02.12.14
by

Temple finally signs a kicker

Click on the photo of Austin Jones to read more about his decision.

Click on the photo of Austin Jones to read more about his decision.

What many saw as a hole in the 2014 recruiting class was finally filled today.

Orlando (Fla.) kicker Austin Jones committed to Temple after making a visit to Temple over the weekend.

Jones is the No. 13-ranked kicker in the country. All over the United States last year, you saw true freshmen making big kicks in big games for Power 5 Conferences.

All Jones has to do in my mind is kick the damn ball through the end zone, something Temple had for four years with Brandon McManus (now with the New York Giants).

method

Nick Visco, who went 7 for 7 on extra points at SMU and nailed three of the five field goals he attempted in 2013, gives the Owls depth in the placekicking area. Neither Visco (who did not get the chance, by the way) nor Cooper boomed the ball through the end zone on kickoffs like McManus did as a manor of course. We haven’t heard the last of Nick Visco yet. He can be an accurate and reliable placekicker. Jones looks like he’s going to win the starting job and should be an accurate kicker, too, but his more important job is to boom the damn thing through the end zone since the Owls presumably will be scoring touchdowns, not field goals, this season.

McManus and Jones had similar success in high school with touchbacks. At North Penn, McManus had 58 touchbacks on 70 kickoffs in his senior season and Jones’ stats were almost identical to McManus in that critical area. Those stats pretty much held up during Brandon’s career at Temple, as he became the school’s all-time leading scorer.

During the last three of four games of the season, the Owls struggled to kick the ball off as far as the 10, giving opponents unacceptable starting field position.

Acceptable to them, unacceptable to Temple.

Hitler now can cross off kicker as one of his concerns about Matt Rhule:

02.09.14
by

Who blocked Todd McNair?

Todd McNair, coaching the Cleveland Browns, has Temple running through his blood.

Todd McNair, coaching the Cleveland Browns, has Temple running through his blood.

When he was at Temple, Todd McNair was know as the quintessential back, a guy who could run, had moves and who wasn’t afraid to block for others.

Well, now it appears that someone at Temple blocked Todd McNair.

From being hired.

Kudos to Matt Rhule for reaching out and trying to hire McNair as a member of the Temple staff. Boos to whomever blocked Todd McNair from being hired.

This raises another, more important, question: Can the football program be ultimately successful if decisions made by the CEO are being vetoed? And, if the powers-that-be are making decisions that should only be made by the head coach, why hasn’t Phil Snow been fired?

Here is the statement by Todd McNair:

“I would like to thank coach Matt Rhule for reaching out, and attempting to hire me. I would have loved to come back and help get our beloved Owls back on the winning track. But I guess:

• Playing, and being named captain
in the NFL.

• Coaching in the NFL, on the only
Cleveland Browns staff to make the
Playoffs since they’ve been back

• Coaching 6 years under National
Championship, and Super Bowl
Winning coach Pete Carroll, on a
Team that won 5 straight BSC
Bowl games and was ranked
NO.1 IN THE NATION FOR 33
STRAIGHT WEEKS

• Coaching in 2 NATIONAL
CHAMPIONSHIP GAMES, while
personally coaching a HEISMAN
TROPHY WINNER

• Being the primary recruiter on an
absolute Recruiting Juggernaut,
and ranked the 3rd best recruiter
in the ENTIRE COUNTRY

• Growing up 9.8 miles from campus,
and a HALL OF FAME HS PLAYER
from Temple’s recruiting back yard

• Having coached and mentored 2
kids from the inner city (Camden)
that are BOTH current members of
the Temple football staff

• And being a former TEMPLE
UNIVERSITY ALL-AMERICAN,

Somehow doesn’t qualify me, lol.

And any situation that may give cause to pause, has been addressed and clarified by the attorney’s involved.

Thanks again to coach Rhule. And good luck to him and the boys this season, and going forward. Go Owls!”

_ Todd McNair

02.05.14
by

Temple 2014 Recruiting Class

Click on bios to read more about the players below ...

Click on bios to read more about the players below … and then the back arrow on your browser to view the next player.

