Author Archives: Mike Gibson

06.29.25
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Immediate help is on the way for Temple football

Jay Ducker was the leading rusher at NIU, Memphis and Sam Houston and hopes to do the same at TU.

Lost in the Big Beautiful Month for Temple football 2026 recruiting that ends Monday is the fact that new head coach K.C. Keeler placed immediate needs ahead of future ones.

Keeler loaded up on the transfer portal to bulk up this roster before concentrating on future rosters and that’s the way it should be.

Any Temple fans having concerns about the roster need not.

That’s because the roster has been UPGRADED with newcomers and not downgraded by any loss of Stan Drayton’s guys.

Colin Chase could make Temple fans forget Dante Wright.

Look just at the key spots:

If Gevani McCoy beats out Evan Simon, he’s a pretty good quarterback.

QUARTERBACK__Temple was pretty much screwed at the backup quarterback position before Keeler addressed that with the addition of Oregon State starter Gevani McCoy in late April. Right now, we don’t know who is going to start at QB, McCoy or Evan Simon but going into this season not a single person can say Temple was better off at this time last year with Forrest Brock as the starter and Simon as a backup. Consider that position upgraded simply because backup quarterbacks have been a disaster at Temple for most of the last six years.

RUNNING BACK__Temple went into last season with high hopes for an FIU transfer (E.J. Wilson) and a true sophomore, Joquez Smith, not realizing that the 2023 leading JUCO rusher in the nation was on the roster in Terrez Worthy. Once Worthy got in the game, Temple realized it had something but he didn’t get highlighted until the middle of the season. Not satisfied with JUST Worthy, Keeler added Jay Ducker, who was the leading rusher in the MAC as a true freshman and the leading rusher at NIU, Memphis and Sam Houston State in the last three seasons. Think he’s not motivated to add Temple to that list? Hunter Smith, who was the leading rusher at Louisiana Monroe as a freshman, adds depth and joins a crowded room that includes Worthy, Smith and Ducker. Fortunately, Wilson is gone. Position definitely upgraded.

WIDE RECEIVERS__While Temple lost a couple of serviceable receivers in Dante Wright and John Adams, they added the leading receiver from Delaware (JoJo Bermudez). Grambling transfer Antonio Jones showed he had pretty good hands last year and returns, as does Xavier Irvin, who showed flashes of being pretty good. Colin Chase (St. Thomas) could surprise. EVEN.

OFFENSIVE LINE__Temple returns seven guys who started FBS games in South Carolina transfer Grayson Mains, Chris Smith, Jackson Pruitt, Luke Watson, Eric King, Diego Barajas and Kevin Terry. Keeler also brought in a letterwinner from Georgia who should provide depth. UPGRADE.

DEFENSIVE LINE__Keeler has called that the deepest position on the team with single-digit Demerick Morris coming back to Temple after a short stint at Oklahoma State. His teammates voted to allow him back, which shows he’s a leader. Other solid players include Miami (Fla.) transfer Allan Haye, Philadelphia city star Tyrese Whitaker, Rutgers’ transfer Cam’Ron Stewart (who has been good here) and Georgia Tech transfer K.J. Miles. UMass starter Aaron Beckwith transferred here over the winter but is not expected to start here. HUGE UPGRADE.

LINEBACKER__Eric Stuart is the lone returning starter but Keeler recognized that fact and brought in UMass starter Jalen Stewart and Delaware’s best linebacker, Ty Davis, who both should start here. Another potential starter is Kentucky backup Jayvant Brown, who turned down Alabama and Auburn offers to sign at Kentucky. UPGRADE

SPECIALS__Temple returns punter Dante Atton and former Temple kicker Maddux Trijillo called his backup, Carl Hardin, “the second best kicker in the AAC.” We’ll see if Maddux is as good a talent evaluator as he is a kicker but Hardin was consistent throughout the spring. Tylik Mitchell could be the best kickoff returner Temple has had since Isiah Wright. DOWNGRADE (because MT was so good). Hopefully, Temple will not be punting this year.

