The Kevin Newsome conundrum

“I’m a quarterback. All I want to do is score points, get first downs on every drive and win. That’s all we have to do as a team is to take it one play at a time.” _ Kevin Newsome

The dictionary defines conundrum as a particularly perplexing problem.
When I think of Kevin Newsome’s arrival on campus this week, I see a solution to the conundrum.
The problem is that Newsome might not consider it a conundrum at all.
The conundrum as I see it is that Newsome is a great athlete who probably is best-suited to help the Temple’s football team right away on defense, particularly at outside linebacker or strong safety.
Newsome might be the third-best quarterback on the current Temple football team. That’s how I see it.
You don’t displace a bowl game MVP in the first Temple bowl win in over 30 years. It’s just not happening.
Chris Coyer is the starter and probably possesses a better skill set in passing and running and taking care of the football (he threw no interceptions last year) and Newsome had a ball security history while playing backup QB at Penn State in 2009.
Clinton “Juice” Granger had a great spring and has that under his belt and has a tremendous head start over Newsome.
Problem is that Newsome sees himself as a quarterback and he was quoted as much in an article that appeared a couple of weeks ago.
So the conundrum is this: Sit on the sidelines and waste all that talent or do something to help the Temple football team immediately, which is play defense (possibly at strong safety or outside linebacker).
As good a quarterback as he was in high school, my Virginia prep fans say he was an even better defensive player.
If he was that good, he can be brought up to speed as a Temple starter for Chuck Heater in a month or so.
Newsome reminds me of former Temple great quarterback Brian Broomell. He was recruited as a QB and not ready to play the position right away, so Broomell starred on defense for Temple at strong safety as a true freshman in an era where true freshman rarely played (they don’t play all that often now, but did so less then).
Temple needed Broomell to play quarterback as a senior and all he did was lead the nation in passing efficiency and Temple to 10 wins. I really think that team should have been 12-0, except for close losses to Pitt and Penn State but that’s a story for another day.
Maybe someday Temple will need Newsome to play quarterback.
Not now.
I hope he understands the conundrum. !function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=”//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js”;fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document,”script”,”twitter-wjs”);

11 thoughts on “The Kevin Newsome conundrum

  1. I smell a quarterback controversy…

  2. I really don't, esper. QB controveries are really between equal top QBs. Coyer, unbeaten as an Owl, is CLEARLY No. 1. Granger is darn close but CLEARLY No. 2. Where does that leave Newsome? No. 3 at best and not even a close No. 3.

  3. why did our coaching staff pursue Newsome, and why did Newsome decide on Temple? i can't figure it out…, maybe the coaches had serious doubts about Granger…, in any event, Newsome's value to the team is as a starter. we have to put our best 22 players on the field, every game. If Newsome is one of our best 22 he has to play somewhere.

  4. Kevin Newsome was looking for a new school. Temple was looking for a great athlete. I believe they promised him a chance at QB thinking he might jump ahead of Granger, not Coyer. Now it doesn't appear that he has a snowball's chance in hell of jumping over Granger. Solution? Play defense, where he can start right away.

  5. Agreed. It's not just that CC is undefeated as a starter, it's the role he's played in that streak. This kid has the potential to be one of the best QBs the owls have had in decades. The battle is clearly for second place. I think the bigger question at this time is who he's going to be handing the ball to when it's not MB. His ability to throw the ball would be greatly improved if he's got a stud transfer from BC to keep defenses honest. Any update on that front? In business we have a saying that 'time kills all deals'. I'm getting concerned out here in the bay area. Keep up the great work and let's figure our now to get more folks to your blog.

  6. Thanks, Dayowl. Without CC, I'm really convinced last season would have been toast. That's how bad Chester was against Bowling Green. As far as figuring out more ad opportunties, Northern Virginia Football Owl mentioned financing that for me and I think a small ad in the Philly papers would probably do wonders for this website.

  7. Keith Pompey confirms Temple got Montell Harris!!

  8. Great news, Kevin. I hope he's 100 percent and ready to go by Aug. 31. Villanova ain't seen anything like him (excuse my grammar).

  9. let's hold him out until the second half against Maryland…then have him 100% for PSU, otherwise known as Penis U..oops, sorry all

  10. not inconcievable our revamped offensive coaching staff will figure out a way to get Harris and MB on the field at the same time…, if Harris is healthy…, and Newsome landing one of the starting 22 gives us two quality starters of equal or better than last year's team….., maybe this is the new trend in college football replacing the old JUCO model? hats off to Daz if Newsome and Harris start!

  11. I've never seen one team lose so many players to the pros and upgraded the talent at so many positions at the same time. Indeed, hats off to Daz.

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