Transfer Portal: Making a list

Congratulations to these folks with Temple connections for winning the Super Bowl on Sunday night.

Somewhere, someone is making a list and checking it twice.

Bruce Arians always roots for Temple and last night Temple rooted for Bruce Arians

All over college football staffs with intentions of winning and keeping their jobs have a list of 1,652 players still available in the transfer portal (up from 1,588 last week) and the buyer’s market bodes well for Temple football.

Should the Owls target the right positions and the right players, there is room for significant improvement. If they hold pat, they are looking at another very poor season. The key, it would seem to be, is jumping into that portal and showing the top guys some love now.

Looking over the roster now, these are the needs that jump out:

Owls need to show North Carolina portal guy Brant Lawless-Sherrill some love.

Linebacker (2):

The Owls really have only one standout returning and that’s 2017 Gasparilla Bowl MVP William Kwenkeu. They need to supplement him with at least two starting-level players. Available as of today are a pair of three star recruits looking for homes, Anthony McKee of Pitt and Jon Smith of North Carolina.

Defensive tackle (1)

The Owls got a couple from North Carolina in Lancine Turay and Xavier Gill and guess what? Another, Brant Lawless-Sherrill, a four-star 6-0, 270-pound run stopper, is still looking. It probably would not take much for Turay and Gill to put Temple in his ear. If Philadelphia is not the place for him, Ellison Jordan, another four-star, might want to go from Penn State to Temple.

Offensive line (1)

Claxton Bradley, a four-star (6-5, 296-pound) tackle from USC is still in the portal. USC, like Temple, is located in a big city so Bradley probably is not adverse to an urban campus experience. Another lineman available is Rutgers’ Jamaal Beaty (6-2, 299).

Corner (1)

Freddie Johnson and Ty Mason are the two top Temple holdovers but the recent departures of Linwood Crump Jr. and Christian Braswell decimated the depth behind them. UConn transfer Keyshawn Paul should be in the mix but getting a player like Jon Gipson, a three-star recruit still in the portal out of South Carolina, would not hurt.

Whatever, you’d have to have an extra-strong set of Cherry and White-colored glasses to think the talent on this team as currently constituted can significantly turn 1-6- into 6-1 or better. Adding five difference-makers might not do the trick either, but it could not hurt.

That’s the No. 1 job Rod Carey has between now and April and he has to hope for his sake he does better at it than he did as his No. 1 job in October and November. His career may depend on it.

Friday: A Mid-February Projection

Monday: Back to the Future