Anyone who has any concerns about Temple’s roster being thin is ignoring the players Keeler is bringing in and, in this day and age of the transfer portal, fans do that at their own peril.

Friday: Just Short of an A

06.26.25
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Objectively, the best Temple recruiting month ever

The Owls already here hit the weight room on the hottest day in Philly since 2012.

A couple of famous names who signed on the dotted line illustrated what we’ve been thinking for a couple of weeks.

Objectively, this 2026 recruiting class is the best Temple one since 2007 and the credit must be given to a full court press the K.C. Keeler staff did this month.

Also objectively, this is the best recruiting month ever.

In an era where the G5 never beats the P5 (or P4 now), at least five recruits came down to two choices:

Temple and Syracuse.

Like the old Bill Cosby ad said, “they could have gone anywhere. They chose Temple.”

Now to the two famous names that haven’t been discussed in this space before:

Duane Johnson Jr. and Hanks.

Not Tom Hanks, but Alex Hanks, who is one of the Syracuse flips as a 6-1, 195-pound safety. The recruiting site 247 has him turning down a ‘Cuse offer on June 20 to commit to Temple.

The other is Duane Johnson Jr., who is no relation to the “other” Dwayne Johnson Jr.–better known as The Rock–who played his high school football in Bethlehem, Pa. and college at Miami (where he played against Temple). This Duane Johnson Jr. is FROM Miami and, like the other Johnson, a 6-3, 190-pound linebacker at the high school level. The Rock bulked up to 6-3, 290 and became a DE at Miami before becoming a superstar in wrestling and movies.

Temple’s Duane Johnson turned down offers from his hometown FIU and Bowling Green to come to 10th and Diamond.

Temple’s 2026 recruiting company as of 6/26/25.

Another player we haven’t mentioned here previously is Josh Nengite of Susquehanna Township (Pa.), and the attached announcement here gives a clue as to why he–and the other 23 June commits–picked Temple: “The goals for the program and how we are going to accomplish them.”

Keeler and his staffed are locked in with that message.

For all of this excitement about Temple’s 2026 recruiting class, 247 still has the Owls–with 24 commits–rated as No. 76 nationally. Historically, that ranks behind Al Golden’s second class at Temple (2007), which ranked No. 1 in the MAC and No. 52 in both the Rivals.com and Scout.com national rankings. That translated to a 2009 appearance in the Eagle Bank Bowl against a UCLA team that had a No. 3 recruiting ranking in 2007.

Bad, because only 64 teams play in the so-called Power 5. Good, because of the other 66 teams in FBS, Temple is rated No. 12.

Good, because Keeler’s 2026 class is rated ahead of Nebraska, Auburn, Virginia, Missouri and Virginia Tech.

The other consideration here is that Temple’s Fab Five that turned down ‘Cuse turned down a very good staff with a great history of recruiting for a staff with a vision for the future. It’s one thing that new head coach K.C. Keeler already has a proven eye for talent. It’s validation when an entirely different staff sees the same thing. So maybe that 76 is closer to 66 because no other G5 program is grabbing that many P4 offers, at least thumbing through the other AAC offer sheets.

No one knows if our Duane Johnson will approach the fame of the other Dwayne Johnson or our Hanks will make a football impact that Tom Hanks made on the world stage.

What we do know is that they will join a group of guys who have been vetted by dozens of eyeballs on two highly paid and well-respected staffs 500 miles apart and now will be playing before a lot more eyeballs in the largest stadium in the AAC.

Chances are pretty good those Lincoln Financial Field eyeballs will like what they see.

Monday: Immediate vs. Future

06.22.25
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The foreign element: Temple has a Pope, too

Darius Pope makes key touchdown catch in Delaware’s state championship 3A game.

Since May 8, Villanova has used having a Pope as a trump card on Temple and really everyone else.

Both schools have a Brunson basketball player as a famous graduate and but on that day Villanova added a Pope.

All recruiting roads lead to Temple

No more because Temple has a Pope, too, and he’ll probably do more for the Temple football program than the real Pope will do for his alma mater.

