Tag Archives: K.C. Keeler

03.08.26
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5 Things We’d Like to See From Spring Ball

If the Owls beat Penn State this season, expect the drums to start beating for their own stadium like this one on the river

When you spend every March in Philadelphia, as I have (except for the few March months I covered the Phillies), there are certain signs of spring.

One, Rita’s Water Ice opens every March 1.

Two, there is a first sunset after 7 p.m. (Sunday).

Three, Temple starts spring football practice.

Can Phillies opening day be far behind? (Spoiler alert: It will be on us in a flash.)

Temple’s spring practice begins on Tuesday and ends with Cherry and White Day a month from now and we can tell you right now that the only significant outcome will be dibs on first- and second-team spots on the depth chart.

To say that you can determine what the Owls will do in the regular season based on that is really premature but there are some position battles that should be interesting.

Quarterback

Evan Simon set the bar high for the next QB.

We should see separation between Jaxon Smolik and Ajani Sheppard by Cherry and White Day. Expect one to quarterback the Cherry team and one to quarterback the White team. Right now, it’s a 50/50 shot who starts the opener against Rhode Island. Will it be that way in August? Something tells me one of the guys coming in during the summer, Lamar Best, balls out. If he does, it will be hard to keep that “it factor” off the field.

Pass rushers

Plenty of prospects to replace the reliable group of Cam’ron Stewart, Sultan Badmus, Khalil Poteat and Sekou Kromah but just as many suspects. To me, the key to winning in college football is keeping your quarterback’s jersey clean and getting the bad guy’s quarterback dirty and Temple did that in its most significant win, a 26-21 job over a UTSA team destroyed league champion Tulane, 48-26. Getting the guys who replicate that feat on a MORE consistent basis than that one game will be the difference between another 5-7 season and a 7-5 one.

Tight End

1,000 receiving yards and 15 touchdowns should be enough to get Peter Clarke drafted in the first round.

Temple has the best tight end in the country returning in Peter Clarke (IMHO) and he has a chance to become the next Owl drafted in the NFL’s first round. Still, as good as Clarke is, he wasn’t the starter in the opening game last season (spring sensation Ryder Kusch was). Does Temple go two tight ends to jumpstart the running game? That’s an option for the Owls to work on this spring.

Kick returner

Temple had one of the best punt returners in the country in JoJo Bermudez last season. Question is do you use your best wide receiver on punt returns again or find someone else? I think redshirt freshman Tylik Mitchell is one of the many who can fit that role. He ran a 10.7, 100 meters in high school. How fast is that? Former Temple superstar running back Bernard Pierce WON the PIAA state indoor 100 meters as a high school senior at Glen Mills with a 10.8. Mitchell was an elusive running back in North Carolina, so he’s got the same “twitch” to his return game that Bermudez has.

Secondary

The Owls have always had transfers come in to take up key spots and this year is no exception. Purdue transfer Earl Culp should be able to compete for a starting spot as should Asa Locks. There’s always room for a wild card to impress.

Friday: Second Seasons

03.05.26
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Now’s the time to predict 2026: A one-game improvement

I can’t believe Parker Navarro is still in the portal but I know Temple is the perfect place for him.

Going into this transfer portal season we outlined the “type” of quarterback Temple needed to get in order to compete for the American Conference championship.

That quarterback was an FCS superstar or a capable “star” FBS quarterback looking for a tick up in competition.

Temple, for all of its transfer portal successes, failed to get that guy. Instead, they got a couple of guys who only proved that they couldn’t get on the field for P4-type teams. Not only didn’t they get a proven FBS starter, but in terms of receipts, they didn’t get someone with the pedigree of Evan Simon (starter at Rutgers) nor Gevani McCoy (starter at Oregon State), last year’s 1-2 punch.

So while they improved at a lot of positions they regressed at the most important position on the field.

Not good.

So, sadly, I don’t see the Owls competing for an American Conference title but there is room for improvement and I do see the Owls improving incrementally.

At my age, that isn’t fast enough but I will take the small wins when I can get them.

Why are we not waiting until May? It looks like all the players are in place now and they will compete only against themselves between now and Cherry and White Day.

