past, but he was still required to sit out the regular season.

That’s why he started on the scout team, where he prepared Syracuse’s starting defense for the running back it would face in the next game. While some players of Adams’ caliber might have dismissed the role, Adams relished it. He called his role on the team a “blessing,” and used it to stay in shape and perfect his craft.

“Going into weeks where we had (to face) a tough running back, he was giving us a great look,” SU defensive back Andre Cisco said. “Maybe even a better look than we were gonna see.”

Adams’ only hope to play during the season depended on if Syracuse could have its best season under head coach Dino Babers and reach a bowl game. Babers foreshadowed the possibility of an Adams return midway through the 2018 season, pending a bowl game appearance. In December, it became a reality.

In his lone appearance for the Orange, Adams converted on a pair of goal line touches, scoring Syracuse’s first two touchdowns of the Camping World Bowl. He chalks up his bowl game success to his preparation throughout the season and staying focused despite the fact that he couldn’t even travel with the team for road games.

“Once I got the call that I could be able to play I knew I would be ready,” Adams said. “I was watching film, working in the weight room, staying ready, keeping my conditioning up.”

But even after his breakout bowl game, the ups-and-downs of Adams’ career resurfaced. Adams sat out the spring and first half of summer practices after breaking his left scapula, but in mid-July, he was listed as one of the featured running backs on SU’s preliminary depth chart. That’s continued into training camp, where he’s handled first-team running back duties along with Moe Neal.

Compared to Neal’s lofty goal of becoming SU’s first 1,000-yard rusher in seven years, Adams’ ambitions are tempered. For him, it’s the first time in college he’s expected to have a significant role. He’s just happy to put in extra work the same way he has since he was just a 155-pound high school freshman.

“Preparation is key,” Adams said. “If you’re not preparing the right way, it’s gonna show on the field. If you’re taking everything serious, all the little things serious, you’re gonna have much success.”

Cover photo by Corey Henry, Photo Illustration by Sarah Allam