So here it is, an instant classic, based on the convergence of a report in New York Newsday concurrent with April Fool’s Day.
We picked it up and ran with it and, surprisingly, a number of people fell for it despite seeing the day of the post.
That’s the best kind of April Fool’s Joke anyway.
2 plus 2 equals 4 (p.m.) for Temple-Villanova
Blame Friday game on shore and Joe Banner, not in that order.
There’s this thing called The Shore and it’s a phenomena peculiar to Philadelphia that the town virtually empties out the weekend of Labor Day
So I’m driving on I-76 today and thinking how It’s too bad I don’t have a digital camera.
(When I get enough donations to buy a camera and a portable computer called a netbook, so I can take Temple Football Forever on the road with me and post daily news and photos on the Owls, I will.)
Back to the desire for a digital camera, though.
I’m driving by at 50 mph in a monsoon today on the Schuylkill Expressway and I see a Temple billboard that proclaims “Friday, Sept. 3” as the date of the home football opener with Villanova.
It meant only one thing. Temple’s “negotiations” with the Eagles over its preferred date, Sept. 2, fell through.
Then I put two and two together and come up with four.
Oddly enough, that’s the starting time of the game but it’s not how this mostly mathematical equation was solved.
Two plus two equals 4 p.m. basically because Sept. 2, the date Temple AD Bill Bradshaw long sought as primo time for the game was denied the Owls by the landlord Eagles, leaving 4 as the only logical time for the game.
Hmm.
Temple could have played on the Saturday of the Labor Day weekend, when no one would have been in town. There’s this thing called The Shore and it’s a phenomena peculiar to Philadelphia that the town virtually empties out the weekend of Labor Day, leaving only the homeless and poor behind. Philadelphia is unique because The Shore (capital T, capital S) is only 50 miles away and Philadelphians see this weekend as their abosolutely last chance to get away before a long, cold, winter. The magnetic attraction of that to a region of 6 million people cannot be minimized.
So Saturday was out.
The Eagles could have done the “community” a favor and moved their game to Sept. 3 and allowed Temple and Villanova to play on the date best suited for a big college crowd. The Eagles being the Eagles could have gotten their 70K on either date but, no, the Eagles had to put the screws to Temple and Villanova.
“We want to play Thursday night,” was basically what Joe Banner told Bradshaw.
“But, Joe, you’ll get your crowd either night….”
“No, we still want to play Thursday night. Good luck, though.”
Typical Eagles.
The Phillies were already scheduled for Friday night (7).
Since two crowds in excess of 40,000 (hopefully for Temple, definitely for Phils) would be showing up at the same time, the Owls reluctantly were forced to pick 4 p.m.
It’s a stroke of genius, in my mind.
The Temple and Villanova fans get to arrive, say, at 2 p.m. for tailgating, taking all of the tailgate spots used by Phillies fans.
Phillies fans arrive at about 4, then start frantically texting “WTF?” messages to their fellow 20-somethings.
If there’s a silver lining to this scheduling nightmare, that’s it.
Now let’s get a crowd large enough to steal all of their parking spaces.
Better yet, let’s get them into our game first by offering half-priced tickets for those who show Phils’ stubs.
March 20: The first day of spring (practice)
Temple fans want to see more sacks like this one.
I have a feeling the Owls are going to find a couple of reliable long-snappers, a quarterback who has moxie and becomes a weapon both with his arm and feet and a defense that can provide a relentless pass rush
Never let the facts get in the way of a good story, someone once said.
I’ve never believed that because I think the facts around the story are often more interesting than the story itself.
I’ll relent, though, when it comes to headlines.
Yesterday, not today, was the first full day of spring football practice at Temple University. It’s just a better headline when you combine the first day of spring with the first day of spring practice.
It was also the last full day of the men’s basketball season, the only other marquee sport at Temple University.
Coincidence?
No doubt.
An interesting fact?
Yes.
I’ve never hided that I consider Temple men’s basketball nothing more than a worthwhile distraction between the final day of the football season and the first day of spring practice, but I didn’t think the two would run so seemlessly as they did this year.
