Category Archives: Matty Brown

02.20.13
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Matty Brown’s replacement? How about Herbin?

“Jerry Jones’ Money, you a running back” comes up at the 2:12 time stamp. That’s song lyric perfectly describes Khalif Herbin in my book.

Matt Brown’s career took off after being switched to RB.

As the crow flies, where both Matty Brown and Khalif Herbin played their final years of high school ball is separated by only 50 miles of I95 and Garden State Parkway highway in New Jersey.
Brown played his final year at Peddie School in Highstown. Herbin played at Montclair.
To me, that’s really the only thing that separates the two players.
The highest compliment I can pay Herbin now is that, used properly _ the way Brown was _ he can be just as good and maybe even better.
I really believe that.
Going into this 2013 season, I am not worried about too many areas of Temple’s football team this upcoming season, but I was worried about finding the next Matty Brown.
Until the light bulb went on in my head yesterday.
The next Matty Brown is sitting right there in the Edberg-Olson Complex.
You know, that shifty, elusive guy everybody else underestimates until he’s putting up six points on a regular basis?
Instead of wearing No. 2 or 22, he’s wearing No. 27.

In 2009, Matty Brown started the seson as a slot receiver until a similar light bulb went off in Al Golden’s head and Al gave Brown a chance to carry the ball. It turned out to be a stroke of genius

Khalif Herbin is my choice. Heck, he’s got the talent to be better than Brown. He’s faster (4.39 to Brown’s 4.44). He’s even bigger (5-7, 170 to Brown’s 5-5, 150). There are a lot of intangibles about Brown that make him the toughest son-of-a-gun I’ve seen play for Temple in a long, long time (maybe ever) but I’d like to see what Herbin can bring to the table with the same opportunity.
Herbin was an unbelievable talent with the ball in his hands (check out the film above, just from his first five high school senior games).
He just didn’t get the ball in his hands enough last year. As a 5-7 slot receiver, it’s just not possible.
That was one of the many problems with Steve Addazio. He didn’t maximize the talent of his players. To me, one of the best athletes on the team should not be a third-team quarterback nor should a guy as elusive as Herbin be a slot receiver. A guy who both runs and throws the ball as well as Chris Coyer does should not be spending the first two downs of every series handing of to a running back.
In 2009, Matty Brown started the season as a slot receiver until a similar light bulb went off in Al Golden’s head and Al gave Brown a chance to carry the ball. It turned out to be a stroke of genius.
The position move led to a nice chapter in Temple football history.
Not that Brown is gone, Matt Rhule should consider doing the same for Herbin.
Temple found Brown while playing for Peddie School in Blairstown in 2009 and could find his replacement in a Montclair, N.J. product.
The Owls need a game-breaker like Brown and Herbin could be all that and more. It’s definitely worth a shot.

The Khalif Herbin File

2011
Carries
Yards
Touchdowns
139
1,940
43
2010
176
1,488
15
2011 Punt Returns*
12
245
3
2010 Punt Returns**
4
133
1

*Also returned 7 kickoffs for 243 yards and 2 TDs
**Also returned 9 kickoffs for 385 and 2 TDs
10.31.12
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Hawaii pulls out of talks with Temple

If the Owls get to six wins, they would likely be slotted into a sweet bowl.
Hawaii could not resolve a myriad of issues.

The road ahead just got a lot bumpier for Temple’s football team on becoming eligible for a bowl for the fourth-straight season.
Hawaii pulled out of talks to give Temple a 12th game today because it could not resolve ticket issues.
It would have been tough enough to get to a bowl game with Hawaii on the schedule and now it appears to be near impossible.
Now the Owls will have to get to a bowl the old-fashioned way: By earning it.
Four games left, two against teams that have been in the top 20 most of the season, one against a Syracuse team with a premier quarterback, Ryan Nassib, and another against an Army team that beat Boston College.
 Not easy. The Owls will have to hold serve against Army, pull a mild upset against Syracuse and an even more shocking one against either Louisville or Cincinnati.
 The road ahead:

Anthony Robey: Lock-down corner

LOUISVILLE _ The game will be played at 11 a.m. Louisville time (12 in Philadelphia) and is the only home game not a sellout the rest of the way. Louisville has a tendency to play “up” or “down” to the level of competition. It was not able to blow out a horrid Southern Mississippi team in the rain (21-17) and it barely got by a bad Florida International team (28-21). Louisville and Temple both struggled to beat South Florida (Cards by 27-25, Owls by 37-28), but Cards handled a Pitt team (45-35) that handled the Owls. If the Temple secondary doesn’t start knocking balls down (and maybe even intercepting one or two passes), it won’t matter against a quarterback like Teddy Bridgewater. Except for lock-down sophomore corner Anthony Robey, a 4.39-40 speedster, the Owls look lost on the back line of their defense.
ARMY _ Hopefully, Matty Brown will be 100 percent for this game at West Point because he has been Army’s worst nightmare the past three years. Two years ago, in a 42-35 win, Brown singlehandedly led the Owls back from a 28-7 deficit with 226 rushing yards and four touchdowns. Also in that game, the Owls did something they have not done the Steve Addazio Era: Score on a trick play, a 48-yard pass off a double-reverse thrown by Joey Jones, by far the best pass thrown by a Temple player in 2010. Last year, Brown had 159 yards rushing against Army in a 42-14 win prompting the Army fan sitting next to me to ask, “Doesn’t he graduate this year?” No, I told him it was Bernard Pierce who probably is leaving. “I wish it was Brown instead,” the man replied.

Chris Coyer: More effective throwing on 1st down than 3d.

CINCINNATI _ The Bearcats have shown some chinks in their armor but mostly have been outstanding. They were able to beat Delaware State, 23-7, a week after Delaware beat Delaware State, 48-14. They also allowed Fordham to stick around for most of the first half. On the other hand, they beat Pitt, 34-10, and Virginia Tech, 27-24. They also have a sophisticated passing attack, something the  Owls might have if they let Chris Coyer throw on first down instead of third down all the time. The pathway to winning is to ratchet up the passing game and head away from pound and ground. The Owls should follow the blueprint they had against USF: 16 for 20 in the passing game and, not coincidentally, 37 points. The plan to win should be 37-28, not 17-14. Planning to win 17-14 is a good way to lose, 47-17.
SYRACUSE _ If the Owls go into this game with only four wins, a crowd of about 11,000 should be rattling around Lincoln Financial Field putting a sad punctuation mark on the dreariness of the season. If, on the other hand, they go into the game with five wins and a chance to reach a bowl game with six, there should be a big crowd cheering them on and a win will depend on whether the Owls’ new 3-4 defensive alignment with an abundance of athletic linebackers will be able to put enough blitzing pressure on Nassib to rattle him into a loss. (That new alignment might be wishful thinking on my part but when you can’t cover anybody on the back line and you have six linebackers who can run a 4.6 40, that’s the way to go IMHO.)
That’s the road ahead. It won’t be easy to navigate, but earning greatness or even a BCS bowl never is.

Tomorrow: Throwback Thursday

09.26.12
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Daz hearing the call for a rolling pocket

By the time Homecoming comes, the Temple offense could be revamped.

On this website, I have a site meter installed at the bottom.
It helps me get a pulse of what posts people are reading and where they are reading them from. Not surprisingly, the No. 1 place where people read “Temple Football Forever” is from temple.edu web addresses. Now this could be students from the tech center, professors in their offices, administrators, players and even coaches.
I don’t care.

‘Get the ball out of the quarterback’s hand a little quicker so we are not sitting there in the pocket too long. Move the pocket. We are going to address those things.’
_ Steve Addazio

I think it’s great that the Temple community is taking interest in the football team in general and in this website in particular.
That’s one of the reasons why I found this quote to be particularly revealing by Temple head football coach Steve Addazio today from the Philadelphia Inquirer: “So we’ve got to grow there,” Addazio said of the passing game. “Maybe more quick game. Get the ball out of the quarterback’s hand a little quicker so we are not sitting there in the pocket too long. Move the pocket. We are going to address those things.”
The three most important words there are “move the pocket” in my mind.
To me, the key message of my Monday post was “move the pocket.”
The post about that very issue appeared here Monday. Addazio addressed it at the Tuesday media gathering.
Hmm.
Listen, I think there’s a less than one percent chance Steve Addazio read my post and stole my idea, but I’m glad that he figured it out on his own, which I suspect.
Heck, even Stevie Wonder, let alone Stevie Addazio, could see how moving the pocket would help this Temple team as currently constituted.