Back when Temple played UCLA, I had an Epiphany.
Watching that game on that brutally cold afternoon, one thought kept occurring to me over and over.
“Geez, their talent level is so much better than ours.”
Because no matter how hard Temple huffed and puffed, things seemed to come relatively easy to the UCLA players even in an environment far away from the friendly Southern California beaches.
Yes, Temple had a 21-10 lead at halftime and, yes, Temple’s top player (Bernard Pierce) left the game with that darn sensitive hamstring of his, but the players UCLA had kept coming in waves.
Hopefully, I thought then, Temple’s talent level will do the same to another overachieving team someday.
Today might have been one of those days.
The Owls filled areas of need in pass rushers and defensive backs. Pass rushing seems to come easy to the Michael Dogbes and Jacob Martins of the world. The same can be said for defending the pass for the top DBs the Owls recruited. The Owls got one four-star offensive lineman, Aaron Ruff of Philadelphia’s Imhotep Prep.
The day Matt Rhule was hired as Temple head coach Donald Hunt of the Philadelphia Tribune asked Rhule if he was going to sign the city kids and Rhule remembered that today at the press conference. Hunt asked the first question. It was about Ruff.
“I could not wait to see you and say I signed Aaron Ruff from the city,” Rhule said. “Not every kid in the city is going to want to come to Temple but I want every young man to feel that Temple is a good place for them.”
Also, for the third-straight year, Temple signed a Newark Star-Ledger New Jersey State player of the year. This year, it’s Dogbe, a 247-pound defensive lineman who benches 415 pounds.
Coaches coach, but players win games and now the Owls have the players.
Hopefully soon, it will be enough to win big bowl games.

Temple Football 2014 Recruiting Class

  1. Cequan Jefferson | DB | Richmond, Va. – Bio
  2. Shahid Lovett | DB | Vineland, N.J. – Bio
  3. Derrek Thomas | WR | Albany, N.Y. –Bio
  4. Alex Wells | DB | Baltimore, Md.- Bio
  5. Michael Dogbe | DE | Morris Plains, N.J. – Bio
  6. James McHale | OL | Dunmore, Pa. – Bio
  7. Ventell Bryant  | WR | Tampa, Fla. – Bio
  8. Shamir Bearfield | DB | Jersey City, N.J. – Bio
  9. Lenny Williams | QB | McKees Rocks, Pa. – Bio
  10. David Hood | RB | Galloway, N.J. – Bio
  11. Aaron Ruff | OL | Philadelphia, Pa. – Bio
  12. Frank Nutile | QB | Ramsey, N.J. – Bio
  13. Sean Chandler | DB | Camden, N.J. – Bio
  14. Freddie Booth-Lloyd | DL | Cocoa, Fla. – Bio
  15. Anthony Davis | DB | Monroeville,Pa. – Bio
  16. Jaelin Robinson | OL | New Haven, Conn. – Bio
  17. Derrick Ingram | WR | Tampa, Fla. – Bio
  18. Brodrick Yancy | WR | Bradenton, Fla. – Bio
  19. Brenon Thrift | DL | Monroeville, Pa. – Bio
  20. Jyquis Thomas  |DB | Plant City, Fla. – Bio
  21. Jacob Martin | DL | Aurora, Colo. – Bio
  22. Delvon Randall | WR | Monroeville, Pa. – Bio
  23. Jared Folks | LB | Harrisburg, Pa. – Bio
  24. Matt Eaton | WR | Pascagoula, Miss. – Bio
  25. Khiry Lucas | DB | Cleveland, Miss. – Bio
02.04.14
by

The company you keep

Rivals.com's list of Temple commits (above and below)

Rivals.com’s list of Temple commits (above and below)

thrif

You are pretty much judged by the company you keep.

So it is with the Temple recruiting class of 2014.

By all accounts, it will be a good class. Will it be ranked  by any of the three services (Rivals, Scout or 247) as high as No. 55?

Probably not, but we won’t know for sure until 3 or 4 p.m. Wednesday afternoon when all of the faxes with the LOIs will be received at the E-O.

signingdaysnip

Click over the black image above for a TV link to coverage of the faxes coming in starting at 7 a.m.

