Category Archives: Khalif Wyatt

03.26.13
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Sports Illustrated sits down with coach Rhule

Ryan Alderman (left) and Jalen Fitzpatrick look like they are having fun
after Fitzpatrick caught game-tying touchdown pass at UConn.

You can forget all of that talk about Temple football becoming the Boise State of the East.
How about the Florida Gulf Coast of the North?
That’s essentially the message head coach Matt Rhule imparted to Pete Thamel in today’s online edition of Sports Illustrated.
That’s OK with me.
The message essentially is this:
If Temple’s players have fun, they’ll play loose and with confidence and win, just like  those Florida Gulf Coast kids did over the weekend in Philadelphia.
If Temple’s players play tight, like Georgetown and even our own Scootie Randall did, they won’t perform to their highest level.

Any publicity is good, especially on SI.com

Think Florida Gulf Coast and Khalif Wyatt.
Or the fun Khalif Herbin looks like he’s having when he’s carrying the ball from scrimmage. When he’s running a pass route, Herbin looks out of his comfort/fun element.
That’s the kind of confidence and fun levels that Rhule wants to bring to the Edberg-Olson Football Complex every day.
If the Owls can play with that kind of confidence and sense of fun that FGCU and Wyatt always plays with, the results on the field will be Boise State-like.
I once asked Temple football Hall of Fame coach Wayne Hardin about the fun of playing football.
“Mike, the only way you can have fun is to win,” coach said.
If the only way to win is to have fun and still do work, I’m all for it.
I think Rhule might be onto something here.
We’ll find out for sure in the laboratory environment of September, October and November.

03.23.13
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Temple football’s Khalif and Wyatt

Temple Football Forever congratulates our friend Fran Dunphy and his Owls on a great season (Fran-haters, he did not shoot 0 for 12) … also congrats to our friends from LaSalle. .. hope Explorers win the NC …

There was a reason Wyatt Benson was the first in the end zone on most TD celebrations.

“I’m only going to switch someone who wants to be switched.”
_ Matt Rhule

Temple’s big man on campus these days is Khalif Wyatt, a basketball player for the Owls.
Temple football has both a Khalif and a Wyatt, though not in the same uniform.
I hope the the football Owls get as much out of their Khalif and their Wyatt as the basketball team has.
Khalif Herbin and Wyatt Benson.
If so, they should be in good shape this fall.
Pick a rushing touchdown, any touchdown, for Temple’s football team in the last three years and if there’s one common denominator it is that Wyatt Benson is blowing up a defender right before it.
Sometimes two defenders.
All you have to do is look at the South Florida film from last year.
Montel Harris sprung free for an exclamation point touchdown only after Benson destroyed someone on a sweep.
Same for all five of Bernard Pierce’s touchdowns at Maryland two years ago.
In all of my 30-plus years of watching Temple football, I can honestly say Wyatt Benson is the best blocking fullback the Owls have had since Paul Palmer followed Shelley Poole through the hole to nearly win a Heisman Trophy.

Nobody appreciated Benson more than Montel Harris.

Now Benson has been moved from fullback to linebacker, a position of strength for the Owls.
Go figure.
Herbin, like the 5-5 Matty Brown four years ago, needs to get the ball in his hands more than a typical slot receiver does. He’s got the potential to make those explosive plays downfield that Steve Addazio always talked about but never delivered. A switch to running back might help get him more than the two or three touches a typical slot receiver gets per game.
Current Temple head coach Matt Rhule indicated the strong possibility exists that Benson will be back at fullback in August.
“He’s our starting fullback, but what does a fullback do?” Rhule told Owlscoop.com. “He came here as a linebacker and I liked him as a linebacker.”
Good point.
He’ll play 15 snaps and you can do that and play linebacker as well.
Hey, if Bill Cosby, Bill Juzwiak, Fizzy Weinraub and John Rienstra can play two ways for the Owls, so can a few of these modern players. (Although Rienstra, an offensive tackle, only played nose guard on goal-line situations.)
It won’t kill Benson to play linebacker and come in to block on the goal-line package, something Rhule was in charge of for the New York Giants this season.
Also notable in practice from Saturday is this quote from Rhule:
“I’m only going to switch someone who wants to be switched.”
He was talking about Kevin Newsome from quarterback to another position, but I hope the same, err, rule applies to everyone else.
Khalif Herbin please report to Rhule’s office immediately and bring a letter of recommendation from Matty Brown.

