You could muster a lot more optimism around here if Ricky Slade, Scott Patchan and Michael Maietti were joining the family for spring practice in a few weeks.
Temple doesn’t need wide receivers
or quarterbacks or defensive backs,
but it certainly needs centers, tight ends,
defensive ends, and running backs.
The fact that this coaching staff
addressed non-issues and ignored
real issues should be setting off
all kinds of alarms
Assuming Rod Carey is done recruiting, at least three players–perhaps more–who could tangibly help Temple football have gone elsewhere or will go elsewhere.
Michael Maietti, a center from Don Bosco who started 33 games in the Big 10 and was good enough on an awful Rutgers’ team to be named to the Rimington Watch list (best center in the country), signed with Long Island University.
Long Island University. I’m only aware they have a football team because they played Villanova last season.
Now the Owls will probably have to move guard Vince Picozzi to a position where he never played before coming off a surgery that will force him to miss the entire spring. Maybe Leon Pinto or Wisdom Quarshie. Nice players, but do they have the credentials and the experience of a Maietti?
Err, no.
You can want to be here all you want but it’s the coaching staff’s job to upgrade the talent that is here.
Maietti was so excited about a rare (only) RU touchdown against Maryland, he inadvertently punched his quarterback in the face last season. Maybe Carey didn’t want to sign him because he was Maietti would knock out Anthony Russo.
Josh Pederson would have represented a huge upgrade at TE from Kenny Yeboah and add a large family to the Temple fan base
The thought here is that with the uncertainty at the center position facing Temple this season, Maietti would have been a better replacement than anyone on the current roster, but that’s on Carey.
So, too, are the failures to address depth at the running back position. As of this writing, Ricky Slade–formerly the No. 1 running back recruit prospect in the nation–is still stuck in the portal after telling Penn State coaches he was entering it in late January.
Scott Patchan, a defensive end from Miami with multiple starts in the ACC and would have filled an area of need for Temple, is still in limbo. Do you think this guy would be motivated to outperform Quincy Roche at Hard Rock Stadium on Sept 5?
Josh Pederson, a tight end from Louisiana Monroe, entered the transfer portal and would have been a nice replacement for Kenny Yeboah in that he had more catches, more yards and more touchdowns than Yeboah last year but, after getting no interest, decided to remain at ULM. Do you think he would have liked to play a year in his dad’s stadium in front of family and friends?
A quick check of their twitter feeds late Sunday afternoon indicates that both Patchan and Slade still haven’t signed elsewhere.
Who knows if Carey even reached out to these guys, but he would have been derelict in his duty if he did not. Nobody can really believe a Big 10 player would have signed at LIU if Temple was an option, especially considering that Big 10 player saw what Temple did for former Don Bosco teammate Matt Hennessy, who will be entering the NFL draft.
If Carey did not reach out to Maietti and will can now assume he did not, he probably didn’t reach out to Slade or Patchan. Manny Emmanuel, a DE who did sign with Temple, was much less productive at Wake Forest than Patchan was at The U.
Would Al Golden, a Penn State grad and former Miami head coach who probably knows of Slade and Patchan and who can walk into Don Bosco and everyone knows who he is, have done his homework on these guys? Probably.
Would a Midwestern-based staff without those kinds of New Jersey and Pennsylvania recruiting connections be so inclined? Probably not.
Temple doesn’t need wide receivers or quarterbacks or defensive backs, but it certainly needs centers, tight ends, defensive ends, and running backs. The fact that this coaching staff addressed non-issues and ignored real issues should be setting off all kinds of alarms.
Friday: Spring Practice
Monday (2/24): How Others View Temple
Temple Football Forever 
It’s never too late, certainly hope Slade is on the radar.
RC is a decent, down to earth man. Not sure if he really has an appreciation for his new grid square.
This is his team now. He must take possession and responsibly for everyone on the roster. How does he want to win? What identity is he trying to create?
