Single digits should remain at the E-O

On the first day of spring classes, Christian Braswell took his single digit number and skipped town for what he hoped would be greener pastures.

No. 2 dumped all over a Temple football tradition, the single-digit number.

Braswell wasn’t the first single-digit Owl to leave but he should be the last.

The way to do that would simply be to tweak the rules and reward single digits only to seniors in the summer camp prior to their last seasons.

A year ago, Quincy Roche took his No. 9 to Miami.

Now Braswell is taking his No. 2 elsewhere, joining another single-digit, Isaiah Graham-Mobley, in playing somewhere else after being rewarded with Temple football’s highest honor.

He won’t be the last Owl to leave Edberg-Olson Hall, especially under Rod Carey, but this is one problem that does indeed have a solution.

To me, there’s a lot to be said for the single-digit tradition but loyalty should be valued as much as toughness. There’s something annoying about watching a Miami game and hearing several times (as I did this past season) that “Roche is so tough, he earned the Temple single digit as an underclassmen.”

Matt Ioannidis (left) and Tyler Matakevich were two of the most loyal single digits in Temple history

When you think about it, it’s a slap in the face to Temple that someone like that plays for someone else.

That should remain a Temple staple and the only way to do it under this present college football environment is to reserve it for seniors who have stuck with the program for their entire careers.

If Carey is really out of scholarships, as he appears to be, there’s not much he can do now to upgrade the talent enough for a significant boost in the 2021 win total but he at least can implement a change that should outlast his time here.

Reserve the single digit for Temple seniors so that no Temple single-digit guy ever plays for anyone else.

It’s the least he can do.

Monday: The Bruce Arians’ Playbook

Friday: The Sinkhole Problem

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7 thoughts on “Single digits should remain at the E-O

  1. I agree. And if no senior deserves one, then don’t hand them out. By the way, the portal madness isn’t only affecting TU. PSU has lost a number of players as well.

    • Interesting that two of the portal players they got were from Harvard and Shippensburg. Good players are everywhere.

      • Just heard John Chaney passed away. He was always nice to me. When I was in my 30s, I was playing tennis on the courts in front of the Palestra with a female friend and got lucky enough to hit a screamer down the line for a winner. Behind me, I heard a familiar voice yelling at me: “DON’T YOU DO THAT TO HER!!!” I turned around and said, “Hi coach. Didn’t know you were there.” We both laughed and he moved on. RIP!! He put Temple basketball on the map.

  2. John Cheney and the portal don’t belong in the same post. Coach Cheney taught young men how to use their heads, hearts, and guts to persevere and succeed. The portal fools kids into believing iPhone promises. Winning is an Attitude that can’t be download to an app.

    • Yep. I don’t write basketball posts here but I thought it imperative to not let the passing of JC go unnoticed so I wrote a comment. Maybe some enterprising Temple fan will come up with a blog entitled Temple Basketball Forever. I would support that but, to me, basketball was never threatened at Temple. Football always is and needs extra support.

  3. I figure Coach Cheney was the real deal, of the old type. who got the most from his players and teams, even if they were rarely the flashy types.
    Its been a few years now since Temple Basketball success when we in the Philly area would get to see those boys play often at least into the sweet16 round. THAT was better than nothin’ for sure.

  4. We should not recognize any of the single digits that have left for other schools. Agreed we need to put measures in place to keep them in cherry and white for their entire career. How much of a single digit were they really if they bailed at the end of the day?

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