I often get grief from my Temple football friends on why I only attend two or three basketball games a year, but I tell them the same thing I write here.
I just don’t enjoy the sport as much as football.
I understand, though, that many of them do.
For me, though, it’s not even close.
I like the fact that a football field is split in two and that strategy is involved in both protecting your turf and probing into the enemy’s.
If you have better men and material, like the Union did in the Civil War, you are probably going to win the war. If you have a better Field Marshall, like the Nazi’s did with Rommel in the Sahara and the Confederates did with Johnson and Stewart at Bull Run, you are going to win your share of battles.
There’s some of that in basketball, but when a dude sticks a 35-footer three straight times down the court, that game is a little too skewed for my taste. So hat’s off to Fran Dunphy and crew, who did this university proud by winning three straight A-10 titles and 29 games this season. There are few people who do more for this university than Fran Dunphy. In fact, I can’t think of any. There are no two better ambassadors for this great university than Fran Dunphy and Al Golden.
As I write this, it is 10 in the morning on the Saturday on the first day of spring.
The birds are chirping, it’s going to be a 75-degree day, and my beloved Temple (Football) Owls are working to find better ways to defend their turf and grab as much of the bad guy turf as possible.
The particulars will unravel over the next month.
What we already know is that 17 of the 22 starters return from a 9-3 team and some of the redshirts who sat last year may be better than a handful of the starters, let alone as replacements for the five departed.
Defensively, I see this team as perfectly suited to a 3-4, rather than the current 5-2 alignment. That way, you have two athletic 6-5 defensive ends (Mo Wilkerson and Kadeem Custis) coming at the quarterback with a future NFL tackle in Levi Brown playing nose guard and being a lock-down run-stopper. You can move Adrian Robinson to linebacker and just have him blitz on every passing down, but from all different gaps. If I was a quarterback facing that, I’d run the other way.
Offensively, I’d like to see a quarterback who can make plays both running and passing. I think that quarterback is here.
On special teams, I’d like the see the long-snapping situation tighten up.
Fix all of those fixable items and you have a team with designs on much better than 9-3.
I have a feeling the Owls are going to find a couple of reliable long-snappers, a quarterback who has moxie and becomes a weapon both with his arm and feet and a defense that can provide a relentless pass rush.
Hope springs eternal, but this time the hope comes with a lot of supporting facts.
The strong case for a 3-4 defense at Temple
If I’m Mark D’Onofrio, I’m seriously considering going to a 3-4 with Amara Kamara and Robinson returning to their natural outside linebacker positions and using Robinson as a “rush” linebacker, like the Giants did with Lawrence Taylor
Every once in a while, I check in with what Al Golden has to say on Twitter.
You can, too.
It’s permanently on the sidebar of this website, about halfway down the right side.
According to Al’s latest tweet, the coaching staff is in the film room right now.
Here it is:
“Spring practice is getting close,” Al said. “Only a couple of weeks for the staff to fine tune and evaluate the film from the fall to improve the team.”
Evidently, they haven’t come out because the last tweet was on Feb. 22 and that was four days before the last big snowfall and that seems like a long time ago.
Well, we’ve been studying the film, too.
We’ve got high definition DVDs of many of the games and this is what I would do to improve the team:
1) Have a real competition for starting quarterback. Take the red shirts off and allow the guys to get hit. Allow them to run the ball against a live defense. Let them throw the ball with a guy in their face.
If somebody gets hurt, so be it.
They’ll have all summer to get healthy.
We’re going to need to find a gamer at that position and you don’t find that person in a seven-on-seven passing drill. Mike McGann was the greatest seven-on-seven practice passer I ever saw at Temple, yet when he got into the game he had this annoying habit of throwing to guys who weren’t wearing Cherry or White jerseys.
You can’t have a turnover machine at that position or someone who can’t duck out of a pass rush and make positive yards.
The Owls need more than a “game manager” at that position this year. They need a “game changer.”
I think they’ll find one. God, I hope so.