Parker Navarro, a quarterback who does fit all the qualifications of an AAC championship quarterback, is still in the portal.

It doesn’t have to be Navarro, whose eligibility issue is up in the air but someone like him.

We can only hope but I think Temple is done at QB. I hope I’m wrong.

We predict 6-6 without Navarro or someone like him.

With an inexperienced starter, or someone like him, I see the Owls winning 9-10 games and getting into the AAC championship game.

I have this sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach that Temple is done and going with six quarterbacks. None to me have the “it” factor with the possible exception of Lamar Best, who arrives in July.

So we’re going under the assumption that Temple is done at the quarterback position.

I see the Owls beating Rhode Island (55-10), losing to Penn State (35-14), beating Toledo (17-13), losing to Army (24-21), losing at South Florida (55-24), beating UConn (17-10), beating Charlotte (48-23), losing at East Carolina (36-19), losing at Navy (17-14), beating UAB (21-14), beating Rice (28-17) and losing at Memphis (35-21).

That’s 6-6 and the very definition of mediocrity. As Wayne Hardin once said, “mediocrity is not my cup of tea.”

Nor mine.

An experienced guy is out there. With him, I see a more competitive game against Penn State, wins at USF at home vs. Army and at Navy and a possible win at Memphis. That’s not 6-6 nor mediocrity.

Go get him or expect meh when “yeah” should have been the Year Two goal all along.

Monday: 5 Things We’d Like to See From Spring Ball

Friday: The New Bowl System and Temple

02.12.26
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Interpreting the Tyler Douglas departure

In this day and age, checking the Temple football roster on a daily basis is an unfortunate task for close fans of the team.

A simple check a few days ago by OwlsDaily.com’s Shawn Pastor came up with this gem.

Last year’s third-string quarterback–and the second-string quarterback two years ago–is not on the team.

Tyler Douglas.

When will this madness end?

I hate having to check the roster every few days, let alone every day but this is the college football world we live in right now.

Pastor said he reached out to Temple and the program has no comment on the situation.

This is where we are, though.

Douglas was a much-heralded recruit from the same school (Ocean Township, N.J.) that former Temple commit (and NFL quarterback) Kenny Pickett came from.

Much was expected, but little was gained.

Douglas was famous for two plays in his entire career at Temple, both bad.

One was a fourth-and-goal fumble on a tush push at the goal-line that would have given Temple a “sure” win at bowl-bound UConn in 2024 and the other was a botched up fake reverse pass at Army last year in a 14-13 loss. (The UConn thing was not my call. Mine was a Sam Cunningham-style leap with Terrez Worthy that would have worked but I wasn’t OC that day. As far as the Army call, I would have made it with Kajiya Hollawayne on the first play of the game. The reasoning was simple: Hollawayne was a 4* UCLA QB recruit and Douglas wasn’t.)

Two plays.

Two disasters.

Yet, by all accounts, he was/is a good guy so when Temple head coach K.C. Keeler told him he was no longer in his quarterback plans, if he entered the transfer portal, he would get a waiver to come back if nothing happened.

Nothing happened so Douglas ostensibly accepted Keeler’s offer to come back and compete for a wide receiver’s job.

Ostensibly, because one day Douglas was here and the next day he’s gone.

What does that mean for the 2026 Owls? To me, Keeler was being a nice guy allowing Douglas to return but, unlike him, I didn’t see too much playing time for Douglas at WR.

Maybe the Douglas camp came to the same conclusion.

Our stats are skyrocketing right now. Thanks to the fans of this website.

If so, that means Temple can upgrade the roster with a “real” receiver if it wants or save that scholarship for a bigger need, like pass rusher on the defensive side.

According to Feb. 6 data, Missouri edge rusher Damon Wilson–who had 3 1/2 sacks at Georgia–is still available, as is Ohio QB Parker Navarro and San Jose State QB Walker Eget and both quarterbacks have more receipts than Douglas.

Hell, they have more receipts than any of the six quarterbacks currently on the Temple roster.

My interpretation of both the Douglas situation and what Keeler has done so far indicates that they may be done at QB, but open to any other impact player.

Wilson would be that kind of guy who overshot his self worth parachute and pulled the backup parachute plug and could end up at Temple.

