Temple football welcomes an important player on Memorial Day

Joquez Smith is the most heralded incoming running back at Temple since Bernard Pierce of Glen Mills

Anyone who follows college football knows it’s pretty much a 365-day business.

Yes, Stan Drayton and his staff are able to take at least a couple of weeks vacation in July but the fact that the facility will be hopping today (Memorial Day) is Exhibit A that the work of winning is never done.

At least in the programs that chase greatness.

Two of the more prominent incoming freshmen, running back Joquez Smith (Tampa Jesuit) and defensive lineman Conlan Greene (Penn-Trafford of the WPIAL) are arriving on campus today.

That’s good news.

Smith on the way to 234 yards and five TDs at Largo (Fla.)

We’ve been writing in this space since November that the Owls’ biggest area of offseason need is a back who can take over and be one of the best in the American Conference. There is at least that ceiling with Smith. Maybe that’s why head coach Stan Drayton did not feel the need to pick up an accomplished FBS back in the portal.

According to some, Smith was the best high school running back in the state of Florida and he has the numbers to back it up. As junior, he led Jesuit to a state Class 6A title and that is probably the toughest classification in the best high school football state in America. For his career, Smith gained 5,334 yards and scored 75 touchdowns. Smith figures to be one of two true freshman to challenge Edward Saydee for the top spot on the depth chart. (The other being Kyle Williams of Harrisburg).

Certainly some pretty good backs at Temple never came here with Smith’s numbers. We went into the wayback machine and could find only one, Glen Mills’ Bernard Pierce, who nearly had identical senior high school numbers to Smith and he turned out to be an NFL third-round draft pick. Even Jahad Thomas and Ryquell Armstead never had the senior years that Smith had or played against competition nearly as tough. Pierce had 1,769 yards and 26 TDs his senior year at Glen Mills while Smith had 1,934 yards and 29 touchdowns in his best high school season.

Bill Parcells once said: “You are what your record says you are.”

Jesuit coach Matt Thompson said Smith’s style “is slow to it (the hole) and fast through it.” Smith is adept at reading his blockers and seeing the hole and taking off.

One of the reasons he’s at Temple and not Alabama is that he’s in the 5-7 range and those Power 5 schools like their running backs at least 6-foot, 200 points and run a sub 4.5-40.

Temple is the kind of place where 5-9, 160-pound Paul Palmer thrived enough to finish second in the Heisman balloting in 1986.

If Smith even comes close to duplicating the career of Palmer, Temple will win a lot of football games.

Already here are offensive linemen Luke Wilson of Wilmington (Del.) and Eric King of St. Peter’s Prep (Jersey City) and safety Zyil Powell (Paramus, N.J.).

The Owls got their needed a fourth quarterback in the room when they plucked Forrest Brock from the junior college ranks (Santa Monica). Although Greene–while being recruited as a defensive player–was a more than adequate high school quarterback his senior year and is one of those guys who might be considered a disaster quarterback on the order of how the 49ers used Christian McCaffrey last season. Brock says he will compete for the top job and you’ve got to like that level of confidence.

While Owl fans are hitting the backyard and the shore and maybe a cookout here and there, it comforting to know that Drayton is using today to put the pieces together for what most of us hope is an AAC title run.

Friday: The New Normal

Monday: A Worthwhile Debate

12 thoughts on “Temple football welcomes an important player on Memorial Day

  1. Small yes, but he managed to turn heads in high school, so I figure he’ll turn running game around

    • Let’s hope so, John. I went to the “Fanfest” during Bernard’s freshman year (2009) and all of the older players were raving about Bernard Pierce being the most impressive player they saw during camp. He got six carries for 44 yards against Nova (even to the fans he was the best back that night) and then Golden unleashed him on the opposition and it was a long string of 100-yard plus games, including 268 and three touchdowns in a win at 10-2 Navy.

      • I’ve enjoyed your reports and point of view. I think I may a few years older (class if ‘72) but we’ve pretty much experienced the many twists and turns of our beloved university and football team. 

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      • Not quite sure what you were planning to put in that blockquote. 🙂

  2. Filling in those missing puzzle pieces. I’d been thinking that Drayton had a plan, especially for RB. Got my fingers crossed for a nice season.

    • I’m guessing he has a lot more film on Smith than the average fan has seen and is comfortable that he will be as productive as a true freshman as any senior he could have bought here. The flip side of this is what if he gets hurt? You really have no high-ceiling everydown back in the program. I think Kyle Williams is more of a Dave Meggett-type third-down back and Saydee and Hubbard have lower ceilings than Smith.

      • You referenced Bernard in your column, but he was hurt quite a lot his first season or so. Also Pierce’s super HS numbers were at a small school in the mountains down in NC if I’m not mistaken. In fact that bowl game against UCLA(?) he got hurt and we lost a close one. My son-in-law (FSU grad) observed that if pierce hadn’t gotten hurt we would have won the game. But yeah, at Smith’s size, injury is sure possible at the college level. Let’s hope he’s as durable as Palmer.

      • Glen Mills is in suburban Philadelphia not the mountains of North Carolina. That’s where Pierce went to school. They play in the same league with Chester.

      • Jon, I believe you are thinking of Jager Gardner. He went to HS in rural NC and had huge numbers against lesser competition.

  3. Let’s hope Joquez Smith is more like Bernard Pierce than he is TJ Simmons. Remember Simmons? He was a 4 star recruit from Florida that we all thought was going to be a star. He quit the Temple team a few weeks into his first season. He ended up transferring to a JUCO and playing safety. You never know with any of these guys until they actually step on the field.

  4. oh yeah, sorry about the Pierce/Garner mistake – I’m getting too old to remember some details.

    • Many differences between Simmons and Smith IMHO. Jesuit is an awesome program. Matt is a great coach. Jesuit sends many players to big-time SEC schools and they thrive. This kid might have been Jesuit’s best player in the last decade. Temple won’t awe him. He should be able to improvise and adjust.

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