Mark D. Robertson

No defense wants to see Vernon Adams Jr. twice in the same season.

Unfortunately for the University of Montana, they'll have to.

The Eastern Washington quarterback – named the Big Sky Conference Offensive Player of the Year for the second straight season and again a finalist for the Walter Payton Award – isn't exactly easy to defend.

"He's just dynamic, you know," Grizzlies All-American defensive end Zack Wagenmann said on the Big Sky's conference call Wednesday. "He's really a quarterback this year. He's always been an athlete. ... This year, watching the film and playing him, he's been able to make almost every throw."

And that's high praise coming from Wagenmann, the conference's defensive MVP. And he wasn't done.

"The guy has a great arm," Wagenmann said of Adams. "He's making good reads, being pretty smart with the football. And then, on top of that, he's a great athlete."

If anyone would know, it's Wagenmann. Saturday's FCS second-round playoff matchup will be the fourth time he's taken the field against Adams. The Grizzlies (9-4) did a great job getting to Adams in the quarterback's return from a broken foot Nov. 8, a game EWU (10-2) won 36-26 in Cheney. Linebacker Herbert Gamboa sacked Adams thrice, and Wagenmann and Tyrone Holmes each added one.

The Grizzlies expect their nemesis to be a little more mobile Saturday.

"He's able to escape a lot and extend plays on the run, on the perimeter and getting the ball into their other playmakers' hands," Wagenmann said.

Adams has been tremendous this season despite the foot injury that cost him four games. The junior has racked up 2,876 passing yards and thrown 30 touchdowns to just five interceptions, improving on his 2013 campaign in nearly every passing statistic. He's also rushed for four scores and 256 yards.

Griz head coach Mick Delaney knows the challenge his defense will face.

"The biggest challenge is that he's probably – well, not probably – he is the best quarterback in FCS football," Delaney said over the conference call. "... You can never go into a game like this and say, 'Hey, we're going to stop him,' because that's not going to happen. What you have to do is try to contain what he does, try to keep him into the pocket as much as we can with pressure and also play great coverage on the back end of that."

And that's not easy – even for a defense the caliber of Montana's – with the weapons Adams has around him; Eastern receiver Cooper Kupp (82 receptions, 1,160 yards, 14 touchdowns) was also a Walter Payton Finalist this season.

Delaney also noted the All-American's improvement in his third year as a starter.

"What makes him so dangerous, though, is he doesn't take his eyes down," the Grizzly coach said. "I think probably that first year (2012), if things weren't exactly where he wanted them, he'd tuck it away and take off and run for eight, 10, 12, 15 yards. … Now, when he goes, he's not running to run for the most part. He's running to extend the play and find an open receiver. And he knows where they're at. He knows where his check-downs are. He knows when he's scrambling what they're going to do as far as coming back to him and the ball."

That's all without mentioning the impact Adams brings to the Eagles' morale. Senior center Jase Butorac has blocked for Adams for three seasons.

"I honestly didn't really know how much he was going to play going into the week (of Nov. 8)," Butorac recalled of the Eagles' first matchup with Montana. "He was kind of limited a little bit all week. And once the game was going and everything, we realized he was going to be there 100 percent of the time."

Adams threw for 410 yards and four touchdowns that week. He completed 68 percent of his passes. It was like he'd never missed a snap.

"He adds a huge dimension to what we do offensively, and it's been exciting just to see him come back and get into that rhythm," Eastern Washington head coach Beau Baldwin said of his captain.

But, as Baldwin pointed out Wednesday, the Eagles aren't in the FCS playoffs just because of Vernon Adams. Backup quarterback Jordan West led the team to a 3-1 record with their All-American sidelined the month of October.

And don't think the Grizzlies don't know that, too.

"He's a great football player," Delaney touted again. "But you know, Eastern Washington is a team. They're not there just because of Vernon Adams. They're there because they've got great coaches and a lot of really good skill people on offense. And they play solid defense."

The Grizzlies will take on Adams and the Eagles Saturday in Cheney in the second round of the FCS playoffs. Kickoff is at 2:30 p.m. MST, and the game will be shown on ESPN3.