Heck, even Stevie Wonder, let alone Stevie Addazio, could see how moving the pocket would help this Temple team as currently constituted

My only question is why the Owls didn’t use this approach the first three games. It seemed like they were pounding their heads against a brick wall with this run-first approach.
No matter, the kind of head-pounding that resulted in so many headaches for Owl fans could be over if Daz is serious.
The Owls have a terrific weapon in New Mexico Bowl MVP Chris Coyer, who is a good pocket passer with protection, even under pressure in the pocket. The QB who runs like a tailback could be deadly, though, if you roll him out to his left where he could buy time to see the field and strike fear of his running the ball in the defense.
If DBs come up in run support, Coyer could dump the ball over their heads for big gains to guys like Jalen Fitzpatrick and Deon Miller, let alone an occasional safety valve pass to Montel Harris or Matty Brown.
If the defense blitzes, Coyer can direct Wyatt Benson as the protection. I have not seen a better blocking fullback at Temple since Shelley Poole led Heisman Trophy runner-up Paul Palmer through the hole.
Fitpatrick, Harris and Brown are terrific playmakers in space, as is Coyer.
Running Harris and Brown up the middle, where there’s not much space, doesn’t play to their strengths.
The best way for the Owls to move the sticks, maintain possession, turn the scoreboard into an adding machine and keep their defense off the field is to run the offense through Coyer. The beauty of this tweak is that it also plays to the strengths of backups Juice Granger and Kevin Newsome. Coyer rolls left, Juice and Kevin roll right.
Whatever, I’m glad the braintrust at the E-O recognizes this and are using these two weeks to work on it.
I can’t wait until they, err, roll it out Oct. 6.

09.23.12
by

No anger, just disappointment


Close-but-no-cigar was typified by how close TU got to sacking McGloin on a 4th and 5 TD pass.

I thought the coaches had a great gameplan. My only question was punting on 4th and 4 late in the third quarter, down 14-3. Kick it into the end zone and you gain only 20  yards of field position. To  me, the correct call was to get a swing pass out there on the sideline near the sticks for four yards and keep the drive going. That’s the logical call and I don’t see giving up that down in exchange for 20 yards of field position. I didn’t see it when the call was made and I didn’t see it after PSU went 80 yards for a 21-3 lead. That’s being Temple Timid, not Temple TUFF.

 UNIVERSITY PARK _ After Temple’s 36-27 loss to Maryland, the predominant feeling from this corner was anger.
Anger, as in, “How can you not blitz the crap out of a true freshman QB who threw three blitz-induced picks against William and Mary?”
That loss was on the coaches.
Now, sitting here getting free wifi in McDonald’s after a 24-13 loss to Penn State, the overwhelming emotion is disappointment.
This one is on the players.
I thought the coaches had a great game plan. My only question was punting on 4th and 4 late in the third quarter, down 14-3. Kick it into the end zone and you gain only 20  yards of field position. To  me, the correct call was to get a swing pass out there on the sideline near the sticks for four yards and keep the drive going. That’s the logical call and I don’t see giving up that down in exchange for 20 yards of field position. I didn’t see it when the call was made and I didn’t see it after PSU went 80 yards for a 21-3 lead. That’s being Temple Timid, not Temple TUFF.
But the plays left on the field before that were the game-changers.
As the only Temple fan sitting in my section (thanks to a free ticket from a PSU supporter and friend) from near the top row of Beaver Stadium, I could see both Cody Booth and Jalen Fitzpatrick CLEARLY being missed on sure-fire touchdown passes.
Had the Owls hit those seemingly easy pitch and catches, the game might have been different. No bigger Chris Coyer supporter than I, but it looked like he missed the Fitzpatrick pass altogether.
On the other one, it looked as if Cody Booth stopped in the pass pattern did not go where the ball was designed to be thrown.

Owlscoop.com’s take on the game plan.

