What the Eagles’ draft taught Temple football

The sky is blue. The earth is round. Men were actually on the moon in 1969 and the Japanese (not the Germans) attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.

Those are accepted undisputed facts among reasonable people.

This week, another accepted fact came to light that everyone I checked on agreed upon:

The Philadelphia Eagles won the NFL draft.

I watched ESPN, the NFL Network and Fox Sports, and every single one of the experts on those networks being paid handsomely to comment on it agreed unanimously. The Eagles schooled the league. I did not delve into all of the fan sites on Youtube but I saw enough.

Being in Philadelphia, the Temple football coaches must’ve seen the same thing.

It’s almost a miracle for Temple that someone this good is still in the portal. The question is: Does Temple realize it?

Delving into the why, almost all agreed it was because Eagles’ GM Howie Roseman schemed the draft by studying it and mastering a plan to make the most of it.

The lesson for Temple football is not to hire Howie Roseman to navigate the transfer portal but to employ a guy who knows how to navigate it and grab players still available in it who can help Temple.

A “Howie Roseman of the transfer portal” if you will.

Now I don’t think Temple head coach Stan Drayton is that guy. I don’t think he wants to be. I don’t think he should.

Yet I’m guessing there a “that guy” out there and if Temple finds him, Temple football gets a leg up on the competition.

The Owls need a matchmaker who can convince players in areas of need Temple has that Temple will love him and he will love them.

Put it this way.

You don’t have to be a Howie Roseman to know that former Liberty running back Dae Dae Hunter is still in the portal. The guy has an FBS resume that at least doubles that of any running back in the program, by all accounts is a good guy and can (with quarterback E.J. Warner) turn the Lincoln Financial Field scoreboard into an adding machine.

Right now, the Owls are going into the season with the worst running game in the nation last year and their only significant FBS addition (E.J. Wilson,, FIU) had HALF the numbers of Temple’s best running back, Edward Saydee, a year ago.

Those numbers don’t add up for Temple success in 2023. Howie Roseman figured the Eagles’ numbers out and came up with a winning formula.

A “Howie Roseman of Temple” would probably be the best hire the program can make now to guide the Temple football ship through these new uncharted waters.

Monday: Temple’s New Cockiest Foe

Signing day and must lists for Temple: Running back

Dae Dae Hunter running for Liberty

One of the many tough things about getting older (I refuse to use the word old until about 91) is going to a supermarket with about five items rolling around in my head and realizing while opening the bag when I got home I forgot something.

Had enough of that nonsense sometime during the Pandemic and finally made a list on the “memo” part of my phone before leaving the house.

So far, the system has worked.

Maybe in five more years, I will forget to put something on the phone but we will cross that bridge when we come to it.

I thought about this during the “first” Temple signing period when the Owls “forgot” to sign a big-time transfer portal running back. Now the second signing period–which used to be THE SIGNING DAY–is approaching on Wednesday and it will be only then that we figure out if 54, the current age of Temple head coach Stan Drayton, is “older.”

Drayton must have left the house with a running back on that list and returned home after the first signing period saying, “Damn. I knew I forgot something.”

Certainly signing E.J. Wilson–someone who had half the yards of Edward Saydee for a worse team (FIU) than Temple–couldn’t have been the answer to upgrading an area of need for Temple.

During the first go-round Temple could have had Mississippi State’s Dillon Johnson (he went to Washington), Ball State’s Carson Steele (now at UCLA) but either wasn’t interested or involved.

Alfonzo Graham

Does Drayton really believe a running game he didn’t trust to get a first down on third-and-1 against ECU is in good shape going into the 2023 season? Does he really trust a guy with half the yards of his best back to be an upgrade?

Maybe Drayton feels that way. Maybe he doesn’t.

What can’t be debated is even with that first wave of running backs gone, there are still guys who have done demonstrably more than what the Owls have now in terms of yards still remaining in the portal.

The highest-rated undecided left is Dae Dae Hunter from Chander, Arizona, who is rated the No. 11 running back in the portal, ahead of L.J. Johnson (who went from Texas A&M to SMU) and Caziah Holmes, who went from Penn State to Florida State. Chandler is a big rival of Brody Prep (Phoenix) and who was the Brody Prep quarterback two years ago?

None other than E.J. Warner.

Even with E.J. Warner setting school passing records, Temple ranked near the bottom of college football in yards per play. The culprit was the running game or lack thereof.

E.J. Wilson might be the best E.J. running back who committed in the portal but he’s not in the same league as Hunter. Another Arizona guy uncommitted is Alfonzo Graham from Yuma, who is rated the No. 2 overall RB still available in the transfer portal.

To win the league in 2023, Drayton needs Hunter or at least a guy with his skill set. There are only a few days left. Maybe Drayton and Warner can tag team to phones and get Hunter.

Or Graham.

Time to put one or both on the memo part of that phone before turning off the lights and leaving the office on that next portal shopping trip.

Monday: Back to the Future

Friday: Post-Signing Day Reaction

Monday: A Temple Football Ad Money Can’t Buy