Darius Pope of Delaware became the latest of three players to turn down a solid Syracuse offer for a Temple one and it’s an, err, blessing.

That’s because for all of Fran Brown’s documented prowess as a recruiter, there’s a buzz around the Temple recruiting this June that hasn’t existed here in a long time and even a great recruiter like Brown seems powerless to stop the momentum.

Delaware isn’t a foreign country but one of the other gets who spurned ‘Cuse for Temple, Jude Okeleke, a Top 75 in the nation defensive tackle from Nigeria. The fact that he’s from Nigeria gives Temple a real solid shot to keep him from transferring to a P4 school because foreign students are not eligible for NIL money.

Yet.

No one knows what the future holds but Brown was a dynamite recruiter here, at Rutgers, Georgia and now Syracuse and whatever recruiting magic he has couldn’t keep three solid Syracuse offers under his spell.

The other Syracuse offer who opted for Temple was Antwan Rogers, a 6-5, 290-pound defensive end from Salem, N.J.

College Football Talk Daily rates Temple as doing one of the best three recruiting jobs in the nation with UCLA and Florida. That’s pretty heady company. CFB Talk has more than 40,000 followers on twitter/x so it carries some clout.

That’s not to say that Temple’s recruiting rivals the quality of UCLA and Florida, but for its competition, Temple now stands out.

It might not show in the final recruiting rankings of the 2026 class, but there’s a lot of quality in it for the Owls and the fact that the Owls beat out P4 schools for commits bodes well for the long-term future.

Pope is one of many future Owls who will make their impacts in the 2026 season and beyond but, while new head coach K.C. Keeler was concentrating on the long-term this month, he hasn’t forgotten short-term needs.

Temple got a quality guy in running back/wide receiver Tylik Mitchell of Southern Nash in N.C., whose 10.78 in the 100-meter dash was .2 faster than that of Bernard Pierce in the PIAA state championship meet when he competed for Glen Mills. Pierce was a football player who excelled in track and was ready to go, becoming an instant starter for Al Golden at running back. His 268 yards and two touchdowns beat a 10-2 bowl-winning Navy team as a true freshman and, had he played in the second half against both Penn State and UCLA, the Owls of 2009 might have won both of those games. As it was, Pierce became a third-round draft choice in the NFL

Many feel that Mitchell has the kinds of moves and speed that could make him an instant starter at Temple, either at WR or RB–but probably at WR because there is a greater need there.

That’s a lot to ask of a true freshman but he seems to have the talent and will arrive in a month. That’s the same kind of time frame it took Pierce to get noticed.

Having a Pope helps in 2026 but a Mitchell does the same thing now.

Keeler and his staff are cooking in recruiting and others outside of Temple are liking the smell from the 10th and Diamond kitchen.

Friday: Temple’s Next Famous Names:

Monday: Short vs. Long-Term

06.19.25
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Temple returns to recruiting footprint

Another year around the sun came and went on June 19th for this reporter and it was my annual reminder that the expiration date invisibly stamped on my forehead is rapidly approaching.

In a sense, Temple Football Forever, too. We don’t know the date and probably don’t want to at this point.

Yet while this website won’t last forever, what new head K.C. Keeler did this week was a sign that Temple football as a program will last, if not forever, a long time.

If Keeler keeps this kind of recruiting up, chances are he will be talking about Temple going from one year with a lot of losses to one year with a lot of wins like he did here at SHS last year.

That’s because he stepped away from the nasty habits of the last three head coaches and returned to the Owls’ recruiting footprint.

Bruce Arians once said it was simply metro Philadelphia, South Jersey, the Lehigh Valley and the D.C./Virginia corridor that included Norfolk and Richmond.

Al Golden reaffirmed that when he arrived on the scene, correctly pointing out that Temple is smack dab in the middle of 46 percent of the nation’s population.

“If you drew a 250-mile circle around Temple, that’s well within a five-hour drive for any family who wants to send their kids here,” Golden said. “That’s 46 percent of the nation’s population and you should be able to find 25 great players from that many kids.”

