For seven long days and nights after he returned from visiting Oregon's campus, Vernon Adams thought hard and prayed harder.

By 8 p.m. Sunday evening, he said, all became clear.

One of the most prolific quarterbacks in Eastern Washington and Football Championship Subdivision history wants to vie for the job of following Marcus Mariota, the best ever to play that position at Oregon.

"This was the hardest decision of my life," Adams told The Oregonian/OregonLive by phone Monday morning in his first comments about his transfer, soon after announcing via social media that he plans to arrive at UO in mid-June for his final season of eligibility. His move is made possible by the NCAA's rule allowing those who have graduated with eligibility remaining to transfer and play immediately.

"I just thought this would be a great opportunity for my family and myself to accomplish things that I've been dreaming about since I was little," Adams said. "Heisman, national championship, playing at the Rose Bowl and playing at Oregon. I love it here at Eastern, but this is what I've been dreaming about."

Adams has signed a financial-aid agreement with UO, according to the school, but head coach Mark Helfrich is reserving comment until Adams enrolls.

A two-time runner-up for the Walter Payton Award, which is the FCS equivalent of the Heisman Trophy, Adams passed for 110 touchdowns, 10,438 yards and 31 interceptions while completing 64.8 percent of his attempts in his three seasons as EWU's starter and added 11 rushing touchdowns.

With no one on the roster emerging last fall as a shoo-in successor to Mariota, the 2014 Heisman winner, the Ducks instead looked outside the program to add another reinforcement and engaged in a whirlwind courtship of Adams. His signing likely puts Oregon in the driver's seat, once again, to be the Pac-12 North favorite, while potentially giving Oregon's younger quarterbacks more time to develop.

Adams said he first got wind that the dream could become reality in mid-January, soon after the Ducks lost in the first College Football Playoff national championship to Ohio State. Two days after the loss, on Jan. 14, Mariota, Oregon's first Heisman Trophy winner, announced he would forgo his senior season and enter the NFL draft.

Adams asked for and received from Eastern Washington his permission to speak with other programs and visited Oregon's campus the last weekend of January. The facilities were a selling point -- the barbershop in the locker room was particularly eye-catching, he said.

But he said he felt drawn to the program for other reasons, after connecting quickly with receivers Dwayne Stanford and Bralon Addison, players he'll hope to forge a tight bond with on the field come fall.

Addison and Adams now plan on rooming together.

"Here at Eastern the place is very family oriented," Adams said. "I wasn't going to go anywhere where teams were split apart and different cliques. When I went there the guys were so welcoming."

Despite late interest from schools such as UCLA and Texas, his decision all along was only down to two: The Ducks, who offered a tantalizing home in the Pac-12 but no guarantee to start, and the Eagles, which offered stability and familiarity -- and a national championship contender in FCS.

Possibly the hardest part, he said, was not being around his young son, Vernon Kash Adams III, who will remain in Cheney with his mother, an EWU student.

"A lot of my family members said this is a lifetime opportunity, but if you stay at Eastern it's still good for you," he said.

If some considered the move to the Pac-12 and a team with several offensive weapons a no-brainer, it was not the case for Adams, who feels deep gratitude toward those in Cheney. While FBS schools were scared by Adams' 5-foot-11, 175-pound build coming out of high school in the Los Angeles area, Eastern Washington was one of only two schools to offer a scholarship (the other? Portland State).

"I was just shocked no one was going to take a shot at him," said Dean Herrington, Adams' high school coach at Bishop Alemany. "They all want him now, that's for sure."

And now Oregon has him, a decision he finalized Sunday evening.

On Monday morning, he made it public after sitting in EWU coach Beau Baldwin's office and breaking the news in person.

"I am very thankful for everything Vernon has done for Eastern and our football program these past four seasons," Baldwin said in a statement. "I wish him nothing but the best in his senior season."

In the process, Adams becomes possibly one of the first to ever transfer up a division at such a high-profile position -- with just one year to play, too.

"I'm going to try to win this starting spot and lead Oregon back to the national championship," Adams said. "And win it."

EWU athletic director Bill Chaves wished Adams the best in a separate statement, but took aim at the NCAA's fifth-year transfer rule itself.

"We are not sure that this was the actual intent of the legislation when it was approved, but it is the rule currently in place that we and potentially other schools have to adhere to," Chaves said. "We will continue to work through the process of this transfer based on the rule as it stands now."

Oregon fans know the rule well, considering dismissed Duck quarterback Jeremiah Masoli used it to play at Mississippi in 2010. One year later, the Ducks beat in the Rose Bowl a Wisconsin team led by Russell Wilson, who spent the year in Madison after graduating from North Carolina State.

Because he won't graduate until June with a degree in recreation management, Adams won't have the benefit of earning repetitions with his future Duck teammates during April's spring practices, a factor he called "one of the tough parts" of his decision. In lieu of practicing with Oregon's playbook, he'll likely round up friends who want to catch passes and work out at EWU's student recreation center.

Other QBs in the running include junior Jeff Lockie, sophomores Ty Griffin and Taylor Alie, redshirt freshman Morgan Mahalak and true freshman Travis Waller, an early college enrollee.

Adams, who described Mariota's remarkable junior season as "unreal," understands the job is not his to lose, but that he must win it.

Of the pitch Oregon's coaches sold him: "They're competitors and they would say, 'We like to compete here and we know you can compete. We know you're a really good QB, you can compete for the starting job along with Jeff Lockie and the rest of the QBs.' I like to compete and I like to win. I put myself up to the challenge and hopefully I'll get there and win the job."

It means that he'll have approximately four weeks of practices in August, during fall camp, if he wants to start the home opener Sept. 5 at Autzen Stadium -- against, ahem, Eastern Washington.

"It's going to be so weird," Adams said. "Now they can finally tackle me."

-- Andrew Greif

agreif@oregonian.com

503-221-8100

@andrewgreif