A year ago at this time, Sacramento State was plodding along in its football recruiting efforts, and Lem Adams was steadily training athletes from all sports -- and ages -- at his area facility.
Today, under first-year and first-time head Brennan Marion, Sacramento State is just five months removed from having the nation's top FCS recruiting class and ranks 60th among all programs, all levels of NCAA college football in its 2026 assembly.
Adams, also, is part of those efforts. He's the Hornets' outside wide receivers coach and an offensive quality control staffer as well.
Along with Marion, he's a driving force in Sacramento State just days ago landing the pledge of four-star wideout Xavier McDonald -- a Mississippi native who's the highest-ranked member of this Hornets hive and the program's all-time top-ranked recruit.
Adams, who's trained NCAA and NFL players, as well as UFC and MMA fighters, gave up his Sacramento-area training business for high school athletes, a project of love he had developed across 15 years, for the opportunity to coach in college and specifically under the tutelage of the high-energy, hard-charging 'Mr. GoGo,' Marion.
"Coach Marion. Coach Marion," Adams told FootballScoop of what -- or whom -- gave him the confidence to yield his lucrative prep training services to leap into college coaching with both feet. "Just watching how he is with his players, when I would go out to UNLV [where Marion was offensive coordinator before getting the SacState job] and seeing how he connected with his athletes and players.
"Shoot, I would have taken a job with him at UNVL if he had a spot for me. It just worked out, soon as he said, 'Lem I’m taking the job at Sac State and I want you to rock with me.' Being at home, large ties in this area with athletes and recruiting, I was willing to give up my high school division (of training) to do this. When he offered me the role and position in my city, it was kind of like a no-brainer. It’s what I prayed for and asked for."
Marion and the Hornets fearlessly are asking for much as the program experiences newfound attention in college football and the accompanying recruiting buzz that presently sees the program ranking ahead of more than a half-dozen Power Conference staples such as Auburn, Cincinnati, Virginia Tech and Deion Sanders's Colorado program as of July 12, per 247Sports's Overall Team Rankings.
"I mean, I knew it was going to be successful just with Coach Marion's background and success and his energy and understanding of the game was high," said Adams, a former Washington State quarterback who closed out his collegiate career two decades ago at Florida A&M, "but I didn’t know it was at this magnitude.
"The way his leadership is, how he is on the phone with recruits, how he is with his coaches … he demands greatness."
The Hornets are trying to demand an ascension from FCS play to FBS residency before the 2026 season. School president Luke Wood has, in recent weeks, issued public statements that have sought to amplify pressure on NCAA membership to grant that FBS move after its initial denial.
For now, they're still in the Big Sky Conference and preparing to kick off the upcoming season next month at seven-time FCS Semifinalist South Dakota State, which captured national titles in 2022-23.
"Seeing the players that are coming in, getting players no on thought we could get at this program," said Adams, noting most of the Hornets's 2025 class is just now arriving to campus, "The work as a team has been great.
"On paper, we look like an FBS program now. But we have games and we have to go play. Now, we are just preparing to win."
Success, though, feels inevitable to Adams.
"I believe in Coach Marion, believe in his vision," he said. "God kind of laid this one on the plate, and it was kind of like a no-brainer.
"I want to be recognized as one of the best coaches in the game when it’s all said and done."'