Since Jalen complained to the ref about being held, I think that might have been the case on his play, too.
 Still, I think Chris could have adjusted those throws for two scores.
Adam DiMichele makes both of those throws for scores. He didn’t care about timing patterns. Of course, on the other hand, Chester Stewart throws both balls into the first row, so I guess everything is relative.
That’s easy for me to say because I wasn’t being rushed by 6-foot-5, 300-pound linemen, but those are plays a big-time team makes in a big-time setting.
Temple isn’t a big-time team. At least not yet.
 It really ticks me off that the first Temple win over Penn State will come with an asterisk, but it’s going to happen in Philadelphia on Aug. 30, 2014.
The asterisk, of course, will be Temple having 10 more scholarships than Penn State in each of the next two seasons leading up to that game.
Temple will have a talent and depth edge so pronounced that I would be surprised Penn State gives Temple the kind of game the Owls have given PSU the last three years.
 On Saturday, though, it was just another case of close, but no cigar against PSU.
 I like cigars.
Temple could have given their fans a puff of a primo Havana cigar on Saturday.
Instead, we’ll have to settle for one of those cheap 7-11 cigars in 2014 and that’s a long way away.
That’s the bad news out of Saturday.
Other bad news came from our former MAC brethren against Big 10 teams. While Temple was losing at Penn State, Central Michigan was getting it done at Iowa and lowly Eastern Michigan was throwing a scare into Michigan State.
If them, why not Temple?
 The good news is that these are fixable problems. The defense is not a SEC-level defense, but it certainly is good enough to excel in the Big East.
Here’s the offensive fix: Have Romond Deloatch, Jalen Fitzpatrick, Deon Miller and Ryan Alderman in the receiving rotation. Forget everybody else for now. Get those guys up to speed. I know Deloatch stepped out of bounds on his great catch, but that is a minor problem that’s fixable in practice for a true freshman. He fights for the ball and catches it. I like that. I know Alderman had a drop, but that was his only drop in a three-year career at Temple that I can recall. He’s a great third-and-eight option. Fitzpatrick can make explosive plays downfield and he won’t drop the ball, either.
 Get the ball “in space” to Montel Harris and Matty Brown more. Shovel passes, screens, pitchouts. Those guys are deadly in space, not so much between the tackles.
If you want to run it up the middle, give it to fullback Wyatt Benson.
I think Penn State will prove to be the best team on the Temple schedule not named Louisville and the Lions might even be better than Louisville.
 More good news came from the mighty Big East on Saturday:
South Florida lost at Ball State (in the same stadium Temple beat Ball State, 42-0, last year).
“That’s the kind of team we’d like to be in four years,” Ball State coach Dave Lembo said of Temple after that loss last year. Since then, Ball State has beaten a Big 10 team and South Florida.
Heck, Ball State is the kind of team I’d like Temple to be in two weeks, too. Temple hasn’t fallen that fast in a year, has it? I don’t think so but they’ll have to prove it to me on Oct. 6.
Also, Western Michigan beat UConn.
Again.
Yeah, that transition from the MAC is really going to be tough for the Owls.
They have the blueprint for the fixes and two weeks to do it against South Florida. If Ball State can do it, so can they. There can be no excuses next time. Get ‘er done.
Now for the long ride home for both me and them.

09.20.12
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Early forecast for Saturday: Temple sunshine

While the rain won’t be coming into Philadelphia until dinner time, it should be at Penn State by kickoff.

The early forecast is for rain on Saturday during Temple’s game at Penn State.
They might as well call it Temple sunshine.
Before the season, Penn State lost its top running back, Silas Redd, to a USC transfer.
Early reports this week indicate his top two replacements, Derek Day and Bill Belton, are banged up and might not play.

Bill O’Brien answers a question about the availability of top tailbacks Derek Day and Bill Belton.

