Ground Game: New pieces stand out

Hunter Smith’s high school recruiting film.

Recruiting guru Lou Adler is credited for saying it first:

“The best predictor of future performance is past performance.”

Adler said it in his capacity of recruiting business talent, but it also applies to football talent.

Last week, the Temple football Owls probably grabbed their starting quarterback in Gevani McCoy, although Evan Simon might have something to say about that.

Around the same time, the Owls appeared to have fixed their run game depth by adding Hunter Smith.

This is where the past performance comes into play.

With the addition of Smith, this is what Temple’s running back room looks like: Jay Ducker, the one-time leading rusher in the MAC is pairing with the one-time Louisiana-Monroe rushing leader in Smith.

Smith led the Warhawks with 507 rushing yards in 2023 before suffering an ACL injury. Ducker led the MAC in rushing two years earlier (2021) with 1,184 yards.

Temple head coach K.C. Keeler said Ducker had a “good camp” for the Owls in the spring but said Ducker needs to turn a lot of those yards he got into touchdowns and improve his closing speed. That opens the door for holdover Torrez Worthy to grab the job as he is the fastest back (4.49-40) since Ray Davis in the 2019 season. Davis now plays for the Buffalo Bills.

A red flag for both newcomers is that speed, as both scored just three touchdowns. Worthy outran the entire Tulane team for Temple’s only highlight in a 52-6 loss last year so if he wins the job, it will be by speed alone. A dark horse to win the job is another speedster, De’Carlos Young. Joquez Smith also had a 142-yard game for Temple two years ago so he’s in the mix as well.

At a number of positions, Keeler has brought in more significant transfer portal talent since Cherry and White Day than both Rod Carey and Stan Drayton did in the past six years.

The running back room is a perfect example of that.

Still, Worthy, Young (who hasn’t had a chance yet) and Joquez Smith have not produced the same kind of numbers at the FBS level as Ducker and Smith so the Owls appear to be in capable hands with those two.

At least past performance says so.

Friday: Getting a handle

6 thoughts on “Ground Game: New pieces stand out

  1. Four open scholarships remain. Keeler stills needs to pick up first or second teamers at OL and CB, and a starter at WR.

    • Looks like the starter from Delaware (Bermudez) will be the WR pickup if his visit goes well.

      • On paper this is shaping up to be the most talented and deepest roster in the last five years.

        Big delta will be the impact of injuries. A good number of the transfer pick-ups will be coming off major injury. Fingers crossed..,

      • He’s making both lines two-deep. Drayton got caught with his pants down his second season when it was one deep and he was forced to play true freshmen and linebackers as lineman on both lines. It wasn’t pretty. That’s one of the many pitfalls of hiring a career RB coach to be head coach.

      • … and it did because he’s committed.

  2. scholarship cap is now out the window, Keeler continues to add depth. OL, OL, OL,……,

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