New London — Darius Adams is set to spend Thanksgiving at teammate Matt O'Donnell's home in Vienna, Va. The two were joking at Wednesday's weekly team media luncheon about the possibilities for the car ride, say, initiating a few pickup football games with unsuspecting participants.

"No. Really. He's from the Bahamas. He never played football before this year."

All true.

Ah, but Adams is playing football now for the Coast Guard Academy. And he's not faring too badly for the new guy.

Adams, a 6-foot, 170-pound junior wide receiver, set the school record last week for touchdown catches in a single season with 11, upping the mark of nine established by Al Thompson in 1996 and 1997 on a pair of NCAA tournament teams. Adams has 37 catches for a New England Football Conference-leading 798 yards, with the 11 touchdowns ranking him seventh nationally.

"Tremendous," Coast Guard coach Bill George said of Adams, a former basketball player who continues to astonish his teammates and coaches with his highlight-reel material. "He's a leader on the football field, serious, coachable, humble. He brings a lot of Coast Guard-officer qualities out on the field."

Adams also tied the Coast Guard record with three touchdown catches in a game on two occasions, the latest in a 56-54 victory over Curry on Oct. 15. He has caught a touchdown pass in five straight games and has 100-or-more receiving yards in three straight. He has two games with 200-or-more yards receiving.

He is 185 yards shy of Collis Brown's record of 983 receiving yards in a season, set in 2013. The Bears have three more games on their schedule, including this week's at MIT.

"I'm having fun playing football right now," Adams said. "I like sports; it's very strategic, like a chess match. ... I could drop it. I'm human. But I feel like if (the quarterback) throws it up and it's just me and the defender, who wants it more? I want it more.

"It feels good. It comes from the offense, the offensive line and (fellow receivers) Chip (Crowley), Cody (Bain), Kyle (Jackson), Jake (David) and (quarterbacks) Derek (Victory) and Ethan (Goldcamp) are just letting it fly."

'Fumble-itis'

The Coast Guard defense has forced an NEFC-best 20 turnovers this season. The Bears have recovered the most fumbles in the league with 11, which ranks them seventh nationally, and they're second in the NEFC in turnover margin at plus-1.14 per game.

Junior free safety Matt O'Donnell had two interceptions in last week's 24-14 loss to Nichols, in which the Bears forced six turnovers in all just a week after allowing 54 points against Curry. Freshman Patrick Crowley leads the team with three picks and freshman Michael Goldsworthy has recovered a pair of fumbles.

"A lot of it is our coaches; they put us in the right position," said O'Donnell, who was named Coast Guard's honorary defensive captain for this week's game. "That gives us the opportunity to create turnovers, make big plays.

"We've got to kind of hold up our part (along with the offense). We're all in this. ... We're excited when we get a turnover. You want to make the other team have fumble-itis."

O'Donnell is part of a young secondary, which had tough roles to fill this year in replacing a group of graduated defensive backs that included first team all-conference pick Joe Rizzardi.

George said that what O'Donnell and strong safety Ryan Robertson, both starting for the first time, lack in experience, they're making up for with football savvy.

"Those are two pure football guys. They're pure leaders. You never hear them complain about anything. They've made themselves better each practice," George said. "They've had to replace a couple guys who could stop both the run and the pass. They're improving each week."

v.fulkerson@theday.com