Tag Archives: Joquez Smith

09.17.23
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Norfolk State: They were what Vegas thought they were

Amazing to me how much Vegas nails the line exactly and probably oddmakers’ best performance came on Saturday in a game it should have known little about.

The line for the Norfolk State at Temple game was not set until Friday when Temple was made a 30.5-point favorite.

By kickoff, the public moved that line up to 32 and that’s where it rested.

Thirty-freaking-two.

Temple won, 41-9.

That’s 32.

Two Super Bowl quarterbacks and one great T-shirt

Good news and bad news because by Sunday No. 22-ranked Miami should be a 30-point favorite over Temple before a much larger crowd. (Temple grad and Miami fan Howard Eskin will probably be there wearing Miami swag, sadly.)

The Owls have some work to do to bring that line down.

Or Miami will probably win 30-0, 40-10 or 50-20.

Maybe too much work.

The 41-9 win over Norfolk State exposed a lot of warts, mostly among the coaching staff.

Put it this way: The other home team that plays in that stadium, the Philadelphia Eagles, opened the season with a heavy dose of Kenny Gainwell on the first series of the year. Since he wasn’t stopped, they kept going to the (Gain)well and ended up with a touchdown.

Temple opened with a similar heavy dose of Florida’s top high school running back last year, Joquez Smith, on Saturday.

He was never stopped and the Owls had a 7-0 lead.

Correctly, head coach Stan Drayton went back to a diet of Joquez on the next drive. When they got down to the Norfolk State 20 or so, Drayton got the “great idea” of putting Edward Saydee back in the game.

Substituting the best high school running back in Florida with someone who wasn’t even the best high school running back in Roxborough is never a good idea and Drayton had to be kicking himself after Saydee fumbled.

Temple could have gone up 14-0 there and 21-0 after Quincy Patterson’s first touchdown. Halftime should have been 35-7, not 28-7.

Football is not rocket science.

If someone is doing the job for you that Joquez was doing for Temple (15 carries, 142 yards), feed the beast. Don’t bring in a pacifist to replace the beast.

No reason to put the failed running backs of the past back into the game.

That’s not the only coaching mistakes Temple made.

Stan Drayton taking Joquez Smith out for Edward Saydee caused Temple to trend nationally.

The kickoff guy they recruited from Purdue is not working out. He had one kickoff out of bounds against Rutgers last week and two more against Norfolk State. He either has a sore leg or a sore head. Either way, he needs to sit.

Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me, fool me three times shame on everyone. There should be no fooling around next week and field goal kicker Camden Price should get those kickoff duties against Miami.

It’s one thing to be giving short fields to Norfolk State. It’s football suicide to be giving those same short fields to Miami.

The Temple kids–which the exception of stupid penalties–mostly did their jobs well.

The Temple coaching staff not so much.

Football isn’t rocket science. Temple has the best colors in the country (Cherry home, White away) and whoever picked black is a dufus.

It all goes back to decision-making.

If that end doesn’t improve, we will probably be writing about how amazing Vegas is again in this space next week.

It’s up to the coaching meeting room at Temple to change that dynamic. Playing Joquez and getting a new kickoff guy should be priority A and 1A. Not using Saturday to hone Quincy Patterson’s passing skills was also a coaching mistake. Patterson should have been given the opportunity to pass the ball at game speed now because, judging by the number of hits the offensive line is allowing E.J. Warner to take, he will need to do so later.

Even that might not be enough but the kids deserve the coaching staff’s best effort.

Vegas needs to be wrong sometime and next week would be a good place to start.

Monday: Similarities between Temple and Miami

05.29.23
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Temple football welcomes an important player on Memorial Day

Joquez Smith is the most heralded incoming running back at Temple since Bernard Pierce of Glen Mills

Anyone who follows college football knows it’s pretty much a 365-day business.

Yes, Stan Drayton and his staff are able to take at least a couple of weeks vacation in July but the fact that the facility will be hopping today (Memorial Day) is Exhibit A that the work of winning is never done.

At least in the programs that chase greatness.

Two of the more prominent incoming freshmen, running back Joquez Smith (Tampa Jesuit) and defensive lineman Conlan Greene (Penn-Trafford of the WPIAL) are arriving on campus today.

That’s good news.

Smith on the way to 234 yards and five TDs at Largo (Fla.)

We’ve been writing in this space since November that the Owls’ biggest area of offseason need is a back who can take over and be one of the best in the American Conference. There is at least that ceiling with Smith. Maybe that’s why head coach Stan Drayton did not feel the need to pick up an accomplished FBS back in the portal.

According to some, Smith was the best high school running back in the state of Florida and he has the numbers to back it up. As junior, he led Jesuit to a state Class 6A title and that is probably the toughest classification in the best high school football state in America. For his career, Smith gained 5,334 yards and scored 75 touchdowns. Smith figures to be one of two true freshman to challenge Edward Saydee for the top spot on the depth chart. (The other being Kyle Williams of Harrisburg).

Certainly some pretty good backs at Temple never came here with Smith’s numbers. We went into the wayback machine and could find only one, Glen Mills’ Bernard Pierce, who nearly had identical senior high school numbers to Smith and he turned out to be an NFL third-round draft pick. Even Jahad Thomas and Ryquell Armstead never had the senior years that Smith had or played against competition nearly as tough. Pierce had 1,769 yards and 26 TDs his senior year at Glen Mills while Smith had 1,934 yards and 29 touchdowns in his best high school season.

Bill Parcells once said: “You are what your record says you are.”

Jesuit coach Matt Thompson said Smith’s style “is slow to it (the hole) and fast through it.” Smith is adept at reading his blockers and seeing the hole and taking off.

One of the reasons he’s at Temple and not Alabama is that he’s in the 5-7 range and those Power 5 schools like their running backs at least 6-foot, 200 points and run a sub 4.5-40.

Temple is the kind of place where 5-9, 160-pound Paul Palmer thrived enough to finish second in the Heisman balloting in 1986.

If Smith even comes close to duplicating the career of Palmer, Temple will win a lot of football games.

Already here are offensive linemen Luke Wilson of Wilmington (Del.) and Eric King of St. Peter’s Prep (Jersey City) and safety Zyil Powell (Paramus, N.J.).

The Owls got their needed a fourth quarterback in the room when they plucked Forrest Brock from the junior college ranks (Santa Monica). Although Greene–while being recruited as a defensive player–was a more than adequate high school quarterback his senior year and is one of those guys who might be considered a disaster quarterback on the order of how the 49ers used Christian McCaffrey last season. Brock says he will compete for the top job and you’ve got to like that level of confidence.

While Owl fans are hitting the backyard and the shore and maybe a cookout here and there, it comforting to know that Drayton is using today to put the pieces together for what most of us hope is an AAC title run.

Friday: The New Normal

Monday: A Worthwhile Debate