Tag Archives: Clayton Barnes

12.04.25
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A Signing Day that could not have gone better

Lamar Best could pull a Bear Bachmeier (BYU) and be 11-1 as a true freshman starting quarterback.

Based on what happened Wednesday inside the Edberg-Olson Practice Facility, Temple is going to have a pretty good football team in 2026.

Certainly, better than the 5-7 product we saw in 2025.

That’s because Temple signed the No. 1 recruiting class–objectively, because that was determined by the 247.com rankings–in the American Conference and 21 of those 32 signees will be enrolled in the school by January, giving them a head start both in the weight room and with the program’s culture.

Signing day 2025 could not have gone better because of that.

It was a history-making class for at least a couple of reasons.

At No. 63 nationally, it was the highest ranked class Temple has had since Steve Addazio was able to bring in the No. 54 class after the 2011 New Mexico Bowl win over Wyoming. (Prior to that, Al Golden brought in a No. 52 class after the 2009 Eagle Bank Bowl game against UCLA.)

That was all in the middle of an historic Temple bowl run, which saw the Owls attain bowl eligibility for nine of 11 seasons. By comparison, Temple hasn’t been eligible for a bowl this decade and it is a decade that is getting pretty old.

Clayton Barnes showed every Temple fan why K.C. Keeler wouldn’t have taken the Owl job if he didn’t come along. He is the Howie Roseman of college football.

What determines the product on the field, though, will be the next signing day early in January when the Owls reap whatever they can sow from the transfer portal.

Probably the marquee pick of the 32 is St. Joseph’s (N.J.) Regional state champion quarterback Lamar Best, who played in a high school league every bit as good as the one current BYU true freshman Bear Bachmeier played at Murietta Valley (Calif.). Best not only knocked off national power Don Bosco in the state title game, he had a very similar sophomore season to Bachmeier in high school. Bachmeier threw for 2,853 yards and 26 touchdowns at Murietta while Best, then at Willingboro, threw for 2,607 and 35 touchdowns.

Whoever Temple brings in could very well lose the starting job to Best but the Owls probably won’t risk that scenario. To me, after an examination of both his film and the last true freshman Temple starter, P.J. Walker, he’s at least as good a passer but a far better runner. Walker was a true drop back passer in comparison to what Best can do with his legs.

The fact that neither head coach K.C. Keeler nor recruiting guru Clayton Barnes want to leave the results of the 2026 season on a true freshman indicates the soundness of their roster approach. They brought in two other great high school quarterbacks, Brody Norman and Brady Palmer.

The only “cinch” starter among the group appears to be Upper Moreland High punter extraordinaire Luke Sword. If he doesn’t punt much, the Owls are either scoring touchdowns or kicking field goals and those are the preferable options.

If nothing else happens, they will need an experienced winning No. 1 quarterback. Keeler said they will bring in two.

If this is Luke Sword’s first punt at Temple, I won’t be mad.

Refreshing to hear for Temple fans who were absolutely screwed by Rod Carey when Anthony Russo went down and felt the same level of de ja vu with Stan Drayton when E. J. Warner missed several games with an injury. Temple will never be one hit away from a season-ending injury with Keeler as head coach.

Whether that quarterback is from the P4, G5 or even the FCS, it doesn’t matter. If anyone doubts K.C. Keeler’s ability to do that, we only need to refer you to the acquisition of Gevani McCoy. That came days after the Owls lost current Heisman Trophy candidate Trinidad Chambliss to Ole Miss.

McCoy earned the admiration of every Temple fan in that he battled holdover Evan Simon to a virtual standoff before the opener at UMass, lost his job, and became a good soldier in supporting his teammates until the end.

Temple needs someone like that, who is good enough to beat out a true freshman with all the talent in the world or back him up as insurance in case he gets hurt. Someone with the character of a McCoy.

If nothing else happens, the floor is six wins. The ceiling with an experienced winning college quarterback is double digits.

If the next recruiting season (portal) is as exciting as the one concluded on Wednesday, Temple fans are in for a treat. They will need to get off the sugar high of the last treat and a month should be enough time.

Monday: Room At The Top

Friday: Burying The Lead

11.30.25
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Season post-mortem: Good, so close to great

Plenty of good to like about K.C. Keeler’s first season as Temple head coach, so the grade has to be a Solid B.

Good, but could have been better so no A.

Refs also made a mistake in the Navy game that was just as important as Temple not kicking the field goal.

The Owls finished 5-7 and were only three knees away from 6-6 and a bowl game.

We’ve harped on this before, so won’t spend more than one or two sentences on the Navy game. Tied, 24-24, with 1:16 left and a first-and-goal from the 1, the obvious move was to take three knees and get that clock down to about 20 seconds before kicking a field goal from extra point distance to win it, 27-24.

Carl Hardin then squibs the ensuing kickoff, and Navy does the five backward passes on the kickoff that never works and somebody like Curly Ordonez falls on the ball to end the game. Then Hardin gets carried off the field, the Homecoming crowd of nearly 27,000 goes home happy and maybe a good portion of those folks come back for the final two games.

Wasn’t to be.

The worst errors are the unforced ones and that was doozy of the year. Didn’t buy Keeler’s post-game explanation that the Owls didn’t practice the kneel down and he wasn’t comfortable doing it. That was the same play the Owls executed flawlessly at the end of four of their five wins, so they must’ve practiced it. That was the difference between 6-6 and maybe playing another 6-6 team in a bowl game and getting about three weeks extra practice time for next year.

Live and learn.

Temple was 3 points away from beating three bowl teams (Navy, Army, UTSA, which they did beat) and a 7-5 record.

The one-point Army loss was hard, but easier to take than the loss to the other service academy.

Now let’s get to the good part.

They did beat a UTSA team that WILL be bowl bound and handed Charlotte a worse loss than either Tulane, North Texas or Army did.

They added a road win over Tulsa, something that the old coaching staff never did.

They upgraded the roster significantly all the while keeping every single player on scholarship who wanted to stay.

Even though they lose a record-setting quarterback in Evan Simon, they were thisclose to bringing in a Heisman Trophy candidate (Trinidad Chambliss), who was scooped up by Ole Miss the Friday he was supposed to sign at Temple.

They probably won’t find a Heisman candidate to replace him in the transfer portal this time, but they will find a QB or two good enough to win in the American Conference. Pretty sure they will upgrade the entire roster the same way, while keeping a good portion of the two-deep who do return.

At 6:46 here, Yale demonstrates the general principle of what TU should have done against Navy.

Keeler and roster-building guru Clayton Barnes built a nine-win FBS roster with fewer NIL resources at Sam Houston State than they have at Temple and probably will build a nine-win roster at Temple either next year or the year after.

All they have to do is improve to 6-7 next year and continue the upward curve.

Unlike basketball, there is reason for optimism with Temple football and the structure Keeler put in place is it.

Fairly certain there will be a better grade a dozen months from now, whether it’s a B+ or an A.

Friday: Signing Day Analysis

Monday: Room at the Top