Hopefully, Keeler and Clayton Barnes are looking to the sky right now.

02.09.26
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One way to spice up the 2026 Temple season: Trickeration

The original “Philly Special” that inspired the next Philly Special.

Believe it or not, “trickeration” is a word.

The Oxford Dictionary lists it as meaning “deception” and indicates the word is used “less than 0.01” percent of the time in the English language with almost all of those references in U.S. English.

With Temple football recently, the word is used less than that.

Maybe 0.00.

If K.C. Keeler and Stan Drayton have one thing in common, it’s that they haven’t really pulled out a successful trick play over the last two seasons. Keeler was asked about that by Shawn Pastor and said: “I don’t like to use them when we’re not playing well.”

To that, I say: There is always the first play of the game.

Keeler tried one at Army late in the game with third-string quarterback Tyler Douglas throwing a reverse pass that was blown up when the Cadets’ leader on defense yelled out “hey, watch 14 with the pass. He’s their backup quarterback.”

For the past two years we were screaming for 4* UCLA quarterback recruit Kaija Hollawayne to put that arm to use but those calls fell on deaf ears. To me, the key part of the trick there is that we know he was a UCLA QB recruit and the Temple coaches know, but the bad guys don’t.

The bad guys certainly knew Douglas was a quarterback and that’s why that play didn’t work.

Deception is the key and, to me, trick plays might not help Temple but they certainly couldn’t hurt.

P.J. “You want to do North Philly, North Philly?” Matt” “Yeah, let’s do it.”

Almost all of the time Matt Rhule used one it worked out.

One year we casually reminded Matt that Jalen Fitzpatrick was the starting QB for the Big 33 game and he hadn’t thrown a pass while playing wide receiver at Temple.

“Don’t be surprised if you see him throw one this year,” Matt told both me and John Belli at the season-ticket holder party. Midway through the season, Fitzpatrick threw a 95-yard touchdown off a double-reverse at SMU, which remains the longest pass completion in Temple history.

ESPN did a show on the “Philly Special” on Friday night where Doug Pederson said “he saw first saw the play in a college game” and then saw the Bears use it in the regular season.

The college game?

Penn State at Temple, 2015. A wide receiver reverse to a high school quarterback named John Christopher, who hit QB P.J. Walker out of the backfield.

That’s why it was called the Philly Special because Temple used it first. The Eagles version also featured a high school quarterback, backup tight end Trey Burton, throwing the pass.

Real football games started on a Aug. 30 and ended last night with the Super Bowl.

Some of the games were more boring than others, including the last one. Trick plays add some spice to the equation, and they work more often than not.

At Temple, they’ve almost always worked and sometimes helped bridge a talent gap.

We talk about bringing back the good old days to Temple and one way would be bringing back those fun plays that led to big gains and even bigger wins.

02.02.26
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The day K.C. Keeler beat Curt Cignetti

Buried in a covid season that forced the FCS to schedule spring ball was one of the few losses national championship Indiana head coach Curt Cignetti had in the last five years.

Buried in a covid season that forced the FCS to schedule spring ball was one of the few losses national championship Indiana head coach Curt Cignetti had in the last five years.
K.C. Keeler beat Curt Cignetti in the FCS semifinals and went on to win the natty in 2021 at SHS.

K.C. Keeler got the 2021 win, coaching his Sam Houston State team to a 38-35 triumph in a FCS playoff semifinal against Cignetti’s James Madison team despite being down, 24-3, at halftime.

That’s a lot of halftime adjustments.

What does it mean for Temple moving forward?

Keeler showed that given his ability to improvise and adjust, once he gets “his guys” here, the future is bright for the Owls.

Put it this way: Temple outscored a lot of good teams in the second half (North Texas, Georgia Tech and UTSA) but got wins in only one of them: UTSA.

That was Keeler working with Stan Drayton’s guys.

The only “Keeler guy” brought in with him was Jay Ducker, who nearly became Temple’s first 1,000-yard back since Ray Davis in 2019.

Cignetti talks with Oregon coach Dan Lanning, who was a former Keeler assistant at Sam Houston State.