 A Twin Brother from a Different Mother

Player
Height/Weight
40 speed
Yards gained from
Scrimmage in final
High school year
Position started/finished at Temple
Matt Brown
5-5/150
4.40
1,450 (9 TDs)
WR/RB
Khalif Herbin
5-7/170
4.34
1,940 (43 TDs)
WR/???
03.20.13
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Matt Rhule Bobblehead Day

Fans grab their spots prior to the 1919 C&W game. (Nah, that’s across
the street for a 1919 A’s game at Shibe Park, 22d and Lehigh.)
Sean Boyle a few days
before he signed at
Temple, Feb. 5, 2008

Spring cleaning comes around this time of the year for me.
This year, I found an old Al Golden Bobblehead (see right), an old social security card and re-arranged some of the furniture.
Everything for a purpose.
When I looked at Al’s bobbing head, I remembered how he routinely changed a player’s position for the betterment of the team.
Everything Al did regarding personnel moves was for a reason. I don’t remember a single Al Golden personnel switch that didn’t work out. Al was shaking his head yes while I was thinking that.

Matt Rhule interview today
Please click here to read an interview with Matt Rhule that appeared in today’s Harrisburg Patriot-News.

I’m the same way. I re-arranged my furniture for function, not style. I moved the chairs and the sofa this year so I can get to the door quicker when the Publisher’s Clearing House people arrive in a couple of weeks. (Smile.)
So it goes with position changes for the Temple football Owls. Change for a reason is good change.
Head coach Matt Rhule made one I totally endorse.
Sean Boyle, a long-time starter at center, will move to the right tackle spot vacated by the dependable and graduating Martin Wallace.  That makes a lot of sense. Boyle is the team’s best offensive lineman and will be protecting Chris Coyer’s blind side, plus Kyle Friend proved he’s more than a capable center as a true freshman last season. It’s mind-boggling to think that Sean Boyle signed on Feb. 5, 2008 (not 2009) in the same recruiting class with guys like Adrian Robinson and Mo Wilkerson. His maturity will help this team.
Some other functional changes that could make sense:

Kevin Newsome: Temple Owl Forever

KEVIN NEWSOME (QB to DB) _ It would be a shame if Newsome’s path to get on the field was blocked by Coyer and Juice Granger again, but I see that happening. Newsome is arguably the best athlete on the team and wants to play quarterback.  Unlike Coyer and Granger, Newsome can play another position. I suggest safety. I love the way Newsome said last year: “I’m a Temple Owl until the day I die.” He’s 6-3, 215, runs like a deer and has a 37-inch vertical leap. On third down against Maryland last year, starting strong safety Justin Gildea went up for “jump ball” type plays with taller Maryland receivers on four different occasions. Not surprisingly, the Maryland guys came down with key receptions each time. Gildea was in great position to make the plays but had no vertical. Put Newsome in the same position and those balls either get knocked down or picked.

ALEX JACKSON (TE to DE) _ Jackson has some experience as a DE and maybe it’s time to put him back there. For some reason, Alex could not catch a cold at TE last year and Rhule’s new offensive philosophy minimizes the tight end position.  I do see a guy with his height and speed being a nightmare for opposing quarterbacks. I like it when opposing quarterbacks have nightmares against the Owls. It would be great for Jackson and Sean Daniels to be meeting regularly at the opposing quarterback.

Khalif Herbin could be the
 Matty Brown of the next 3 years.

KHALIF HERBIN (WR to RB) _ Temple already has one great Khalif in a major sport (basketball) and put  this Khalif as a RB and he might be the next. This is the exact same situation Matty Brown faced four years ago. When he was moved to running back from slot receiver, his career took off. Brown was 5-5, 150 at the time and ran a 4.40. Herbin currently is 5-7, 170 and runs a 4.34 40. He’s got the metrics to do it.
Sometimes, you’ve got to re-arrange the furniture for function.
Steve Addazio was too stubborn to do it.
One of the intriguing things about this spring practice that starts on Friday will be finding out if Matt Rhule is as open to change as Al Golden was.
If he is, expect Matt Rhule Bobblehead Day to come sooner than later.