Practice? Yeah, we’re talking about practice

There’s a saying in the deep south about the three biggest sports seasons being college football No. 1, NASCAR No. 2 and college football spring practice No. 3.
I have no doubt that’s true in places like Alabama and Georgia and, maybe, Florida.
Baseball and basketball have yet to make inroads into that Holy Trinity.
Up here, not so much.
I doubt very many people in Philadelphia realize Temple football spring practice officially begins today.

I do.
Now you do, too.

Somebody please find that sheet and burn it once and for all.

I say officially because being a big-time college football player in today’s world is really a 365-day-a-year job.
Steve Addazio, the new Temple football coach, will talk to the media after practice today.
Expect him to talk intangibles, rather than X’s and O’s.
He’ll talk about developing a toughness, a work ethic, a pride, all of those things that Al Golden pretty much took care of in his four years.
Truth be told, he’s got no choice.
His starting quarterback (Clinton Granger, maybe) is not here yet, nor are we totally 100 percent sure he will be. (For the record, I think he will.)
So is the quarterback “competition” really that much of a story now?
I don’t think so.
My storyline this spring revolves not around the quarterback position so much as the running back position.
I’ve said this until I’m blue in the face and, trust me, I’m blue in the face:
TEMPLE NEEDS TO DEVELOP A VIABLE BACKUP TO BERNARD PIERCE SHOULD BERNARD PIERCE GO DOWN.
This was true last year.

Temple fans know this sequence all too well (thanks, Owlified)

It is even more true this year.
Look, the preferable route is to pray to God that Bernard stays healthy for 13 games and puts up the kinds of numbers I know deep down in my heart he can: 2,000 yards, 20 touchdowns, more importantly, leading to a 12-1 (or better) record.
I know he can do it.
I also know that it’s never smart to put all your eggs in one basket, especially this close to Easter.
Quite frankly, if the last two games proved anything last season, Matt Brown wasn’t a viable backup to Bernard Pierce. His tank ran on fumes the final two games and the Temple offense sputtered and grinded to a halt as result. Hopefully, Addazio will utilize Brown for what he is: The Best Third Down Back in the MAC, not Pierce’s backup. That way, he’ll be fresh for the final two games and can do some damage teamed with Pierce on third-down situations.
I’m more interested in developing a backup to Pierce  with what Addazio calls “explosives” than a quarterback. Note Addazio uses the word “explosives” and not explosiveness. Pierce has what I would call H-Bomb type explosives. We have no A-Bomb to back him up.
I don’t think there’s a talent in the program even close right now.
Does Myron Ross have explosives? Does Ahkeem Smith have explosives? Does incoming recruit Spencer Reid have explosives?
Based on what they’ve done so far (high school and limited college), I have serious doubts about all three.
I know incoming recruit Nate Smith has explosives, but they have him listed as a linebacker. I hope they think outside the box and make him a running back again. At least for this year.
So the challenge this spring is finding that “other” Bernard Pierce  egg and, in the process, destroying that playbook or whatever Matt Rhule called it.
My good friend, Dave Gerson, wrote appropriately that Temple, post-BP, had five plays in its offensive arsenal and kept calling the five plays in sequence over and over again. He said it with a hint of tongue-in-cheek but, to Temple fans, there was a lot of a sad truth to the critique.
I have a lot of confidence that new offensive coordinator Scot Loeffler is going to bring a different approach to moving the football and I’m excited to see what it will be.
Addazio said his offensive philosophy will be tailored to Temple’s personnel so, if that’s true, this is what I want to see:
Hand the ball left, right and up the middle to Pierce behind a 320-pound offensive line. Create so much fear in the running game that play-action off it results in receivers running free through opposing secondaries and the Lincoln Financial Field scoreboard being turned into an adding machine.
It’s a simple but time-tested philosophy but you have to have a great running back to execute it.
Temple’s got at least one of those.
The trick this spring is to find some more of that dynamite.

9 thoughts on “Practice? Yeah, we’re talking about practice

  1. Out of curiosity, why is Brown suspended? I noticed he was kind of glaringly missing from owlsports' post on the subject. I am excited for everything to get rolling again, but I'm also more and more concerned about the long-term; the fact that there is no one backing up BP anywhere in the system, or that the Qb situation is so ho-hum, that the defense is going to be losing a lot of its big names, and that I fully expect Daz to jump ship as soon as something else opens up taking his entire coaching staff with him. I've just gotten used to people around me accepting that Temple isn't the punch-line to every college football joke anymore, and now the horizon looks pretty bleak. Is there really nothing positive to look forward to but the errant JUCO or hoping another BP drops in our lap?

  2. I haven't the foggiest idea why he was suspended. I don't think we're going to get a reason today other than "violation of team rules" or something similarly obscure. That's what they usually do these days.If you buy the premise that Addazio has one eye on the door, the long-term future looks bleak.I don't.Yet.He will pass my eye test once his name comes up for another job and he squelches it right away, saying "I have no interest; my destination is Temple."I have to feel the next running back he recruits will be someone of a considerably higher pedigree than Spencer Reid.Gosh, I certainly hope so.

  3. According to Mel Keipers big board today, Mo Wilkerson is a top 10 player now.He was a junior last season, right?DO you think there is anything that could have been done to keep him?If Golden had stayed, would he have stayed?

  4. Don't you mean WHEN Pierce goes down? I mean, I love the guy but the last two years he's been made of glass…

  5. As far as Big Mo, he was talking about leaving midway through LAST season so I don't think there was anything we could do to keep him here.That said, I think he made a mistake because he did it in an uncertain NFL climate.If there was no labor strife this year, I would have no problem with Big Mo leaving. Yet the spectre remains of Big Mo not playing during the first 6-8 games of the 2011 season and coming back and sitting in the stands watching the Owls, ala Walter Washington after his junior year of eligibility."Damn, I wish I was down there with the guys," WW would say out loud in our section.I have a feeling Big Mo will be doing the same thing when the only football in town is Temple football.

  6. As far as Bernard, let's see what happened to him:1) He was carted off the field in a stretcher during the Army game a couple of years ago and came back to play the next week against Toledo.2) The same shoulder he blew out against Army came back to haunt him in the second half against UCLA;3) A Central Michigan linebacker ON PURPOSE stepped on his with cleat at full throttle while BP was out of bounds and BP could not carry the ball for a weeks;4) Five Penn State linemen landed on him and he severely sprained an ankle.5) He came up lame on a 67-yard run on the opening play against Ohio, pulling a hammy. Glass or bad luck?

  7. The post-BP playbook…same amount of plays as the Bobby Wallace playbook.

  8. anyone seen any of the practices? I imagine some are open to public? just wondering on any first hand accounts.

  9. Good question, Ant. I've been getting some emails from folks who have been there. It's mostly toughness drills and they haven't put in a lot of the offensive or defensive schemes. At the "Meet and Greet" Daz said the practices would be open to everyone. "We're not doing rocket science in there," he said.Everybody laughed.Then I went to Owlsports and it said only "Xtra Point Club members and Temple football alumni" can attend practices.I wonder what changed.I will try to find out.

Leave a comment