Tag Archives: Anthony Russo

01.18.16
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Getting The Right Mix

beckster

Someday,  a player like Sebastian Silva could be lifting Matt Rhule like Dick Beck did for Bruce Arians.

On Halloween Night, Temple hosted Notre Dame and 100 big-time recruits at the same time. Among those players were Michigan commits,  Penn State targets and other various four-star players.

The Owls came up empty that night both scoreboards.

Unlike the Penn State game, when defensive back Keyvone Burton committed the next day, the Owls left that game with an empty feeling—a heartbreaking loss compounded by no commits. Had the Owls won that night, who knows what would happen but this weekend—at least from a recruiting standpoint—was three times percent more productive than that otherwise spectacular night for Temple football.

Not only did the Owls get their top recruiting target, quarterback Anthony Russo of Archbishop Wood, but added a couple of speed merchants. The latest pair are listed as “athletes” and they are Randle Jones III, from Miami Beach (Fla.), and Linwood Crump (Sayerville, N.J.) Both supposedly have sub-4.5 speed and, for people (raising my hand here), who said the Owls need burners like Travis Sheldon and James Nixon, they certainly fill that need.



Ideally, a great recruiting
class is a mixture of guys
wanted by P5 schools like
Dioubate and “trust the film”
guys and guys who
Bruce Arians liked,
tough guys, who could play
but were under the radar.
Nick Sharga of
the current team fits
that third category.

No word yet on the DT Temple needs, Karamo Dioubate  from Prep Charter, but that would be another Russo-like coup at his position. Temple has been known for final week signing surprises under Al Golden and, to a lesser extent, Matt Rhule, so maybe he’s one. He’s been involved with Michigan State and Auburn and is a Penn State decommitted player.

Ideally, a great recruiting class is a mixture of guys wanted by P5 schools like Dioubate and “trust the film” guys and guys who Bruce Arians liked, tough guys, who could play but were under the radar. Nick Sharga of the current team fits that third category.

Still would like to see the Owls make Russo more comfortable in his situation and add Sharga-like linebacker and Wood teammate Sebastian Silva. Even more than the Russo factor, adding an accomplished all-state player like Silva—who is faster, bench presses and dead lifts more than Tyler Matakevich now—would fill a linebacker need in this class that has popped up since the Owls lost a decommit to Rutgers.  Silva’s situation reminds me very much of Dick Beck’s when he came out of Central Bucks West. Beck, like Silva, was under-recruited but became the only captain of the 7-4 Owls in 1990. The rumor now is that the Owls will try to entice Silva to be a preferred walk-on and that just won’t work because other schools are offering him real money. Rhule should now, like Bruce Arians did for Beck then, find a scholarship for Silva. Just like I guaranteed Bruce back then, I guarantee Silva will be worth the scholarship. Fortunately, Bruce listened to me.

Silva is not only a baller, but he has captain-like qualities and the Owls would be remiss letting a quality player and individual like this get away. One day he will captain a college football team and I would like that team to be Temple.

Tomorrow: Why All Fans Should Love Kareem Gaulden

 

01.15.16
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Anthony Russo Commits To Temple

Ever since Doug Flutie enrolled at Boston College in January of 1981, Temple has been looking for its own Doug Flutie.

It may have found him shortly after lunch today.

Temple Football Forever has learned from very good sources that Archbishop Wood’s Anthony Russo had lunch with LSU today, chewed on the Tigers’ pitch and decided by dessert that he was going to become a Temple Owl.

newscoop

We have received two phone texts tonight from separate sources indicating this is true, including from someone whose “mom works with a friend of mine.” Since Anthony Russo was not taking interviews until further notice, figuring that he talks to his mother is not a huge leap of faith and would spill the beans to her.

This is huge for Temple University for a couple of reasons.

One, The Flutie Effect. Two, with P.J. Walker gone after next season, Temple needs a play-making quarterback.

rhulerusso

Just a couple of guys talking pro-set offense.

The Flutie Effect is signing a big-time kid from your own backyard could lead to a domino effect of other big-time kids from the same backyard. That leads to sustained success of the hometown team, which leads to a boom in student applications. In a 1984 game against the University of Miami, Flutie threw a last-second “Hail Mary” pass 48 yards that was miraculously caught for a game-winning touchdown—a climactic capper on one of the most exciting college football games ever. The play put BC on the map for college aspirants. In two years, applications had shot up 30 percent.