Arians went 6-5 twice against a Top 10 schedule with that philosophy.

Golden ended 20 years of Temple misery adopting it.

What do Arians (York), Golden (Colts Neck, N.J.), Matt Rhule (State College) and Keeler (Emmaus) all have in common? They played their high school football within 250 miles of Temple.

What do Geoff Collins, Rod Carey, and Stan Drayton have in common?

They did not.

Daron Harris makes returning kickoff and punts for touchdowns look easy, like this one against Imhotep.

Now with a slew of local recruits signed recently, Keeler apparently has decided that blueprint makes sense for him, too.

Among those guys are a 6-4, 315-pound offensive tackle from Strath Haven named Billy Brown, an All-Philadelphia Catholic League tight end named J. P. Oates and defensive backs Daron Harris of Chester and Dylan Abram of Monsignor Bonner.

Temple might not be back this year, but rest assured Keeler’s plan is to return the Owls to those kinds of days.

That’s not all.

Defensive tackle Jude Okeleke (pronounced OAK-LEAK-EEE) turned down a solid offer from Fran Brown and Syracuse to commit to Temple this week, saying “I’m home.” While not a Philly-area recruit, it’s nice to know that Okeleke considers Philadelphia home. Technically, he is within that 250-mile footprint, having played at the Taft School in Watertown, Conn. Better yet, he is considered one of the top 75 DT prospects in the country. Being from Nigeria and not able to earn NIL money, Temple gets the added benefit of probably keeping him for four years.

Brown was a first-team Philadelphia Inquirer OT playing in 2023 before moving onto Phillips Academy in Andover, Mass. last fall.

Oates was a first-team All-PCL tight end for a 10-0 regular season LaSalle High team last year, catching 47 passes for 576 yards and five touchdowns.

Harris was called “one of the top athletes in the state” by Chester head coach Dennis Shaw, scoring 28 touchdowns for the Clippers in a variety of ways (5 rushing, 7 kick returns and 2 interception returns).

Abram was all-PCL and had five interceptions for Bonner after returning to his original school from Philly Public League power Imhotep.

None of this proves Temple football is back to the winning days of Arians, Golden and Matt Rhule but usually a good blueprint leads to a solid foundation.

History always repeats itself and, while we’re all getting older, all evidence points to Temple football getting better.

Monday: The Foreign Component

06.15.25
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Seeing double: A Brady Palmer vs. Brady Palmer matchup

The “other” Brady Palmer committed to Cal on the same weekend the “good” Brady Palmer committed to Temple. No relation.

Seeing double is what could happen if Temple and California decided to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of a Garden State Bowl matchup with an intersectional football game during the 2029 season.

That’s because, in addition to the Golden Anniversary, it could feature maybe the first college football game where the starters at quarterback for both teams have the same first and last names.

Brady Palmer.

That’s because on the same exact weekend in 2025 the two 2026 grads of the same name committed to Temple and Cal, respectively.

You can’t make this up and we certainly didn’t so both schools should roll with the good fortune. How could a network resist a Brady Palmer vs. Brady Palmer matchup, especially if both are able to secure the starting jobs at their respective schools? Brady Palmer vs. Brady Palmer with Paul Palmer handling the color on Temple radio.

It’s too good to pass up.

The 1979 matchup featured the nation’s top-rated quarterback in passing efficiency, Brian Broomell, vs. Cal’s Rich Campbell, who later played in the NFL.

Temple won, 28-17, before 40,000 fans at Giants Stadium.

Both are highly rated quarterbacks and Temple’s Palmer is an Elite 11 one, joining the ranks of recent Temple quarterbacks who made the Elite 11 (Anthony Russo and Re’Al Mitchell were the others). He was the starter at St. Francis High School in Wheaton, Ill. and now transferred to national powerhouse St. Thomas Acquinas (Fl.) for his senior year. In Illinois, Palmer threw for 33 touchdown passes and reportedly clocked a 4.5 in the 40-yard dash, which would make him exactly as fast as former Temple great running back Bernard Pierce.

