Amir Gillis (No. 1 for Simon Gratz) is listed as an “athlete” by Temple

Though it is not cited in any history book, a pretty convincing argument on the history of the Temple football program changing can be made by Al Golden’s first recruiting class.

In it, there were 29 guys signed—four more than the usual take—and 18 of them were captains of teams that won their high school league championship games.

Five were guys who got solid offers, and not just “interest,” from Power 5 teams.

One, Adrian Robinson, was an MVP of the Big 33 football game between Pennsylvania and Maryland.

There was a thought process with Golden’s first class that would endure through five of the best recruiting years the Owls had since Bruce Arians roamed the sidelines. Golden wanted leaders and he wanted winners, so he targeted captains of championship teams. He wanted a full team, so he recruited 11 offensive guys, 11 defensive guys and a couple of specialists every year. Mix in those players with guys Power 5 schools wanted, coach up the other guys and that laid the foundation of Golden’s house of brick, not straw.

When Golden left for the Miami (Fla.) job five years later, he left a foundation of talent that won the school’s first bowl game in over 30 years.

A lot of what Golden did with his first class is being done by Geoff Collins with his second class.

Collins seems to have spread the offers over a number of positions, getting a quarterback, a linebacker a defensive end, a specialist (athlete), a running back, a corner, a couple of wide receivers and a couple of offensive linemen. The days of Steve Addazio offering scholarships to the “best player available, regardless of position” seem to be over.

Take, for instance, the story of Jaydee Pierre, a defensive end out of Dominion (Va.). Pierre is 6-0, 295 who had solid offers from Boston College, Rutgers, Maryland, Northwestern and North Carolina State. He could have taken any of those offers. He chose Temple. He could be for this class what Robinson was for Golden’s first one.

Trad Beatty, a quarterback from Columbia (S.C.) who is 6-5, 200, had offers from four Power 5 schools (along with G5’s Georgia State) but said “Temple was the one school that checked off all the boxes” in terms of academics, feel with the current players and offensive system. He will have a 6-1, 175-pound receiver in Kadas Reams, who ran a 4.37 last week in Temple’s camp. The first school to offer Beatty was Mississippi State, which did not check off as many boxes for the young man as Temple did.

Love the way this kid calls the interviewer “sir.”

There is much to like about the current 13 players he was able to sell Temple to, but it’s really encouraging one of the biggest targets said “Temple checked off all the boxes” because when Golden was recruiting, Temple did not have many boxes for perspective recruits to check.

Now Temple has plenty of boxes and, with a dozen more scholarships to give out, the smart recruits left are going to grab their box of goodies before they are all gone.

Wednesday: Perspective