At last count, they have Vaughn Charlton, Chester Stewart, Chris Coyer, Mike Gerardi at the top of the depth chart. They have other guys who have played the position in high school either already here or coming in, like Aaron Haas, Matt Falcone, Andre Coble, Connor Reilly.
2) Get the gang of 100 players in a circle and ask who snapped the ball in high school. Ask them to have their high school coaches send film of them snapping. Pick the best three and have a competition. If one, two or three are excellent or even good, make long-snapping a part of their daily routine (even five minutes). Long-snapping is a routine play at about 118 other Division IA schools. Let’s make it that way again at Temple.
3) Improve the pass rush. I’m a big fan of blitz packages that send more than one linebacker or safety on certain down-and-distance situations. Temple needs to turn up the heat on opposing quarterbacks. Adrian Robinson is the best pass-rusher in the league, but wouldn’t it be nice to consistently collapse the pocket with another “Adrian Robinson” coming from the other side.
If I’m Mark D’Onofrio, I’m seriously considering going to a
3-4 with Amara Kamara and Robinson returning to their natural outside linebacker positions and using Robinson as a “rush” linebacker, like the Giants did with Lawrence Taylor. Moving Robinson all over the field will make him harder to find.
I’d use Big Mo Wilkerson as one defensive end, Levi Brown as the nose guard and Kadeem Custis as the other defensive end and rotate guys in after that. Imagine, if you will, what a nightmare, say, Chris Whitney’s life would be if he had two 6-5 athletic guys coming at him from both DE positions and still had to account for Robinson’s presence? I’m liking it already. I want to see Whitney and every other quarterback who plays Temple hit the ground hard multiple times before being able to release the ball.
I’m hoping that is the plan Al Golden and staff have come up with between Feb. 22d and now.
The time to implement it would be in a few days when spring practice starts.
Thoughts on the 2010 schedule
(some dates and times unofficial 🙂 )
Fri., Sept. 3: VILLANOVA Lincoln Financial Field, 5 p.m.Thu., Sept. 9: *CENTRAL MICHIGAN Lincoln Financial Field, 7 p.m.
Sat., Sept. 18 CONNECTICUT Lincoln Financial Field, 12
Sat., Sept. 25 at Penn State University Park, Pa., 3:30
Sat., Oct. 2 at Army West Point, N.Y., 12
Sat., Oct. 9 *at Northern Illinois DeKalb, Ill., 1
Sat., Oct. 16 *BOWLING GREEN Lincoln Financial Field, 12
Sat., Oct. 23 *at Buffalo Buffalo, N.Y., 12
Sat., Oct. 30 *AKRON Lincoln Financial Field, 2
Sat., Nov. 6 *at Kent State Kent, Ohio, 1
Tues., Nov. 16 *OHIO Lincoln Financial Field 8 p.m. ESPN2
Tues., Nov. 23 *at Miami (Ohio) Oxford, Ohio 7 p.m. ESPN2
I don’t know about you, but I’ve given up on circling wins and losses on a schedule a long time ago.
It was about the season that Jeff Garcia replaced an injured Donovan McNabb and took the Eagles on a six-game winning streak.
That was the year the Birds were at Giants, at Redskins and at Cowboys all in consecutive weeks.
All the talking heads had the Eagles losing all three.
When McNabb got hurt, they all said it was over.
Wrong on all counts.
The Eagles won all three and did it without McNabb.
Who knows what the future holds for any team, although it appears the Owls are swifter, stronger, more talented and more experienced than any other team in their league.
I wouldn’t bet against them.
When this schedule came out, though, I thought this was the perfect for me schedule because:
1) I hate byes
2) It opens up with three straight home games.
After the way the team opened up last year against Villanova, don’t think that they aren’t excited about getting that bad memory out of their heads forever.
I think they will.
If they do, it sets up a well-attended next two games.
If they win those, the attendance momentum will just continue.
