5 Things We’d Like to See From Spring Ball

If the Owls beat Penn State this season, expect the drums to start beating for their own stadium like this one on the river

When you spend every March in Philadelphia, as I have (except for the few March months I covered the Phillies), there are certain signs of spring.

One, Rita’s Water Ice opens every March 1.

Two, there is a first sunset after 7 p.m. (Sunday).

Three, Temple starts spring football practice.

Can Phillies opening day be far behind? (Spoiler alert: It will be on us in a flash.)

Temple’s spring practice begins on Tuesday and ends with Cherry and White Day a month from now and we can tell you right now that the only significant outcome will be dibs on first- and second-team spots on the depth chart.

To say that you can determine what the Owls will do in the regular season based on that is really premature but there are some position battles that should be interesting.

Quarterback

Evan Simon set the bar high for the next QB.

We should see separation between Jaxon Smolik and Ajani Sheppard by Cherry and White Day. Expect one to quarterback the Cherry team and one to quarterback the White team. Right now, it’s a 50/50 shot who starts the opener against Rhode Island. Will it be that way in August? Something tells me one of the guys coming in during the summer, Lamar Best, balls out. If he does, it will be hard to keep that “it factor” off the field.

Pass rushers

Plenty of prospects to replace the reliable group of Cam’ron Stewart, Sultan Badmus, Khalil Poteat and Sekou Kromah but just as many suspects. To me, the key to winning in college football is keeping your quarterback’s jersey clean and getting the bad guy’s quarterback dirty and Temple did that in its most significant win, a 26-21 job over a UTSA team destroyed league champion Tulane, 48-26. Getting the guys who replicate that feat on a MORE consistent basis than that one game will be the difference between another 5-7 season and a 7-5 one.

Tight End

1,000 receiving yards and 15 touchdowns should be enough to get Peter Clarke drafted in the first round.

Temple has the best tight end in the country returning in Peter Clarke (IMHO) and he has a chance to become the next Owl drafted in the NFL’s first round. Still, as good as Clarke is, he wasn’t the starter in the opening game last season (spring sensation Ryder Kusch was). Does Temple go two tight ends to jumpstart the running game? That’s an option for the Owls to work on this spring.

Kick returner

Temple had one of the best punt returners in the country in JoJo Bermudez last season. Question is do you use your best wide receiver on punt returns again or find someone else? I think redshirt freshman Tylik Mitchell is one of the many who can fit that role. He ran a 10.7, 100 meters in high school. How fast is that? Former Temple superstar running back Bernard Pierce WON the PIAA state indoor 100 meters as a high school senior at Glen Mills with a 10.8. Mitchell was an elusive running back in North Carolina, so he’s got the same “twitch” to his return game that Bermudez has.

Secondary

The Owls have always had transfers come in to take up key spots and this year is no exception. Purdue transfer Earl Culp should be able to compete for a starting spot as should Asa Locks. There’s always room for a wild card to impress.

Friday: Second Seasons

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