The California Brady Palmer threw for 16 touchdowns against just five interceptions for Cathedral Catholic (San Diego) in the 2024 season. To be fair, his offer sheet was more impressive than the Temple Brady Palmer as he turned down scholarships from Utah and TCU to sign with Cal.

On the other hand, that Palmer was not an Elite 11 quarterback.

This one is and we can settle the issue of who is better with a Garden State Bowl rematch in 2029.

Friday: Home Cooking

06.13.25
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Temple still celebrating Super Sunday

When it rains it pours and we’re not referring to this upcoming weekend forecast.

Temple football is still celebrating a Super Sunday of recruiting and, while we detailed the most high-profile one in our Monday post with a quarterback named Brody Norman, three guys committed who could be on-field sensations for the Owls.

Could be is the key phrasing because way back in 2008 I was watching film with other Temple season-ticket holders who were ohhing and ahhing the No. 1 recruiting class in the MAC that Al Golden was able to pull in for that night.

A friend named Sal who was sitting in the first row turned to me and said, “they all look like O.J. Simpson on the film.”

Good point.

He killed with that one (no pun intended).

Hunter Watson’s impressive offer sheet (there were four other confirmed offers as well).

Still, there is good film and bad film and the other three guys who signed on Sunday night weren’t chopped liver.

Those three–there were other subsequent good ones after Sunday night but we’ll cover them later–are running back R.J. Blount of Pennsauken, N.J. (home to former Temple greats Todd and Scott McNair), wide receiver Hunter Watson of Jersey City St. Peter’s Prep (which produced Al Golden’s first recruit, Kee-Ayre Griffin) and offensive lineman John Watkins of St. Frances Academy (Baltimore).

To be clear, this is not immediate help but it’s nice to know that new head coach K.C. Keeler and staff are preparing for the future.

These guys are 2026 high school grads but this shows that Keeler is using this so-called “offseason” time to replenish the talent in the program. It also shows that the staff is working just as hard on a couple of weeks in June as they will a week before the UMass game.

Could not find the junior year RB stats at Pennsauken for both of the McNairs, but my guess is that both would have been hard-pressed to duplicate the 2024 stats of Blount who posted 1,585 yards and 21 touchdowns.

According to the ESPN website, Watson turned down offers from Syracuse, Boston College, and West Virginia to come to Temple.

That’s pretty good.

By all metrics, Temple’s transfer portal and high school recruits rate higher in Keeler’s first season than any of the three Stan Drayton seasons.

There’s something special that is connecting kids to Keeler and his staff and Philadelphia and the impressive campus that appeals to over 30,000 “regular” full-time students. It’s worth celebrating.

The film is O.J. good without any of the negative killer side effects.

Monday: Seeing Double

06.08.25
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Temple football’s No. 1 target commits

By all accounts, the gathering on June 3d between Temple fans and new head coach K.C. Keeler broke all records for an Owl event in the offseason in terms of attendance.

The buzz both inside and outside the Wissahickon Brewing Company was positive enough to get people to buy season tickets and have those people get other people to buy season tickets. The impact should show in fannies in the seats come September.

Keeler offered a few interesting nuggets in the sense that “we’re probably done” with the transfer portal for this cycle and concentrating instead on high school recruits.

Already, those dividends are paying off.

It didn’t take more than a few days for arguably Temple’s No. 1 target, a quarterback from North Carolina named Brody Norman, to commit. Five days to be exact because Norman announced on his twitter feed at exactly 7:41 p.m. on Sunday night he was an Owl.

There’s definitely an Anthony Russo-type vibe to the the Norman signing in it’s been a very long time since Temple signed a quarterback with gaudy stats like this.

