Tigers' Bowers won't forget impact Adams had on him

ORANGEBURG -- Da'Quan Bowers' words were deliberate and his voice cracked several times as he struggled to hide the pain.

The former Bamberg-Ehrhardt High School and current Clemson Tigers star defensive end never played a down of football next to Gaines Adams, but it's no coincidence that he sports Adams' number, 93, on the playing field.

The two were close.

"Gaines was like my mentor," Bowers said. "He was my friend, but really, he was more like a brother to me than anything. He kind of took me in when I was being recruited, told me what to expect out of all these schools ... explained how I should come up with a decision."

On the field, Bowers is Clemson's 6-4, 280-pound wrecking machine. It takes a lot to slow him down, even more to bring him to tears. But, losing a mentor, a friend, a brother -- that is a blow that Bowers was struggling mightily to deal with a day later. Sunday morning, Adams, 26, a former All-American defensive end at Clemson, died at Self Regional Hospital after going into cardiac arrest an hour earlier at his family home in Greenwood.

"I was coming back from Pennsylvania with my family, and I got a text that said, 'did you hear what happened to Gaines?' " Bowers said Monday evening. "I was thinking that it was something dealing with the Bears, football ... something. Then, they said, 'he died about 9 a.m.'

"I just started crying. I cried from Maryland all the way to North Carolina, and I have just been trying to deal with it."

Bowers, who wore jersey No. 8 at Bamberg-Ehrhardt High School, said he pitched the idea of wearing Adams' number to his friend on a recruiting visit to Clemson.

"We were just talking, and I was just like, 'you know what? I'm going to wear 93,' " Bowers said. "He laughed and said, 'by the time you get here, it might be retired.' And, I just told him that I was going to wear it.

"I talked to Gaines just about every week," Bowers added. "Right before the games, he would always send me a text that said, 'alright big boy, let's go! You have to do it!' "

Bowers described Adams as a giving, loving person who would do anything he could to help someone. He said it was rare for Adams to get down, recalling that Adams took his in-season trade from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who selected him fourth overall in the 2007 NFL draft, to the Chicago Bears in stride.

"Even when he got treated ... even when you thought he would be upset, he wasn't," he said. "To him, it was a fresh start, a chance to play in a new system.

"Gaines had the most caring heart," Bowers continued. "He was the kindest person I have ever come across. He looked out for me. When the whole Ray Ray McElrathbey situation was going on, Gaines was there to help with Fahmarr (McElrathbey's little brother) when Ray Ray couldn't do something. That was just the kind of person he was. He was a humble guy. He never bragged about the position he was in. You never heard him say, 'I deserve this or that.' He always said, 'You have to do this to get here or get there.' "

The lead guitarist for the gospel group, "The Legendary Singing Stars," Bowers is known to be very religious. It's clear that he plans to rest on that faith to help him both deal with the pain of losing Adams and carry on his legacy.

"You just have to accept that God never makes mistakes," he said. "I was talking with some people, and they summed it up real well. They said, 'God is a coach, and sometimes he has to make substitutions that you have to deal with.' God made a substitution when he took Gaines out, but you just have to keep on going and know that we will meet again."

"I talked about it, and prayed about it, and I said I was going to live Gaines' dream through me," Bowers added. "He fulfilled part of his dream, but he always told me he wanted to make it to a Super Bowl. It's my dream and his dream to make it to a Super Bowl. I will always carry Gaines in my heart. That is the type of bond we have.

"I will support 93 the proper way. I really do think his number should be retired, not on my behalf, but because of what he did for Clemson University."