An early quarterback controversy

Leave it to Shawn Pastor to come up with the best quote of summer camp.

Talking to one of the three quarterbacks vying for the Temple football starting job, the answer provided by one of the candidates was that the two players basically held a rock, paper scissors competition to see who would get the reps with the first team.

The editor of OwlsDaily.com always gets the best answers because he asks the best questions but this answer, while revealing, certainly does not give one the warm and fuzzies about Temple’s chances at Oklahoma on Aug. 30 (7:30 p.m., ESPN flagship station).

Temple may end up starting not the best passer but the one who is best at rock, paper and scissors.

The best answer would have been this:

“The coaches have developed a pretty good methodology to determine who runs with the first team. Both coach (Stan) Drayton and coach (Danny) Langsdorf (OC) study the prior practice film and the guy who made the best throws and fewest mistakes runs with the first team the next practice. Then we wipe the slate clean and one of the three of us emerges to run with the ones the next practice.

As John Belushi might say, “but nooooooo…”

The controversy, in this case, is not who should be the starting quarterback but how that quarterback is determined.

It certainly sounds like the coaches are letting the inmates run the asylum and makes one wonder if the right quarterback will emerge in a couple of weeks.

I don’t really care which one emerges because the two top candidates are a guy who has four career FBS touchdown passes against seven career interceptions (Rutgers transfer Evan Simon) and another guy who never did anything above the JUCO level (Forrest Brock). Temple fans had to cover their eyes while that guy did enough to get beat 55-0 in his only extensive Owl experience last year.

The entire Kenny Pickett Era at Temple lasted about five minutes, in which this photo was taken. (Photo courtesy of Heisman Trophy runner-up Paul Palmer)

Tyler Douglas starting would certainly be interesting, though, because he has been compared favorably to current Philadelphia Eagles’ backup Kenny Pickett. They both played for Ocean Township (N.J.) and the coaches there swear he was every bit as good as Pickett while there.

Pickett, a former Temple commit, left the Owls one day after Matt Rhule signed Toddy Centeio out of Florida. Then, a week later, Rhule left himself after winning the AAC title.

Maybe history will repeat itself but this time with a twist. Douglas leads the Owls to the AAC title and both he and Drayton leave for greener pastures a week later.

That is, if Douglas can perfect his rock, paper, scissors game before then.

Friday: Translations

8 thoughts on “An early quarterback controversy

  1. Hey Mike – It’s important to clarify that they didn’t play rock-paper-scissors to determine who got the first-team reps. Brock and Simon are splitting the first-team reps 50-50. Rock-paper-scissors was only to determine which of them played the first series. They both got the same amount of work.

  2. No matter, it still comes down to whether they’re competent and hopefully improved from last year. The new kid sounds intriguing, but he’s not getting first team reps?

  3. https://www.espn.com/college-football/team/_/id/218/temple-owls

    Is this a TUFB first? Picked to lose every game in ESPN’s Matchup Predictor. Wow!

    Starting Owl QB will be on a very short string vs Sooners, and will it matter? Since the competition is that close?

    Take the Owls and the points for every game now. This Vegas sale won’t last long.

    • I have a feeling that Vegas has no idea how well the coaching staff filled all the positions OTHER than quarterback. Twenty-one spots on this team are far better than 21 spots on this team last year. Unfortunately, the most important spot isn’t even half as good–if that. The irony is that if Warner stayed this would have been a pretty damn good team. Now the bottom is zero and the ceiling is six. I don’t like that range.

      • The picture of MR w/Pickett (remember the one of MR w/Russo?)is telling.

        If this season doesn’t pan out it will be the fault of the dudes under center.

        MR made himself into a QB coach, something Drayton has failed to do. Every HC must have a dynamic relationship w/”his” QB.

        Why would a promising QB opt to play for a RB coach that EJ Warner ran from? What has Drayton done to change the narrative?

        The QB position is unique. It will be interesting to see how Fran Brown, DB coach, develops as HC.

        Meanwhile lets pray the current trio of QBs can limit turnovers and take the game into the 4th qtr.

  4. Is Drayton doing better in recruiting? Two 3-stars in running back Troupe and QB Boykin (1800 yards, 19 TDs and only 5 INTs) as a Jr. Douglas could be the answer for this year. As usual we’ll have to wait and see if Drayton can make up his mind!

    • Yes he is but my biggest fear is that he thinks he has forever to improve the Owls and he really needed to put all of his recruiting chips on the 2024 table even to get to 2025. If he doesn’t win at least six this year, he’s doing great recruiting for the NEXT guy and that makes zero sense.

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