As a senior at Archbishop Wood, Russo had 35 touchdown passes vs. only four interceptions for Steve Devlin’s state championship Vikings. Russo had just visited with then LSU head coach Les Miles in the Archbishop Wood cafeteria when then Temple head coach Matt Rhule got Russo to switch his Rutgers’ commitment for the Owls. Russo finished in the top four of Temple’s all-time quarterbacks from a statistical standpoint and probably would have worked his way up the ladder had then head coach Rod Carey not tried to make an option quarterback out of a drop back passer.

Temple sports set a record for an offseason event with a big crowd on Tuesday night to listen to K.C. Keeler

That was a whole different time in college football when G5 teams routinely out recruited regional P5 rivals because there wasn’t a whole lot of money to throw around and the G5 team could offer immediate playing time.

Keeler pulled off his own heist with the Norman recruit, taking advantage of the current state of college football when many P4 teams eschew recruiting high school players in favor of raiding other P4 team’s ready-made quarterback in the transfer portal.

With Norman, P4’s loss is Temple’s gain.

Norman had 32 touchdown passes in the junior year at Mooresville, N.C. His team finished 11-2 and won its league championship.

Who knows how many he will have this upcoming season but that fact that he won’t be distracted by having to deal with recruiters should help him focus on his high school season and padding those high school numbers.

Like Russo, the most important statistic for a quarterback is a championship pedigree followed by number of touchdown passes vs. interceptions.

Norman passes the smell test on both counts.

He obviously loves Philadelphia and, while he won’t arrive on campus for another couple of years, Philadelphia will no doubt love him back.

Friday: Sunday’s other three commits

Monday: Seeing double

06.05.25
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Temple football: Location, location, location

First-year Temple head football coach K.C. Keeler is proving the old real estate adage:

Location, Location, Location.

At this time last year, then Temple head coach Stan Drayton was starting the second week of his two-week vacation in Houston, Tex (his house there)., texting the two reporters who cover Temple football on a regular basis that everything back home was cool because he was in constant contact with the senior leadership group.

Contrast that to what happened on Tuesday night when Keeler met with a couple hundred Temple fans at the Wissahickon Brewing Company.

That’s in Philadelphia, not Houston.

In that time, Keeler showed a grasp of the Temple personnel that Drayton never had.

There, he called last year’s starting quarterback, Evan Simon, “a dude” and incoming quarterback Gevani McCoy a guy who could win the job based on his history as a starter at both Oregon State and Idaho (two teams who have beaten Temple in the last 30 years). Drayton, on the other hand, fumbled his quarterback situation by naming the worst quarterback in Temple history, Forrest Brock, as the starter in the Oklahoma game over a Temple quarterback, Evan Simon, who started and did decently well in Big 10 games.

K.C. Keeler comes approved by Hooter.

Drayton, a running back guru, fumbled the ball.

Keeler, on the other hand, seems to have a grasp on his QB situation by even floating the idea of a two-quarterback system.

Afterward, Keeler left–not for Houston–but for his home here. This weekend, he might go as far as his longstanding home at Rehoboth Beach, Del., which is exactly 1,535 miles from Houston and only 121 miles from Philadelphia.

No need to have the team leadership group on standby. He can be at 10th and Diamond in a hurry.

Keeler dropped a couple of jokes–not staged, but based on his first few months here–that had the Temple fans in stitches on Tuesday and left the definite impression he was not going anywhere and he was large and in charge.

I don’t know about you but that’s comforting to me.

Monday: The No. 1 Target

06.01.25
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Networking: Rebuilding the fan base

All three “major” Temple sports coaches will be attending this event tomorrow night, but I’m guessing Keeler will be the one drawing the crowd.

One of the recurring responses on the OwlsDaily.com website to any enthusiasm about K.C. Keeler being hired is the question how that translate to fannies in the seats?

Good question.

It is one that Temple head coach will try to answer Tuesday night (6) at a networking event (Wissahickon Brewing Company) in the East Falls section of Philadelphia.

Keeler has been reaching out to Temple fans at other places (golf tournaments, Maxi’s Bar on campus, etc.) and there will be more.

Does it translate to fannies in the seats?

Yes and no.