Interesting to look at the non-traditional recruits Carey added last year.., Vitale, Robertson, Barry, Diobate, Prejean, etc…, how would an outside observer grade these additions? Same story this year…, Carey is building a MAC team type roster before our own very eyes.
And, too much blind faith in Uremovich is poison. It will eventually kill RC.
Re-calibrate expectations, and be happy is the way forward. I just want to live long enough to sit and watch TUFB in an on-campus stadium.
Can you clarify- how would an outside observer grade the additions of walk-ons? Seems like we are getting to the bottom of the barrel in terms of things to complain about. Vitale is about the 5th string QB. Prejean is a walkon Robertson didn’t do much as a JUCO transfer. Barry stinks- they added a P and K to this upcoming class. Dioubate should be given a chance before passing judgement- this was his first year on campus. How about a little optimism once in a while? It seems exhausting to be so negative with such regularity.
When there are reasons for optimism, we write about it here. Trying to keep it real. We lost a bowl game to a 6-6 team by 55-13. We lost two other games by 63-21 and 42-21. The AAC player of the year left not for the NFL but for the team we play in the opener next season. The administration botched the stadium from the start and now we have to play in a stadium that will be at best (best) half-empty for the next 10 years. Our coaching staff needed to sign a big-time TE, DE, center and RB and did none of that. Here’s some optimism, though:
https://templefootballforever.wordpress.com/2019/10/16/reasons-for-optimism-at-smu/
And, time to set the timer on the RB position coach. how many kids did he bring to Temple? Zero.
An on-line coach would have done better.
The RB coach that coached a freshman All American? You do know position coaches don’t just recruit their positions, correct?
You mean the RB coach who coached a freshman All American? You do know a position coach doesn’t necessarily recruit his position, correct?
Could Hennessey have told things to Maietti that would give him cause not to come to Temple?
Matt: “Hey man, don’t go there. The program that I love only turned me into a 2nd day NFL draft pick. Stay away.”
Imagine the blog you’d write if Carey took a transfer who chose us over Long Island University.
Nah, I’ll take a Rimington Watch list guy who replace another Rimington Watch list guy any day of the week. Don’t care where he went to after Rutgers as long as it was here.
exciting PJ Walker highlights, Go Owls!!
Best player in league so far
Amazing QB. Should be in the NFL soon.
Agreed. Owls need OL, RBs, and DE to compete in your offense and in the AAC. Carey needs to follow the Golden Rhule. Recruit like your next job depends on it.
Speaking of next jobs, or this one, does anyone know what TU would owe RC if things go south and the need to fire him becomes obvious? I hope they wouldn’t keep him way too long the way they did Bobby Wallace – what a mess that was. I’m still in a “wait and see” mode, but some of what’s transpiring doesn’t look very comforting.
PS: If the administration sees to fit to throw all that money Lurie’s way, they should see fit to change coaches when needed no matter the cost (well, within reason anyway) instead of ignoring the program’s needs.
The negativity expressed on this site is way too premature. Save it for the end of next season. Clearly, the center from Rutgers had to have had something up for no D-1 school to take a flyer. It also could be that TU didn’t have the grad school major he wanted or he wanted to step back from big time D-1 ball or a combination of both. Wins and losses are all that count and if he doesn’t win fire away. The fact that Russo didn’t leave says something about the program and Carey. If anyone could be disillusioned with Carey, it’s Russo who likely would benefit with a pro-type offense.
There are other centers & DE’s in the portal other than Maietti & Patchan Players are regularly converted to other positions every year in college football. Don’t be such a downer .
Looking at next year’s schedule, it’s clear that TU’s road to a championship is way tougher than in any other year. Instead of playing UConn, they have to play Navy on the road. Cinncy got Tulsa and UCF got either Tulsa or Houston. i can’t tell. UCF opens against North Carolina. Bet they don’t get blown out. I am curious as to how the league decided which teams in the East would play with UConn’s departure.