Conversely, Temple lost its top tailback, Bernard Pierce, to the NFL draft but replaced him with an arguably better version of Pierce in Montel Harris. Also, Matty Brown, not Pierce, was Temple’s No. 1 all-purpose runner last year.
Unlike two Penn State tailbacks, Harris and Brown are 100 percent healthy and ready to go Saturday (ABC-TV, Channel 6).
As good as Pierce was, not even the biggest Pierce fan (err, me) is ready to say that Pierce would have been the second-leading all-time rusher in the ACC had he played in that conference.
Harris was and would have been the all-time leader had he remained at Boston College for his senior season.
History shows rain tends to dramatically reduce scoring and teams that can run the ball and have a good field goal kicker have a major advantage.
Temple can run the ball and its field goal kicker, Brandon McManus, is a darn sight better than Penn State’s (Sam Ficken). McManus is also a great punter and field position could be especially important under adverse weather conditions.
One of the most infamous times Penn State played a home game in a pouring rain and mud at Beaver Stadium, Navy posted a big upset win, 7-6, in 1974, one year after Penn State beat Navy in Annapolis, 39-0. In the rain, maybe it is a 10-7, 6-3 game and not in a 24-21 range. The last time Temple played in a steady rain was a 12-6 overtime loss to UConn during Hurricane Hanna.
I’ve never placed a bet on a Temple game and probably never will (it hurts enough to lose straight up and covering in a loss doesn’t make me feel any better), but it’s something to consider for those so inclined.
The under looks very appealing, Still, I’ll take any Temple win over cashing in at the payout window.

06.04.12
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Temple dreams and expectations

With 12 wins this year,  Chris Coyer could go to 16-0 as a Temple starter.

About this time every year, I run into a friend I will call Frank (because that’s his name) and, for the past five years or so, he’ll yell out “How is Temple going to do this year?” when I jog by his summer place in the Poconos.

Coaching up the OL.

Frank did not go to Temple and is about as New York City as they come (a big Yankee fan) but he became a Temple fan (he watches on TV) because his late beautiful wife, Amy, graduated from Temple.
About five years ago, I yelled out 7-5 (after a whole lot of losing seasons in a row). It was 5-7. (It should have been 7-5, except for fiascoes at Navy and Buffalo). I nailed the record the past couple of years with eight-win predictions.
This year, I dread jogging by Frank’s place because I just don’t know the answer.
It could be 8-3. It could be 11-0. It could even be 6-5, but I seriously doubt it will go below that.
Dreams, expectations, reality.
The dream is that everybody stays relatively healthy, that Justin Frye and Steve Addazio can coach up the offensive line and that Chuck Heater continues to show the nation he is the best defensive coordinator in the country.
This being June, I feel prepared to tell Frank 8-3 but I can dream of 11-0.
This is how it can happen:

Temple hits the snap-on button to steamroll Villanova.

Friday, Aug. 31.:  Matty Brown treats the Wildcats like he treated the U.S. Army for the last two years, going for 226 and four touchdowns. Chris Coyer rips off another patented 80-yard touchdown run and adds a pair of touchdown passes, one to Malcolm Eugene and another to Deon Miller. Ryan Alderman sustains three drives by catching third-down passes. Juice Granger ends the four-year rivalry by faking a kneel down out of victory formation and hitting slot receiver Jalen Fitzpatrick for a 63-yard score. “We call that our ‘snap-on’ play,” Addazio said. “We snapped it onto the game plan yesterday. It was the last page.” Temple 55, Villanova 3.
Saturday, Sept. 8: Randy Edsall opens the post-game press conference by saying, “for the third-straight year, my team wasn’t tough enough to beat this team. It’s a bad matchup for us.” After pestering by D.C. and Baltimore reporters, he ends the press conference by saying, “Look, if it wasn’t for the kindness of coach Addazio, we would have lost to them 45-0 last year. You didn’t really expect us to make up 45 points in one year, did you?” Temple 28, Maryland 13.

