Something Temple offensive coordinator Tyler Walker said about quarterbacks and getting them up to game speed stood out like a (not so) sore thumb.

Or leg.

Or shoulder.

Watch out! 👀 @joey_schlaffer #TempleTUFF pic.twitter.com/l4LkoddJRK

— Temple Football (@Temple_FB) August 13, 2026

The Owls quarterbacks are not allowed to get hit in practice, anytime, anywhere.

Problematic any year, but particularly in a year that the Owls have two guys who’ve never–really seldom–have been hit in a real game.

“They’ve been getting better from the spring and the summer,” Walker said. “They put in a lot of reps. The one thing that I can’t recreate is the game reps. That goes without saying. We had a guy last year in Evan Simon who has 2,000 game reps. We just don’t have that. So there’s going to be some ups and downs. There’s going to be some trials.”

One of the highlights in Thursday’s practice was a 5-yard run for a touchdown by Ajani Sheppard. That would have been all the more impressive except for one thing.

The Temple defenders were not allowed to touch Sheppard on that 5-yard run.

Unfortunately, the Rhode Island defenders in Game One will not have that similar restriction.

The solution seems obvious. Make the quarterbacks live and take the orange jersey off but that’s not how college football works in 2026. It’s how college football worked in 1974 and 1979, but it hasn’t worked that way for a while.

Now Temple fans will have to find out if the Owls’ QBs can take a hit roughly about the same time the QBs themselves will find out if they can take a hit.

We’re exaggerating for effect here, but only a little.

According to ESPN.com, Jaxon Smolik–the Owls’ expected starter–played in only two games last year, Iowa and Nevada. In both games, he had no completions, no attempts, no carries.

Most importantly, he wasn’t touched.

Neither was Sheppard, who did not appear in a single game last year.

Yikes indeed.

Now we can see why Walker was shaking his head when describing game reps.

The irony of all this is that the three highly regarded true freshmen coming in–Lamar Best, Brody Norman and Brady Palmer–have plenty of gameday hits under their belts a year ago.

It hasn’t helped them move up the depth chart yet, but don’t be surprised if the first group gets challenged by the second group sooner than later. Practice makes perfect, but there is a lot to be said about games themselves. That is the rock and hard place Temple finds themselves with respect to the quarterback position.

It’s a practice, not a game. How important is that?

Just ask Allen Iverson.

Monday: Speed To Burn