Picture, for example, the EagleBank Bowl experience in terms of a roaring loud crowd and a real homefield advantage and you’ll get what I’m talking about. At the EBB, I saw a loud, involved, Temple crowd. It stunned UCLA and it sure stunned a lot of us who had season tickets for the past 30 years.
A good start brings that kind of excitement back in a way nothing else can.
I’m selfish about the byes. I know they sometimes help heal an injured team, but I don’t see the use in them.
Kids are, what, between 18-22, and they should be able to play every week.
Plus, the Owls get 10 days between a couple of games so it shouldn’t hurt them too much.
I hate byes because that means a week without Temple football and my autumns have been consumed with the Owls.
That’s why this is the perfect schedule for me.
I get to talk, breathe, blog and live Temple football each week.
It’s a good schedule.
Bring it on, the sooner the better.
How loaded is loaded?
Tom Leonard’s cellphone photo of the TU side of the field.
Belated EagleBank Bowl Thoughts
EBB was without a doubt the most memorable TUFB experience in my 18 or so years following the program. My wife and I arrived in DC the night before the game. Hotel was in an excellent downtown location, although under renovation. Spent the night bopping in and out of restaurants and bars.Numbers of folks dressed in in TU garb and cherry and white climbed as the evening went on. Woke up on gameday with a slight case of the Irish flu, but nonetheless happily pushed on to the Metro station en route to the Armory, where I stepped into a zone of TU pre-game energy of historic proportions. The band, video footage, combination of familiar and new faces, and overall level of downright giddiness for TUFB was delightful. I spoke with TU faculty and administrators, alumni and students, folks with family ties to TU, and some who had no affiliation with TU whatsoever–which I found particularly pleasing. A couple guys behind me in line were from James Madison U. They travelled to DC simply to behold an easily accessible bowl game, and touted that JMU had FBS aspirations. The indoor tailgate was an exceptional experience. Zero regrets. I even got a photo (soon to be framed, with no spousal objection) with the UCLA cheerleaders (ok, technically dance team or pep team or something, but it worked for me).
As gametime neared, I strategically applied the lasted techno heating elements into shoes and pockets; checked that tickets were in hand, and hastily gulped down the final Absolute and Cranberry (scotch was unavailable) of the afternoon while working towards the exit. The throngs of fans channeling into RFK was a beauty to behold.
There were a lot of TUFB fans at RFK. A lot. I was especially pleased to see so many unfamiliar, aged faces. These weren’t students or die hards, these were Temple folks who have perhaps exhibited sporadic interest here and there but hadn’t previously been uniformily motivated. Folks around me were looking in their program for names and asking about “that #22” and posing questions about next year’s QB, and such. Novice aside, they displayed the same excitement about TUFB as the rest of us. In a word, refreshing. Prior to the game, I was concerned that perhaps 6 or 7K faithful would show. AG referenced 16K. Not sure where got that figure, but he should know. 16K passes the test, at least my test. We have the coach and the talent, but I questioned the alumni. There is hope.
No reason to comment on the game. Nothing new to share. The experience, however, was novel. And worthy of comment.
Tom Leonard
long-time Temple football fan
“Hootsalotisme” on OwlsDaily.com
If you type in “how loaded is loaded” into a google search engine these days, the first result will be this very thoughtful and well-researched post by MH55 on Owlscoop.com.
Before this post goes into oblivion caused by Rivals.com’s limited serving capacity, we thought we would store it here.
MH55 got the idea, I presume, from the night of the bowl party.
Three or four of the boosters who had a chance to speak to Golden that night said that Golden used the words “we’re loaded” for next year and followed that up with big cat-eating-the-canary grin.
A knowledgeable Temple football fan knew that before Golden said so, but it’s nice to get some affirmation from the top guy.
MH55 did one better, loading up on names and positions.
It was one of two great posts on Temple football this offseason that deserve to be preserved for posterity.
The other was written by Tom Leonard, Hootsalotisme, on the OwlsDaily.com board about the EagleBank Bowl experience.