Fifty-five is a magical number, because that’s how high Steve Addazio’s 2012 recruiting class was ranked and that was the highest-ever in the history of Temple. Addazio was able to put that class together even after a few great  recruiting classes by Al Golden, who had three straight recruiting classes ranked No. 1 in the MAC.

Of course, current head coach Matt Rhule was part of putting together those classes and now he appears to have put together a good one.

More than whether the class is ranked No. 55 or better is really not as important as how many guys Temple signed who were “offered by” BCS schools and not “received interest by.” When the bios start coming in, that’s a thing to pay special attention to before judging.

If Temple beats out a guy who was offered by say, Stony Brook and Kent State, that’s not as impressive as  Penn State and Rutgers.

If Temple gets a late commit who turned down a Sun Belt school to take a Temple scholarship, that’s not as impressive as Temple beating out a Big 12 school (as it did when a West Virginia commit flipped at the last minute two years ago).

There will be those who say “trust the coaches” but I say “trust, by verify.” If more successful coaches than 2-10 coaches like our recruits, I will be impressed.

Let’s hope that’s the case once the faxes start rolling in and Temple gets guys who can play anywhere. We should know by this time Wednesday night.

01.22.14
by

McNair Would Be A Great Addition to Rhule’s staff

Todd McNair, coaching the Cleveland Browns, has Temple running through his blood.

Todd McNair, coaching the Cleveland Browns, has Temple running through his blood.

A little over a year ago, then Temple athletic director Bill Bradshaw walked into a room full of Temple football players and told them their head coach at the time, Steve Addazio, was leaving for Boston College.

Partly out of courtesy, partly out of curiosity, Bradshaw asked the team what they thought he should do.  The players shouted out one thing: “Hire Matt Rhule.” Bradshaw had other ideas, even mentioning to several fans that it was his desire this time to get a guy with winning head coaching experience.

Paul Darragh finished his first season as head coach at Bloomsburg with a 10-2 record.

Paul Darragh finished his first season as head coach at Bloomsburg with a 10-2 record.

As it turned out, though, what the players had to say carried an awful lot of weight when Bradshaw was weeding through the interview process. Like a couple of years before, Rhule interviewed well and was liked by more than just the players. The parents also liked him, as did some key administrators who remembered Rhule’s time as an assistant coach for both Addazio and the guy before him, Al Golden.

In the end, Rhule’s knowledge of the program and the kids and that support won Bradshaw over. That, and the fact at least one other key target was coaching his team in a bowl game and did not want to give that up to get to Temple early enough to secure a shaky recruiting class.

Rhule had a rough first year, going 2-10, but he has secured a couple of decent recruiting classes and one of the only things left for him to do is to hire a guy or two with Temple connections as a key position coach. It’s one thing to have Temple-made guys like former quarterback Adam DiMichele and former safety Kevin Kroboth as grad assistants, but it might be helpful to get a guy from Temple as a position coach as well.

I think the next step for a guy like Matt Rhule is to hire an assistant coach with Temple ties to a winning past, a guy like Paul Darragh or Todd McNair. Darragh finished the season as a 10-2 head coach at Bloomsburg University and McNair was one the offensive coordinator for powerhouse USC under Pete Carroll. McNair, a NFL running back, was also an assistant coach with the Cleveland Browns. Other coaches with Temple backgrounds include (but are not limited to) Dick Beck, the North Penn High School head coach and Rich Drayton, the Central High School head coach.

Even the Florida Gators once feared Todd McNair.

Even the Florida Gators once feared Todd McNair.

I thought about Todd the other day when  he posted that he was happy with the addition of Elijah Robinson to the Temple staff. I thought, “Why not Todd?” Todd is a great guy and a great coach who has a National Championship under his belt at USC and, while at Temple, played in a game against defending national champion BYU in front of 52,945 at Veterans Stadium. (Temple lost that game, 26-24.)

Why not indeed? He would be a great role model for the present-day Temple kids.

You can never have too many good coaches on the staff, especially guys with “Temple-made” stamped on their farheads.