There are times–too many times–when I detest summer camp.

Not much news comes out and therefore there’s few ways to get insight into the Temple football team.

Not this week.

One of my favorite receivers, the speedy John Adams, was promoted from walk-on to full scholarship and that was very good news because he was the best receiver on the field–both teams–in USTA’s 59-34 win at Temple last year.

Hell, the Owls imported one of the fastest members of the USC track team and I’m still not sure if he’s faster than Adams. I’d love to see that match race.

The other clue was provided on Thursday when head coach Stan Drayton named the newest Owl single digits.

For the most part, Drayton followed our advice and kept it to either graduate players or current seniors.

I was very happy to see a lot of holdovers on the list, including linebacker D.J. Woodbury and defensive linemen Tra Thomas and Demerick Morris. Thomas sacked current Owl quarterback and probable starter Evan Simon twice in Temple’s heartbreaking 16-14 loss to then 3-0 Rutgers in 2022 and Morris might have been the most consistent performer on the defensive interior that same year.

Latrell Jean, mostly a starter transfer from FAU who comes highly recommended by none other than Tom Herman, also earned an interior defensive line single digit.

Safety Elijah Deravil’s single digit was somewhat surprising in that he was a corner on a secondary last year that got frequently burned by long passes. Maybe it’s an indication that he found his groove on the interior. We can only hope.

Dante Wright, who wore No. 10 last year, is the Owls’ most accomplished receiver and, even if he duplicates his freshman year at Colorado State (when he was named a first-team freshman All-American), the Owls could have the top receiver in the AAC.

Not surprising was another safety, Western Carolina import Andreas Keaton, who led that team in tackles in each of the last two seasons. He’s an exciting player that Temple fans should love.

Tight end James Della Pesca also earned a single digit despite having only three career catches–two more than last year’s true freshman Peter Clarke. Always the best blocking tight end, Della Pesca dropped a key pass that led to a 27-20 overtime loss at Navy two years ago so maybe the digit means he has also become a more dependable receiver.

All in all, Drayton said the single digits this year were his toughest to hand out in three years. If by that he means there were so many candidates, that’s a good sign.

If, on the other hand, he had a hard time finding the eight, lay Oklahoma and the points a week from tonight. Here’s hoping that these are the guys who help the Owls keep it close.

Monday: Game Week