While there are some concerns about gameday experience on the quarterback level, there is at least one area where the Owls are in good hands.

Feet.

With both starting kicker Carl Hardin coming back and starting punter Dante Atton as well, the Owls have plenty of gameday experience and clutch plays under their belts at least in that part of special teams.

Hardin, a redshirt junior from Raleigh, N.C., only missed three field goals–a 61-yarder at Georgia Tech, a 45-yarder at Army and a 38-yarder against Navy.

Ironically, had he hit two of those field goals in games against the service academies, the Owls would have been in a pretty nice bowl game somewhere and would have at least had a better chance to finish 7-5 in the regular season.

So even good players have things to work on but, conversely, his successful 51-yarder at Tulsa was the reason the Owls were able to pull that game out.

Hardin’s performance wasn’t a surprise to anyone who watched the Owls in practice and former kicker Maddox Trujillo told K.C. Keeler on his way out that Hardin was not only the second-best kicker on the Owls, but the second-best kicker in the entire league. Hard to argue with Maddox on those points as Hardin finished the year 11-for14 on field goals and 40 for 40 on extra points. Plus, he solved one of the most maddening problems of the Stan Drayton Era–kicking the ball out of bounds.

That used to happen multiple times a game under Drayton but last year happened only once in 2025.

As far as depth, backup kicker Lucas Glassburn–who made his only XP attempt for the Owls in 2025–hit the portal and transferred to New Hampshire, where he will be the starter and Darren Wu moves into Glassburn’s spot at Temple. Wu was Lafayette’s top kicker before transferring to Temple last season.

The punter, Atton, is even more well-known as he is the only returning first-team All-American at any position in Temple football history (not even Paul Palmer and Joe Klecko were first-team All-Americans as underclassmen). Atton pinned opponents inside the 20 a record 27 times.

If things work out the way head coach K.C. Keeler wants, the stats from both Hardin and Atton won’t be as gaudy this year as the goal is to score touchdowns, not field goals nor even punt the ball. (When E.J. Warner was quarterback in 2023, the Owls went two consecutive games without punting.)

It’s nice to know, though, the Owls can milk a clock down to 20 or so seconds in a tie game and win it on a short field goal if needed.

Friday: Now’s The Time

Monday: 5 Things We’d Like to See in Spring Ball