Photo courtesy: College Football Performance Awards

Cooper Kupp will be looked to for leadership on Super Bowl Sunday as one of the few Seattle Seahawks with a championship ring, but he’ll be drawing inspiration from another source.

The veteran NFL receiver was asked about his college teammate and friend, Vernon Adams Jr., during Super Bowl media day, and tied his praise to the slogan that Seattle head coach Mike Macdonald has been preaching all week: “Loose and focused.”

“Vernon’s the man. The couple years I got to be around him, he’s just such an incredible competitor, a gamer, and you see all that,” Kupp told Bob ‘The Moj’ Marjanovich from the podium. “Similar to what we talk about being loose and focused, Vern is the epitome of that — loose and focused. His ability to be in the moment but still be himself — no matter where it is, no moment was too big. I absolutely love Vern.”

Adams and Kupp shared the field as youngsters at Eastern Washington University from 2012 to 2014, developing into one of the most dangerous connections in college football. After redshirting his first season, Kupp caught 93 passes for 1,691 yards and 21 touchdowns in 2013 to win the Jerry Rice Award as the top freshman in the FCS. He followed that up with 104 catches for 1,431 yards and 16 touchdowns in 2014, helping VA to win back-to-back Big Sky Offensive Player of the Year Awards.

The foundation of that connection was laid during a unique recruiting visit, where players stayed up late into the night competing with each other rather than partying.

“Until like three in the morning, we were playing basketball, three-on-three pickup. We were playing racquetball. We’re playing football,  just mini football games. It was just competing against each other until we were basically exhausted. And then move on to the next day, the next night was the same thing,” Kupp recalled.

Adams transferred to Oregon in 2015, leaving Kupp behind to win the next two Big Sky OPOY awards and the Walter Payton Award as the top player in the FCS. The star receiver completed a quartet of FCS All-American selections with the Eagles and left for the NFL having amassed a staggering 428 catches for 6,464 yards and 73 touchdowns in 52 college games.

His first QB put up 10,438 yards, 110 touchdowns, and 31 interceptions with Eastern Washington before throwing for 2,643, 26 touchdowns, and six interceptions with the Ducks. The two have remained friends since embarking on professional careers on opposite sides of the border, and Adams was a part of Kupp’s wedding party.

The native of Yakima, Wash., was selected in the third round of the 2017 NFL Draft by the Los Angeles Rams, and has caught 681 passes for 8,369 yards and 59 touchdowns in nine seasons in the league. He was named a first-team All-Pro in 2021 after capturing the receiving Triple Crown, and was named the MVP in Super Bowl LVI.

Adams entered the CFL ranks the same season that Kupp was drafted, but took some time to establish himself as a starting quarterback. He has enjoyed stints with the Montreal Alouettes, Saskatchewan Roughriders, Hamilton Tiger-Cats, B.C. Lions, and now the Calgary Stampeder, throwing for 20,437 yards, 117 touchdowns, and 68 interceptions. The 33-year-old has also run for 1,976 yards and 26 majors.

Kupp will compete in his third Super Bowl on Sunday when the Seahawks and New England Patriots kick off from Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Cal., at 6:30 p.m. EST. Adams has yet to play for a Grey Cup in his CFL career, but still exemplifies the mindset that Seattle is preaching ahead of the big game.