Temple 2024 recruiting: Flying too low to ground

Kee-Ayre Griffin was Al Golden’s first recruit whose offer sheet included only other P5 schools. RIP.

Without mentioning any names, there is a big announcement today when a lineman from Delaware is going to announce his college decision.

It’s a big deal for Temple football because that is one of his two remaining schools.

The other is Old Dominion.

Yikes. Nice school, but it is no Temple.

Nice player, hope he commits to the Owls but this refrain is becoming too familiar.

Adrian Robinson (43) went from Big 33 MVP to turning down a Pitt offer, playing for Temple and then the Pittsburgh Steelers and Denver Broncos. RIP

We’re about a quarter of the way through the 2024 signing class and the schools Temple is keeping company recruiting-wise certainly don’t match the reputation of the university on the football landscape over the last 15 or so years.

Maybe the last three but not the last 15.

There was an old World War II trick pilots used when radar was first introduced: Fly low to the ground to avoid detection, complete the mission, and fly just over those same treetops to get home safely.

That works pretty well in wartime and not so much if your goal is to win Group of Five championships.

Temple needs to pick it up.

Let’s look at some of the commitments so far:

Adrian Lang, CB- Temple beat out Central Michigan, Akron, Boston College and Bryant for his services.

Dan Evert, TE-Temple beat out Akron and USF.

Bryson Goodwin, WR-Temple beat out Bowling Green, Jacksonville State and Middle Tennessee.

Denzel Chavis, CB-He chose the Owls over Army, Bucknell, Columbia and Cornell.

Chris Dietrich, QB-After throwing 12 interceptions against only 11 TDs for his New Jersey High school team last season, Dietrich received interest from Bucknell, Monmouth and Duke. He picked Temple.

Tyler Stewart, WR-His commitment list included Eastern Kentucky, Austin Peay, and MTSU.

Geez. I’m sure these are nice kids and I KNOW they made the right choices, but Temple football has come a long way since the days when it recruited two MVPs from the Big 33 game (Adrian Robinson, who the Al Golden stole from Pitt) and Jalen Fitzpatrick, who the Owls convinced to come to 10th and Diamond against the arguably more beautiful Maryland campus in College Park. Al Golden’s first major recruit was running back Kee-Ayre Griffin from St. Peter’s in New Jersey, who turned down solid offers from Pitt, Rutgers and BC to take his shot at Temple.

When Golden was hired, I dashed off an email to him congratulating him for getting the job. He took only about 20 minutes to respond: “Thanks, Mike, wish me luck. Today we’re about to steal a guy from BC and Rutgers who is really good. We got involved and it turns out he loves Temple.”

That guy was Griffin.

The apologists for the Owls recruiting under-the-radar will always point to Tyler Matakevich getting no offers and Haason Reddick being a walk-on but what they forget is that the championship-level teams those guys were part of also included guys who Power 5 teams recruited.

You need a mix of both and those teams successfully recruited their fair share of guys more highly paid staffs evaluated and wanted too. It’s pretty much the same reason the top 25 recruiting rankings mirror the same top 25 teams you see in the AP poll every year.

For every Reddick and Matakevich you hit on, there are about eight misses. Conversely, for every Robinson, Griffin and Fitzpatrick recruited, you miss on only about two. There is a reason why P5 coaches look at the same film you look at and like the same guys.

Welcome to Temple for the guys who have picked this place.

Going forward, the message to the coaching staff should be to aspire to get those guys teams they want to beat also want. Certainly of the 18 or so scholarships left, there are 18 great players within a 400-mile radius of Philadelphia who would rather spend the next four years in a vibrant city with a great sports culture vs. a cow pasture where boredom easily causes homesickness. Find those guys who are energized by that dynamic. That was the Golden Rhule selling point and it needs to be revised now.

Do better.

Flying too low to the ground to avoid radar risks crashing and burning and, with Oklahoma and Penn State on the schedule in a very short time, they have to fly higher.

Monday: Motivation

Friday: 5 Top Things We Want to See in 2023

9 thoughts on “Temple 2024 recruiting: Flying too low to ground

  1. To get into the game with highly recruited football players, you need a coach who can sell the program and a program with curbside appeal. Our curbside appeal doesn’t have Bama cache, but it has enough to get some great local recruits who want to stay home. If the school built a stadium, the appeal would go up dramatically. And don’t tell me “they can’t.” Where there is a will there is a way. Temple leadership doesn’t want to. As far as the salesman/coach, obviously we don’t have it. If Barry Switzer of the 70s coached at Princeton they’d be national champs. The man could recruit. To quote Tom Callahan, Switzer could “sell ketchup popsicles to a girl wearing white gloves.” There is so much talent in Jersey and PA. All it takes is one or two key recruits and the once that starts, the sky is the limit. Recruiting success begets success exponentially. BUILD A STADIUM and if Drayton can’t recruit, he should hire the guy who can get kids. Ed Ogeron made a long career of it before becoming a head coach.

    • Disappointed that one of the reasons Drayton (and Collins) were brought here was that they were great recruiters and they haven’t been able to recruit as well here as they have at other places. Al Golden had that kind of recruiting charisma and delivered with not only the under-the-radar guys but also with guys who flew as high as the X-15. Matt Rhule was able to talk Anthony Russo out of going to the Big 10 or SEC. Now I get it that the college football recruiting landscape has changed but has it changed so much that we are battling ODU and Monmouth for players? Geez, I hope not.

  2. Checking Temple Football postings on the OWLS official site and I do believe it is a very thin offering so far, as if its not even interested in doing some upbeat publicity activity. To me this is troublesome, as they seem to not care about promoting their brand. A few years ago there was much more posting activity for the Temple FB’s practices,players, coaches and all. Also Facebook and Twitter sites today are thin. Why does it seem HE just doesn’t care all that much……I must be reading the tea leaves wrong here

    • I hope he’s not banking on having a 6-6 year and bolting because this kind of recruiting company screams it. Your tea leaves might not be wrong. Don’t want a whole lot of Monmouth, Bucknell, Dayton, MTSU, etc. level players here for the next coach to try to beat PSU in 2026 with …

      • Gentlemen, we have seen this movie before. The only difference is the increased speed of the current version. Drayton’s agent is more dialed in than MR’s.

        Bold prediction: Drayton will be the next HC at Rutgers if Temple beats RU And goes bowling.

  3. MR was the only HC in recent TU history who bolted and was successful – all the others failed, and some miserably. A bowl game win (for once) and lets say 7 wins and then one more season with 8-9 wins will bring him bigger bucks at a P5 school. And give Temple a nice boost – but we’ll see…..

    • When are one of these schools going to see a 6-6 (or even 8-5) Temple coach and say, “Well, it didn’t work out with Daz, Collins or Carey so maybe we shouldn’t take a chance on the guy. Let’s wait until the guy strings a few winning seasons together and not just one or two.” Rhule seems to be the exception to the, err, rule.

      • Maybe it’s a well deserved recognition of how hard it is to win at TU.

        Student apathy, BOT less support, nitwit AD, hostile local community, campus safety, last in conference NIL …., losing all-time record, bowl record..,

      • Good point but that doesn’t explain why these guys fall flat on their faces at Miami, GT and BC.

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