Yes, in the sense that hiring a Hall of Fame head coach like Keeler naturally sells tickets.

No, in the sense that we’re not going to see 60,000 Temple fans in the stands JUST because Temple has a high-profile head coach.

Weather should be great to talk Temple sports over a few brewskis in this outdoor space tomorrow night.

Like everything, the proof is in the pudding. Nobody is going to buy the pudding until it’s so good it creates a demand for the pudding.

In other words, if the Owls win at UMass to open the season and beat Howard and give Oklahoma a good game, that translates to fannies in the seats for the rest of the season. Wish I could go but am working that night. If any fan goes, I hope someone brings up our ideal of bringing the tush push back to Temple using DL and former high school quarterback Colin Greene as the tusher and tight end Peter Clarke as the pusher.

That’s what happens when a fan base goes to the Military Bowl one year after an eight-win regular season and the next few goes 1-6, followed by a whole bunch of 3-9s.

This fan base is beaten down and it’s going to take some time to get off the mat.

It helps that Keeler has been pounding the pavement for players in the transfer portal. It also helps that he’s reaching out a hand to lift up some fans who have been down on the mat for way too long.

Friday: Location

Monday: No. 1 Target

05.29.25
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USF site: Keeler could be a home run hire

Temple being No. 1 in the new hire department only bodes well for the 2025 Owls.

There’s an old saying among a group of hikers who encounter a bear on a trail.

Since bears can run between 30-40 mph and the fastest humans only 15mph, the math doesn’t math for the two-legged mammals.

The saying simply is this:

The USF website “Green, Gold and Bold” gives the highest mark for football hires to Temple.

“You don’t have to outrun a bear. All you have to do is outrun the slowest hiker.”

When it comes to the AAC, the football foes are humans. Reach up to the P4 and most of those are bears.

So it was important the other day to scour one of the fellow “human” websites and find out what others are thinking of Temple football.

Most of them are positive that Keeler can push one or two of the other new head coaches into the path of any AAC bears and make a legitimate run toward respectability.

Here’s what the USF site, Green Gold and Bold, had to say about the Keeler hire: “Keeler is 271-112-1. The cupboard may be bare at Temple, but it probably won’t be for long. Give Temple an “A” for this hire.”

A couple of things here.

One, the cupboard WAS bare but Keeler and his staff made so many key offseason acquisitions that cannot be said now. He got the leading rusher from three schools–Memphis, Northern Illinois and Sam Houston–to come to Temple and assume that same role. He was able to keep Temple’s best rusher, Terrez Worthy, from last year to remain at Temple after he flirted with Tarleton State. The Jay Ducker/Worthy battle will be one to watch. No cupboard bare at the RB position.

Two, he upgraded the quarterback position by enticing the starting quarterback from last year at Oregon State to come to Temple. He also upgraded depth in the position by keeping Temple’s only good quarterback from last year, Evan Simon. (My prediction here is that Evan wins the job outright from Gevani McCoy because Keeler is a fair man who will realize that on his own when that battle is played out at 10th and Diamond in August.) There are at least two tasty choices in the cupboard at the most important position on the field. I won’t be mad if either McCoy or Simon start for the Owls. I was mad that the worst quarterback in football history, Forrest Brock, started for the Owls last season.

Three, the Owls’ best interior defensive lineman, Demerick Morris, transferred to Oklahoma State (presumably for NIL money) before having second thoughts and returning to Temple.

Morris is the only single-digit Owl to leave for another school and return to Temple. That is history in the making.

Playing for a Hall of Fame coach must have had a lot to do with it because I can’t imagine Temple had a bag of money to throw his way.

Saying Temple got an A for the hire and an F for roster implies that the hire has nothing to do with improving the roster. Inheriting a bad roster without an alternative was what new coaches did a decade ago in the pre-transfer portal era.

Improvising and adjusting that roster upward is what good new coaches do now. South Florida noticed what a lot of Temple fans did last December in the coaching department, while, at the same time, ignoring what he did after he was hired.

A for the former, F for the latter.

Monday: Networking