Five things I want under the E-O Tree

According to at least one recruit, Matt Rhule is putting together an all-star staff.

Hate to make rash judgments, but I saw enough of Nick Foles over the last few weeks to know one thing: The guy would make a good NFL backup, but he’s not a starting quarterback in this league.
Nick Foles can’t play.
He reminds me of a more polished Vaughn Charlton.

Owls need a DE with a game to
match a game face.

 Saw enough of him that I was jumping around on the TV at the gym yesterday and settled on the movie “Lord of the Rings: Helms Deep.”
Then I saw exactly what the Temple defense needs: An Aragorn. The guy chopped off more heads than King Henry VIII and that was just with one swing.
That’s just the type of defensive end Temple football needs right now, a Warrior who doesn’t use excuses like “getting injured” or “lack of foot speed” for not getting to the quarterback.
If I had a dollar for the “almost” sacks of John Youboty, I’d be a rich man. Youboty was a split-second late on a lot of would-be sacks that became touchdown passes (Matt McGloin’s long one in the PSU game immediately comes to mind).

 Temple needs a DE, preferably two, who routinely chops off quarterback’s heads, at least figuratively.

Mum is the word with Tyler Haddock-Jones, but
he’s excited about the new staff after talking with
Matt Rhule  at 1:22 p.m. on Sunday afternoon.

I’m starting to warm up to the idea of Matt Rhule as Temple’s head coach because the recruits and other coaches like him so much and because he’s so connected to the available talent out there. If Rhule has to dip into the JUCO ranks to get a guy with an Aragorn motor, so be it.
 I don’t think the kid currently is on the roster.
 Four other things I want to see under the Edberg-Olson Football Complex tree soon:
2) A practice bubble
 It’s ridiculous that Temple has to travel to the Nova Care Center to practice in inclement weather. Here’s hoping a temporary structure at least can be put up immediately until funds for a more permanent one can be located. The week before the Louisville game, the Owls missed a whole day of practice time due to Hurricane Sandy and that certainly didn’t help.
 3) Chuck Heater wrapped up as DC
 I know a lot of people were down on him at the end of the season, but he had absolutely no pass rush and, without a pass rush, you can’t have a pass defense. When you look at his body of work wherever he’s been, if he’s not the best defensive coordinator in the country he’s right up there. Indications, though, are that Heater will be around. One of the Temple recruits tweeted that he “talked to coach Rhule about the staff” and he’s stoked about Rhule’s impeding announcements, calling the group “geniuses.” Genius is always the first word that comes up in my mind when I think of Chuck Heater.
 4) Size on the lines 
Steve Addazio did a lot of things half-hazardly as Temple’s head coach, but none more than recruiting. He would recruit an inordinate amount of small guys and that really took its toll on the field of play this year with bigger lines pushing the Owls around. It’s nice to get smaller-size guys with heart, but it’s even nice to get larger-size guys with heart. Something tells me Rhule will restore some sanity to the overall recruiting model.
5) Another quarterback 
Right now the Owls are down to one recruit, P.J. Walker. P.J., I think, is going to be a great one but consider this: He’s the only true QB in the entire program after the 2013 season. The Owls need to sign another big-time arm now.

Meanwhile, Merry Christmas everyone and wouldn’t it be great if the football team could do to Notre Dame what the basketball team did to Syracuse?
(Nah, I haven’t been dipping into the egg nog early, if that’s what you are thinking.)

Exchange between Idaho fans on Scout.com board:

Dec. 7: A day that would have lived in TU infamy

In retrospect, Temple would have said Aloha to $500K if Hawaii hadn’t backed out of a verbal agreement.

Steve Addazio leaving for BC is the best thing
that ever happened for P.J. Walker.

Seventy-one years ago today, President Franklin D. Roosevelt called Dec. 7 a day that would live in infamy.
He wasn’t talking Temple football because that day came a couple of months earlier for the Owls: Their last win over Penn State.
Yet, just from what happened this week, it might have applied to the current-day Owls, too.
Tonight, around midnight Philadelphia time, Temple was scheduled to play Hawaii in what would have been the Owls’ 12th game of the season. Hawaii backed out of a verbal agreement. In retrospect, that decision saved the Owls about a half-million dollars.
Knowing what you now know about Steve Addazio, how many assistants would have been around to coach this Temple team against Hawaii?
One? Two? Zero?
Remember, this is the same Addazio who said “don’t be passing through” and to “make Temple a destination school” and that Temple was his “dream job.”
He said all those things about Boston College this week. What a phony.
Five years (or less) from now, he’ll be saying the same thing about UConn if he doesn’t get fired first. My money is on the firing.
Already, Ryan Day is in Boston recruiting for Addazio.
So is Justin Frye.
Some Temple holdovers, like Chuck Heater, are holding down the fort at the E-O in this most important recruiting weekend of the year. I’ve met Chuck and talked to him. I think he’s professional enough to expouse the benefits of staying at Temple to these recruits. The same goes for recruiting coordinator Tyree Foreman, who was instrumental in getting quarterback P.J. Walker to commit to Temple.
To me, Addazio leaving for Boston College is the best thing to even happen to P.J. Walker. Addazio is probably the only dinosaur left among college football head coaches who run a 1901 offense (run, run, sack, punt) in 2012.

Great to see this tweet yesterday from one of TU’s  top-rated  recruits.

Chances are, the next Temple football head coach, whether he’s Mike MacIntrye, Dave Clawson, Matt Rhule or Mario Cristobal or someone else believe in chucking the football downfield and P.J. Walker will thrive in that system.
P.J. Walker and Temple are perfect together. The Owls lose all four quarterbacks on their depth chart after next year and P.J. would immediately slot into the starting job in 2014. In fact, he might see a lot of playing time in 2013.
So he’s better off staying and helping the new coach bring Temple a Big East championship soon.
So are the rest of the recruits.
Yesterday, a great pass-rusher, Tyler Haddock-Jones, tweeted that “of course” he was going to TU. Lord knows, Tyler and incoming NT Averee Robinson can make an impact along the defensive line and the Owls need immediate help there.
The same things Addazio said that made these guys commit to Temple are true today.
Just because Temple is no longer his dream home doesn’t mean that applies to the recruits who committed to a great school, not a flawed man.

Tomorrow: How the coaching dominoes affect the Temple field