Here’s MH55’s in its entirely (quotes around MH55’s words):
“I still haven’t heard Al Golden actually say “We’re Loaded” but it sure looks that way when you consider experience, size and talent. Its still hard to believe the caliber of talent AG has amassed when one considers how desperate we were when he took the job and he’s operating in a battlezone of BCS Schools. Here’s the roster w games played in (XX)
Defensive Line:
Eli Joseph (36)
Kamara (35)
Robinson (25)
Blueford (24)
Wilkerson (24)
Morkeith Brown (21)
Custis (10)
Frenk (1)
Nwasike
Wise
Red Shirts
Levi Brown
Shahid Paulhill
Kamal Johnson
Geoffrey Prather
Tyreek Spain
Recruits
Caray wrestling, honors star, ARob heir
Daniels-keeping talent local
Hush-Sopranos 1st team all state
Newman-PaPreps Predicts Pro
Weaver-will play on TV in summer all star game
Linebackers
P Joseph (27)
Martin (25)
Whitehead (13)
Namude (12)
Q White (10)
M Green (12)
St Johnson
Red Shirts
Caponegro
Onukwuesi
Beatty
Van Norton
Zach Kane (U Mia X)
Recruits
Adewole-Chose Best MAC Offer
Benson-All SEPA LB
N Smith-NJ Friend says a future star
Defensive Backs
Jarrett (37)
Liverpool (37)
Griffin (23)
Gildea (12)
Kroboth (11)
Mo Jones (12)
Falcone (12)
K Johnson (8)
J Williams (2)
Red Shirts
Terrell (2)
Deonte Parker
Byron Parker
M Gould
Recruits
Burns _ Only had 2 BCS Offers
Goods _ Track Star
Robey _ Speed merchant begins the Norristown pipeline
Quarterbacks
Charlton (28)
Stewart (20)
Gerardi (1)
Red Shirts
Coyer
Bryan Morris
Recruits
Reilly-Baseball, Brains and Big Plays
Running Backs
Pierce (12)
Brown (11)
Red Shirts
A Smith (6)
Recruits
Myron Ross-Could be a stud
TE
Balasavage (20)
Rodriguez (13)
Pekarski (1)
Red Shirts
Booth
A Jackson
Parthemore
L Turner
Brookhart
Recruits
T Johnson-Probably lucky to be at Temple Since he didnt Receive any BCS Offers possibly because he committed to Temple or maybe he’s just a mediocre player that we shouldn’t even mention
Wide Receivers
D Green (37)
Crudup (33)
Campbell (31)
Nixon (25)
Jones (25)
Hutchinson (18)
Bynum (14)
Carraway (9)
Hammond (1)
Baker
Red Shirt
Anthony Parker Boyd (North Car X)
Ryan Alderman
R Streater JuCo
Recruits
Belt-our Andre Rison?
Coble-No to Tobacco Road
Miller-Superb Athlete
Shine-Cali Find
Silvera-BE Capable Temple Ready
Offensive Line
Morris (32)
Madison (28)
Dennis (27)
Tribue (25)
Sean Boyle (25)
Palumbo (22)
Caputo (19)
Brown (17)
Pat Boyle (17)
Schonnbruner (9)
Whittingham (4)
Yuan (1)
Red Shirts
Martin Wallace (Northeastern X) 6’6 295
Scott Roorda 6’3 318
Cody Bohler 6’7 305
Evan Regas 6’4 313
Sean Pearson 6’5 312
Daryl Pringle 6’6 315
Recruits
Centapiempo 6’7 315 Just started FB for Kicks
Grant 6’6 340-Fork Union Crusher
Metz 6’5 310-1st local OL/ BCS Talent to choose TU
Walton 6’4 320-One Bad Ass Chef”
It should be noted that the above words from the first quote to the last quote were all MH55’s. He was speaking sacastically about TE recruit Tyler Johnson, a rebuff to a small minority of Temple fans who think anybody who doesn’t have a boatload of BCS offers isn’t any good.
EBB experience continues at the Linc:
Get your season tickets now
The ABCs of Temple football recruiting
By Mike Gibson
If you listen to coach Al Golden, and I try to do that every chance I get, whether it’s on signing day or Fan Fest or Cherry and White day, whenever, you will become conversant in what I call Goldenspeak.