The best DC in the USA

Sat., Sept. 22: Given an extra week to prepare, Heater comes up with a brand new blitzing scheme that forces Penn State starter Matt McGloin into five interceptions, one returned for a touchdown by true freshman Nate Smith and another by outside linebacker Kevin Newsome, who volunteered to move to defense in August. “I totally take responsibility for this loss,” new Penn State coach Bill O’Brien says afterward. “I put in a lot of Tom Brady stuff for him. I know Tom Brady. Matt is no Tom Brady.” Addazio: “Newsome was too good an athlete to keep off the field.” Temple 17, Penn State 7.
Sat., Oct. 6 _ South Florida travels to Philadelphia for the first time and the weather is so uncharacteristically cool, with temperatures in the 40s, that the Bulls have a hard time coping. Temple students come up big in the first game back to the Big East as 30,000 students make the subway ride from the main campus to attend the historic event. “Between the cold and our guys fumbling and the noise their students were making, we just weren’t into it,” South Florida coach Skip Holtz said afterward.  “We don’t have crowds like that in Tampa.” Addazio gives basketball head coach Fran Dunphy the game ball. Temple 24, South Florida 14.
Sat. Oct. 13 _ With UConn benefactor Robert Burton watching from a superbox, Ryan Day’s spread offense kicks into full gear against the Huskies as Coyer hits Fitzpatrick, Alderman, Miller and tight end Alex Jackson for scores. Brown adds another on the ground. Burton storms out at halftime, yelling out loud “I told you guys we should have hired Addazio.” The win gives Temple a 5-3 overall advantage in the all-time series. Temple 35, UConn 7.
Sat. Oct. 20 _ Heater’s defense sacks two Rutgers’ quarterbacks for a school-record 15 times. Fitzpatrick hits a wide-open Coyer on a double-reverse throwback pass for six. Brandon McManus kicks five field goals and the Rutgers’ Rivals.com board implodes and servers crash after a 22-14 Temple win in front of 50,000 fans, 35K from Temple. They officially change the name of the Raritan River to the Denial River after one Rutgers fan writes, “Well, at least we won the battle of the fans.” Temple 22, Rutgers 14. “Penn State was sweet but, for some reason, this one was sweeter,” Coyer says afterward. The win evens the all-time series at 17-17 and gives Temple wins in five of the last seven meetings.
Sat. Oct. 27 _ Stability becomes the most-used word in post-game reports after Temple pulls out a 14-7 win at Pitt. “You can’t have five head coaching changes in a couple of years and expect a competitive   DI program,” one columnist writes. After the game, Gov. Tom Corbett presents Addazio with the Governor’s Cup, emblematic of the state championship. In keeping with his austerity policy on higher education, though, the trophy is made out of a used cardboard pizza box donated by neighboring Gov. Chris Christie. Temple 14, Pitt 7.

Pitino: Rooting for Temple?

Sat. Nov. 3 _ At Louisville, Rick Pitino hosts Dunphy in a club box at Papa Johns Stadium and photo of him high-fiving Dunph after a Temple touchdown causes a local stir. “I always cheer for Louisville,” Rick said. “We were high-fiving about the new scoreboard at the Liacouras Center. Temple just happened to score a touchdown at the same time.” Temple 17, Louisville 6. With the win, Temple’s all-time record vs. Louisville is now 4-2.
Sat. Nov. 10 _ With the Big East championship on the line, unbeaten Cincinnati travels to unbeaten Temple and College Football Game Day is in attendance. A 59-yard McManus field goal as time expires  sets off a wild celebration as the goal posts come down despite some heavy-handed Eagles’ security. Temple now leads the all-time series vs. the Bearcats, 10-4 with one tie, thanks to a Wes Sornisky field goal. Temple 13, Cincinnati 10.
Sat., Nov. 17 _ Brown once again becomes Army’s worst nightmare, this time scoring five touchdowns and running for 268 yards. “I thought he graduated,” one Army fan is overheard telling a Temple fan. “No, that was Pierce,” the Temple fan whispers back. “I wish it was Brown instead,” the Army fan says. Temple 42, Army 14.

Doug Marrone: No depth

Sat. Nov. 24 _ Syracuse dressed only 65 players for its spring game and through injuries and ineligiblity, brought only 35 players to Temple for the season finale. “Depth really hurt us,” Syracuse head coach Doug Marrone said. After the game, Syracuse tight end Louis Addazio announces he will transfer to Temple. Temple 32, Syracuse 14.

Temple finishes the regular season 11-0 and Coyer and Brown grace the cover of Sports Illustrated, with the cover headline stating “Fat Cat and Bug lead surprising Temple into Orange Bowl.”

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01.10.12
by

What can Daz do for Brown?

Bernard Pierce and Matty Brown react after Bill Bradshaw tells them about ordering gloves with the Temple T on the palm side.