Russo’s program-defining pass is yet to come, but he is certainly capable of it. Temple has had a lot of good-to-great quarterbacks since Doug Flutie, including current starter P.J. Walker, the school’s all-time touchdown leader. Temple has never recruited the best high school quarterback coming out of the Philadelphia area. Even Haverford High’s Steve Joachim, who won the Maxwell Award as College Football Player of the Year in 1974, was never signed by Temple. He was a transfer from Penn State, where he started two games.

Russo changes that dynamic. He is an Elite 11 quarterback who has functional mobility, who would fit perfectly into the same Pro Set system new Owls’ offensive coordinator Glenn Thomas helped run with the Atlanta Falcons and Matt Ryan.

Ironically, Ryan who, like Russo, is from a Philadelphia high school league (Inter-Ac),  but went to Boston College. Even though Russo is from Warminster, he is Philly proud enough to say “I’m Anthony Russo from Philadelphia” in many of his interviews.

Now Anthony Russo will get a chance to put Temple and his home town on map. Even if they officially call the new on-campus stadium “The Apollo of Temple” maybe one day fans will unofficially refer to it as “the house Anthony Russo built.

Related:

Temple Should Look to Wood for Package Deal

01.10.16
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Temple Should Look to Wood for Package Deal

Short highlight of Sebastian Silva above. 

One way to jump-start the final days after the so-called dead period is the tried and true recruiting practice called “package deals.”

Many people thought that Jahad Thomas and P.J. Walker were part of a package deal that Temple had with the Elizabeth High pair. The popular thinking was that Walker, New Jersey’s Player of the Year, was “’enticed” to come to Temple when the Owls went after his friend, the less-recruited Thomas. That could not have been farther from the case. The actual story was that the Owls had Walker wrapped up, and it was Walker who strongly suggested the Owls take a look at Thomas.

silva

Sebastian Silva: Perfect technique

The Owls liked the film and, now, both Thomas and Walker have to at least be considered candidates for the AAC Football Player of the Year in 2016. I can’t tell you right now who is better. It’s that close between these two very good friends.

Sometimes things work out that way, package deals or not. The second guy recruited out of the same school often turns out to be better than the first guy and vice versa.

Archbishop Wood has also turned out to be a gold mine for the Owls, as next year’s projected starters at two positions are from that school. Colin Thompson figures to have the inside track on tight end,  while Nate L. Smith could be the starting free safety.

inquirer

That’s why it probably would not hurt Temple to take a long look at Tyler Matakevich 2.0 in Archbishop Wood linebacker Sebastian Silva (No. 43 in the above video). Sebastian is 5-11 (two inches shorter than Tyler), weighs 215 pounds and his 4.56 40 is almost 1.5 seconds faster than Tyler’s.



“I really like
this Silva kid.
He could be another
Tyler Matakevich.”
_ Steve Conjar

“His No. 1 school
choice is Temple.”
_ Frank Pacifico

“I really like this Silva kid,” former Temple tackling leader Steve Conjar said. “He could be another Tyler Matakevich.” Conjar has an acumen for picking out great linebackers. On the day a freshman Matakevich made a tackle for a 3-yard loss that saved a win over South Florida, Conjar said: “You watch. This kid will break all of my records.” That was 492 tackles ago.

Former Temple quarterback Frank Pacifico added this:  “He’s aggressive, fearless, athletic, has incredible mental toughness, is intelligent and above all, a real class kid. His number 1 school choice is Temple.”

On top of that, the Owls have been twisting Wood quarterback Anthony Russo’s arm to de-commit from the dumpster fire that is Rutgers’ football but, for some unknown reason—maybe misplaced loyalty—Russo has been reluctant to do so.

The closest Russo came to a Temple flip was when Marcus Satterfield came to visit.

 

Now Satterfield is gone, so Temple needs an inside guy to prod Russo to make the right decision to play in the same stadium the Eagles play in and for a winning team, not a losing one. Temple needs Anthony Russo more than Rutgers does. Anthony Russo needs Temple more than he does Rutgers.  It is, quite simply, a better fit . All of the family, friends and fans of Archbishop Wood will have an easier time getting to the Linc than Piscataway to watch Russo. Plus, he would be playing in a  town where he will most likely make his living in the business world. That could be legendary and would certainly beat setting up a shingle in the toxic waste dump that is Northern New Jersey.

Silva could make that case to Russo from the inside of the walls on Old York Road and, in the process, become for Temple’s future what Walker and Thomas are for Temple now.

Maybe in five years, we won’t know who is better: Russo or Silva, Silva or Russo. If it’s the kind of debate that exists now with Jahad and P.J., it would be a nice problem to have.