“Core values” … you’ll hear that a lot.
“Going forward” … that’s another favorite catch phrase of his, so is “it’s all part of the process.”
There are a few more, but I won’t write a Golden/English Dictionary here.
The point being that before all of that, Golden came up with a phrase he thought enough of to put on the wall at Edberg-Olson Hall.
“Hunting a MAC title with local talent.”
It’s become a core value, if you will, of the program, err, going forward. So much so that it has appeared in the school’s football media guide the past few years.
What you won’t hear Golden say is that he’s going after this Holy Grail, this MAC title, with BCS-level talent.
“Let’s face it, guys, Temple is a Big East team playing in the MAC. Their talent level made us look like a high school team.”
_ Akron fan’s post on ZipsNation.org
after Temple’s 56-17 win last year
If Hunting for a Title with Local talent is the program’s self-proclaimed headline, then “by the way, we’re playing with BCS-level players in a non-BCS league” has to be some kind of subhead.
I know it’s not as catchy, but it’s true.
It’s like the guy wrote on the Akron message board, ZipsNation.org, after Temple thumped Akron, 56-17, last year.
“Let’s face it, guys,” the long-time Akron fan said, “Temple is a Big East team playing in the MAC. Their talent level made us look like a high school team.”
The implication was clear and so were the on-field results.
While Akron might beat out Kent State or a player, Temple is beating out Vanderbilt.
While Kent State might beat out Ohio for a player, Temple is beating out Maryland and Michigan State.
You only need to stop at the A’s, B’s and C’s of the signing brochure to find that out.
I did a story for the Philadelphia Inquirer today on a couple of basketball players from Friends’ Central, who received offers from Temple and other big-time schools. Before that goes into the paper, you have to fact-check those claims against the Scout.com database. Soout.com will say “yes’ if a player has been offered and “no” if he has not. It’s a pretty cut-and-dried system, the best there is.
I thought about that while thumbing through the pages of the 2010 signing class brochure the other day.
I followed the same routine Temple’s football signees and the claims made in the brochure, with only one or two exceptions, were verified by Scout.com’s system. That’s pretty good when talking about 27 incoming freshmen.
Niyi Adewole, a linebacker from Upper Darby, had an offer from Vanderbilt, as did Myron Ross, a running back from Wissahickon.
Antonio Belt, a wide receiver from Forestville, Md., “selected Temple over Maryland and Michigan State.”
Wyatt Benson, a linebacker from Haverford School, picked Temple over “Stanford and Pitt.”
Brian Burns, a defensive back and former next-door neighor to Benson in Southwest Philly, “selected Temple over West Virginia and Rutgers.”
Taray Carey, a defensive end from Whitehall, picked Temple over UConn and Boston College.
Those are just the A’s, B’s and C’s. It’s like that all the way down to defensive tackle Dante Weaver, who the brochure says picked Temple over Rutgers and Maryland.
Lsst year, the Owls signed a quarterback, Chris Coyer (pictured), on the night Ohio State extended him a conditional verbal offer (you visit us, we will offer). Temple was on Coyer for months and OSU arrived on the scene in the last day.
Coyer said, basically, “thanks, guys, but no thanks I made my mind up. I’m going to Temple.”
Now, after a year of fine-tuning, the Coyer quarterback Stealth Fighter is shined and polished and ready to leave the E-O hanger to wreck havoc on the rest of the MAC.
He could have gone to Ohio State, much like many of his teammates could have gone to more recognized schools.
Good schools with good football programs.
They could have gone anywhere.
They chose Temple.
Bill Cosby, who made that commercial famous some 20 years ago, should be proud.
So should every Temple fan.
Newman: Largest object ever to fly under the radar
There’s that old saying, “statistics are for losers.”
That’s grounded largely in truth, but not always.
I’ve always said there are two stats that will separate a winner from a loser:
1) Turnovers;
2) Sacks.
Win the second battle and that team is more likely to win the first.