Social scientists a lot smarter than I am give the three stages of grief as disbelief, disintegration and reintegration.
No doubt when you lose your favorite player from your favorite team as I did last week, there is an element of grief involved and I experienced all of those stages of grief in a relatively short time.
I’m in the reintegration stage, though, because while I grieve over Bernard Pierce’s loss, Matty Brown has always been my second-favorite player.



No truth to the rumor that this is how the team reacted
when Daz said Spencer Reid was replacing Bernard Pierce.

Bernie and The Bug are gone as a team but the bug is still here. Yet he cannot carry the running game alone, just as Bernie could not carry the running game alone.
At the end of December, head coach Steve Addazio threw out these names as possible sidekicks to Brown next year:
Jalen Fitzpatrick, Darius Johnson, Kenny Harper and Spencer Reid.
Sorry, Steve, I’m not buying it.
Fitzpatrick was a quarterback in high school and never played running back before. Johnson was an undistinguished and pedestrian running back in the Philadelphia Public League, quite possibly the worst high school football league in the state of Pennsylvania. Reid was given a scholarship as a running back despite running a painfully slow 4.6 40, making him slower than two of the Owls’ three starting linebackers last year. (Heck, I still think his dad could have afforded a full ride to Temple, saving that scholarship for, say, Ryan Brumfield.) Kenny Harper was better known as a safety in high school for Gainesville (Fla.) Buchholz and, quite frankly, did not EVEN REMOTELY show me any flashes of either Pierce or Brown on the limited number of carries he had at that position last year. I sincerely hope that when Justin Gildea moves from strong safety to free safety Harper will slide into the starting strong safety position next year. Both players could be All-MAC on defense right away.
Fitzpatrick would be perfect to slide into Joey Jones’ slot receiver spot. Deon Miller returns as one starting wide receiver and the Owls can chose from a whole lot of good options at the other WR, including playmaker Ryan Alderman.
My No. 1 solution would be for Temple to go out and find a big-time stud JUCO running back who is ready to go both on the field and in the classroom. Someone who has Bernard Pierce’s vision, speed, moves and quick burst to the outside.
Maybe that someone is Tiger Powell of Lake City, Fla.
Maybe it is someone else.
If Temple is not going to sign a big-time stud JUCO running back who is ready to go next year, there are better options available (some involve shuffling of personnel from offense to defense):

Brandon Peoples, Archbishop Wood _ It’s tough to ask an incoming freshman to make an impact right away but Brandon has the right initials. Another BP had 268 yards and three touchdowns in a 28-24 win at Navy as a true freshman, so maybe Brandon can duplicate that effort. He’s 5-foot-10, 180 pounds, though. Pierce is 6-1, 218. Peoples is not competing for the PIAA state 100-meter dash championship. At Peoples’ age, Pierce won it.

Nate Smith, like BP, has a nose for the goal line.

Nate Smith, current starting linebacker candidate _ This is my personal choice on the current team to help out Matty Brown, leaving the two current linebacker starters in place. Smith has the size (6-0, 220) of Pierce and is just a tenth of a second slower than Pierce. As a senior at Highland Park (N.J.), he was unstoppable, rushing for 2,442 yards and 32 touchdowns. That’s five more touchdowns than Bernard Pierce scored for Temple in this record-breaking year. Brother of former Philadelphia Eagle L.J. Smith so he’s got very good bloodlines.  Nate has been a lifelong Owl, going from the Highland Park Owls to the Temple Owls.

Wyatt Benson (6-0, 215), current starting fullback _ Benson, a blocker extraordinaire, could play his current position and pick up five to 10 carries a game to take some of the rushing load off Brown and quarterback Chris Coyer. He finished his prep career at Haverford School (the Inter-Ac, unlike the Public, is a GREAT high school league) with 663 rushing yards, 217 receiving yards and 18 touchdowns.

Ahkeem Smith, current starting linebacker _ Started out as a backup running back to both Pierce and Brown at Temple. As a senior at Bethlehem Liberty, was a superstar running back in a great Lehigh Valley League with 27 touchdowns and 1,837 yards in his senior year. Showed the current coaches his running ability by scoring a touchdown against Buffalo on a fake punt.

Blaze Caponegro, current starting linebacker _ The 2008 Shore Conference Player of the Year ran for 350 yards against Manasquan (yes, that was 350 yards in just one game), scoring five touchdowns. So he knows how to run the football.