by Mike Gibson

Above The Line

Our Lad’s Guide Takes An Early Stab At the depth chart.

If nicknames are any indication, Frank Nutile is atop the quarterback depth chart.

His new coach, Geoff Collins, gave him a sweet one by affectionately calling him “Frankie Juice” and no one knows if that affection has extended from the practice field to the film study room at the E-O.

Probably your starting tight end.

Anthony Russo, Logan Marchi or Todd Centeio—the others competing for the job—have been given no such catchy nicknames. Yet the film room is the most important place right now because ostensibly that’s the room where both Collins and offensive coordinator Dave Patenaude are going over spring film deciding who has the lead in this four-horse race.

We will not know if Nutile or Russo or Centeio or Marchi are atop the depth chart now because, apparently, Collins does not believe in them. When asked, Collins always answers that he believes in the concept of “Above The Line.” Meaning, he said, a certain number of players are “Above The Line” that marks, in Collins’ mind whether the player is able to go out on the field and help the team in a high capacity.

Say, as a starter or full-time player.

We will probably not know until Notre Dame week what the depth chart is because that’s when Collins will be forced to release one. Game notes always include depth charts and NBC Television is probably going to want one in order to talk about Temple will some semblance of knowledge on its national broadcast on Sept. 3.

Right now, the only Owls’ depth chart on the internet is one provided by Our Lad’s Guide, an outfit based in San Diego run by former Philadelphia Eagles’ radio producer Bill Werndl. Of course, it’s a guessing game based on factors like last year’s playing time but Werndl provides some educated guesses.

He has Logan “No Nickname” Marchi beating out Nutile for the top job and Ventell Bryant, Brodrick Yancy and Keith Kirkwood as the wide receivers. My guess is that Russo eventually wins the job, maybe not by the Notre Dame game, but probably for the bulk of the season. I don’t think Yancy beats out Isaiah Wright at slot receiver and it is somewhat surprising to see Adonis Jennings listed as second team. He has nobody listed as the first- or second-team tight ends. So we will go with Chris Myarick and Kenny Yeboah as first- and second-teamers there now.

The offensive line starters appear to be logical.

There are more than a few clerical errors. Among them, Nick Sharga, listed as the starting fullback, is noted as a “redshirt junior” when, in reality, he is a redshirt senior. Marchi is a redshirt sophomore, not a redshirt freshman.

All of the players mentioned here are presumably “Above The Line” and that’s all we need to know for now.

Meanwhile, we’re accepting nickname suggestions for Russo, Centeio and Marchi.

Wednesday: Our Defensive Depth Chart

Friday: The True Temple Legends

13 thoughts on “Above The Line”

John Belli
May 8, 2017
7:35 pm

As some of you may know Robbie Anderson was arrested over the week-end. Those hacks at Philly.com used a reference to TU as the lede in an earlier story, implying that TU is somehow at fault. They’ve now replaced it with an Associated Press story but again refer to TU in the reference to the story. Please go to the site and complain that TU has very little to do to do with the story and the reference was improper. That site is so biased against TU they all should be fired.

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- thaotherJD
  May 11, 2017
  3:35 am
  
  well he did play for Temple so any local news article would have that fact. was the article not supposed to mention that he played for Temple?
  
  Reply
  - Mike Gibson
    May 11, 2017
    9:27 am
    
    I agree. The only local connection is that he was from Temple. I don’t think they came down too hard on Temple because of it. This kid was a model citizen his second go-round at Temple (although I thought a slightly more dynamic player in 2013).
John Belli
May 9, 2017
10:43 am

Hope this isn’t true. owls do not need another qb at this time. http://tennessee.247sports.com/Bolt/Report-Transfer-options-emerging-for-former-Tennessee-QB-52675777

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John Belli
May 9, 2017
12:14 pm

http://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/19337786/how-american-athletic-conference-become-breeding-ground-power-5-coaches

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joninohio
May 9, 2017
12:18 pm

John, think this is a sign Collins doesn’t think TU’s QBs are good enough
and/or he just likes the aura of the SEC? After doing no recruiting, this is what he comes up with.

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- John Belli
  May 9, 2017
  7:20 pm
  
  Just hoping this guy’s not Addazio in a different package. Don’t like his choice for recruiting coordinator because I don’t think the guy has D-1 recruiting experience or the connections necessary to do the job correctly. Still worried about the poor recruiting effort he turned in.
  
  Reply
- kj
  May 9, 2017
  11:22 pm
  
  well if Jones is better than what we have on the roster, then why not?
  
  let’s fill our coffers with the best available talent from JCs, transfers, high school, etc….,
  
  Reply
  - Mike Gibson
    May 11, 2017
    9:30 am
    
    While Collins is saying all the right things, I will reserve my judgment on his coaching ability until after the second game of the season. He’s done a lot of Daz-like things so far (crappy first recruiting class and now looking for transfers) that telegraph his intentions of staying here are 1-2 years tops. Daz said all of the right things, too. All that’s left is burning redshirts. Daz did that a lot, not caring about 3-4 years down the line.
Dave
May 9, 2017
6:52 pm

Perhaps the AAC can keep some of those great coaches through the bowl season. now that the NCAA approved an early signing period in December. No more rushing to take a new job before the February signing period.

http://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/19339267/collegiate-commissioners-association-approves-early-signing-period-football

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joninohio
May 10, 2017
1:05 pm

According to Dave’s link about the AAC coaches, Temple fans complaining about the school’s coaching carousel need to realize the entire AAC Conference is in the same boat. It’s nice to see the AAC is considered the 6th best conference or tied for 5th. Aresco is smart touting the AAC as a P-6 conference. Keep repeating something enough and people will start to believe it – especially if it’s true.
But no school in the AAC brings the viewership and consequent money that the P-5 schools do (maybe not all of them but as conferences go that’s the rule). 30-40K attendance vs 80-100K+ fannies in the seats and TV viewership to match. Following the money is where it’s at, like it or not.
And let’s face it, being in big metro areas doesn’t necessarily equate to large audiences every weekend – Temple being a prime example. And isn’t Temple near the top of AAC schools for attendance? Unfortunately that’s where it’s at. More bowl wins and top 25 rankings throughout the conference would also help to move the AAC up to P-6 status or replace the Big12 in the P-5 (unlikely with names like Texas and Oklahoma however).
So keep on truckin’ Temple. You’re probably about as good as you can get, right now anyway.

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- Mike Gibson
  May 10, 2017
  10:34 pm
  
  Always strive to be better, though.
  
  Reply
joninohio
May 11, 2017
11:06 am

Mike. Temple does strive to be better, no arguement there. But with their unique problems of things like a less-than-ideal attendance and having only a limited budget (among other things) and, maybe the biggest problem, being stuck in a G-5 conference, albeit, the best one, Temple is doing quite well, for Temple. We all have agreed many times that the P-5/G-5 thing is a money greedy monster that just doesn’t allow for the lower echelon to break thru the glass ceiling, so to speak. Maybe there is hope for the entire conference to rise to a better level however. All I’m saying is, don’t hold your breath…..

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