That’s why I am heartened most by two of the recent signees in the Temple recruiting class of 2010.
Aaron Hush of Piscataway, N.J. and Jaimen Newman of Matoaca, Va.
Hush you probably know about. He was the Bridgewater Courier-News’ defensive player of the year, then took a prep year at Fork Union. His specialty is rushing the passer.
You’ve probably not heard so much about Newman, who flew under the recruiting radar far enough away from Virginia to glide into North Philadelphia.
It’s usually impossible for someone 6-4, 254 to fly under a radar, but this could be a first.
In people like Newman, Hush and Taray Carey (Whitehall), I’m confident the Owls will find someone who can help MAC defensive player-of-the-year Adrian Robinson collapse the pocket. One of those guys will step in and free Amara Kamara to go back to his more natural position of linebacker.
Bring mayhem to the football in September, err, hem. That collapses the pocket, creates a nervous quarterback, who either fumbles or throws the ball up for grabs.
Then I’ll be able to show you what kind of stats are for winners.
Andre Coble’s Big Day
Nice to see Andre picked the best-looking hat.
Now factor beats wow factor any day
By Mike Gibson
Just got back from the classy and informative signing day/press conference/fan/film session and I will say this.
There were fewer wows when the film machine was turned on this year than last year.
“I had a nice talk with [Temple coach] Al Golden. He said he knew, just from watching me, that I was a winner.”
_ LaSalle quarterback Drew Loughery
… Drew, this is God. Come to Temple (and I don’t mean switch religions)…
Since I think what I like to call the defined measureables (height, weight, speed, vertical leap, strength) are every bit as good this year as they were last, I can think of only three reasons for this:
1) We’re getting used to viewing spectacular plays on this day every season;
2) The guys holding the camera weren’t as good;
3) There wasn’t any alcohol served this year (there was last).
I will say last year’s biggest oos and ahhs came when the projection screen showed Oakton (Va.) quarterback Chris Coyer and a running back that you might have heard about from Glen Mills named Bernard Pierce.
One got on the field. One didn’t.
Both will get on the field this year.
Let’s hope both stay healthy and do well.
“Last year, my wife could have picked out Bernard Pierce (as being a player), we knew he was that special,” Temple coach Al Golden said.
OK, I’ll play Kelly Golden this year.
I can tell you that Rod Streater, a 6-foot-4 wide receiver from Burlington Township (N.J.) by way of Alfred (N.Y.) junior college, is a player.
Really, they all are.
If I had to put a couple of sheckles on it, and I don’t (thank God), I would be willing to bet that, of this group, Streater makes an immediate impact.
He can go get the ball, he’s a national high jump champion (junior college, 6-9), he’s got great hands and he can run like crazy.
Other than that, he’s just your normal everyday 6-4 wide receiver.
Yeah, right.
Just like Bernard Pierce is your normal everyday Heisman Trophy candidate.
It was great to see Bernard there, too, with a big smile on his face when assistant coach Ed Foley said of Connor Reilly, “once we get this kid on the field, Bernard won’t be getting the ball.”
Heck, I think that was a big smile on his face.
Anyway, Bernard looked fit, healthy and happy and that was great to see.
It was also great to hear by way of LaSalle state champion quarterback Drew Loughery that Golden has reached out to him as a preferred walk-on. I hope Temple finds room for Drew Loughery and he them. I’ve watched this kid for four years and he’s every bit the special quarterback Adam DiMichele was and Adam, in my mind, was my favorite Temple quarterback ever.
Just get him on the field and let him compete. That’s all I can ask and that’s all Drew can ask. He deserves the chance to succeed at the highest level of football in the town that he loves.
That’s my soapbox rant for today.
As for the film session, not a whole lot of wows, but there was a lot of talk of now.
Someone asked Al if there’s any chance Temple will go to a bowl in a place where there are palm trees next season.
“Palm trees?” Al said, pausing. “I’ll do my best.”
Both the wow class of last year and the now class of this year should help him do just that.
Temple Football Forever 