Now Keeler is identifying more talent to fit what schemes he, OC Tyler Walker and DC Brian Smith want to run and some improvement from Year One to Year Two can be expected. For example, he’s brought in for the first time all of his quarterbacks and they all have a proven level of mobility at least better than last year’s starter Evan Simon. Walker always wanted to use the quarterbacks’ legs as a weapon, and he will have that option this year. He had to scale back on that part of the playbook in 2025.

If any of them display Simon’s accuracy and leadership abilities to go with that mobility, that is the guy who will win the job.

That’s really when halftime adjustments kick into play, getting your Jimmies closer in ability to their Joes and having a coach like Keeler who has matched wits with the best in the business, including Cignetti.

Ironically, Cignetti–a former Temple QB coach–could never dream during that postgame handshake five years ago that Keeler would one day work at the same school.

Maybe the next time they meet, if they ever do, they can trade 10th and Diamond and 12th and Norris War stories.

For now, though, Keeler has won the last battle and that should be impressive enough for Temple fans.

Friday: Closer to Spring Ball

01.29.26
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New Temple football Owls: Trust but Verify

An old Russian proverb was “trust but verify” and the first American to popularize it in the Western Hemisphere was Ronald Reagan when he talked about a nuclear deal with that nation.

That has applied to Temple football at least, well, forever.

It has been one of the core values of this site since its inception 21 years ago.

The difference between this year and last is that there is more trust than verification needed at least in two of the most important positions on the field.

Quarterback and running back.

No such concerns last year because then new head coach K.C. Keeler (with the help of General Manager Clayton Barnes) brought in the starting quarterback from Oregon State to ostensibly beat out Temple returning starter Evan Simon. Fortunately for all Temple fans, the talented Simon took that as a challenge and kept his job by throwing six touchdown passes in the 42-10 opening day win at UMass.

That solidified his job.

Yet the key point always was that if Simon ever went down, the Owls could have still won the same number of games with his $100,000 insurance policy: Gevani McCoy.

Plus, Keeler was able to bring in Sam Houston’s best player: running back Jay Ducker.

Those guys had receipts.

No such verifiables this year.

I feel a lot better about the Owls’ running game with Hunter Smith than I do about it with Rutgers backup Sam Brown. This is Smith scoring a TD in a 27-21 win over a UTSA team that beat league champion Tulane, 48-26.

While Simon’s remarkable 2025 season (25 touchdown passes, 1 interception) put him in the record books, he moved past P.J. Walker and Adam DiMichele into my No. 1 favorite spot not because of the stats but because of his commitment to Temple. There is no doubt in my mind that if the Owls decided to play in the Birmingham Bowl, Simon would have rallied the troops to play and win.

Yet McCoy should always hold a treasured spot in every Temple fans heart because he embraced the backup role, something unheard of in this “me first” era.

Both those guys were verified.

Now we get to the trust part.

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That’s all we have going into the 2026 season with three key pieces, transfer portal quarterbacks Ajani Sheppard and Jaxon Smolik and running back Sam Brown, who all have Big 10 roots.

Brown was the backup to two guys with the Scarlet Knights, while Sheppard and Smolik were third string at RU and PSU. Good, highly paid, coaching staffs saw those guys and said let’s keep them off the field in real games.

For me, a couple of huge red flags.

My trust at those positions to go Hunter Smith, who in my mind was every bit as good as Ducker, and true freshman quarterback Lamar Best who is the, err, “best” true freshman QB Temple has recruited since Walker.

Hope the trust guys (Smolik, Sheppard and Brown) surprise me but my money is on the verified guys (Smith and Best) carrying the day.

If Best and Smith are behind center on opening day, the Owls should be OK from a trust perspective. The others have yet to post their verifiables.

Monday: A Coaching Matchup to remember

01.26.26
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Temple football makes G5 history in a good way

The headline in the Philadelphia Inquirer addressed the biggest piece of news: Roster retention.

Those of a certain age in Philadelphia sports remember the biggest literal balancing act in history, Karl Wallenda, who walked across the top of Veterans Stadium on a high wire without a net.

Temple head coach K.C. Keeler is of that certain age and now he is in charge of a figurative high-wire act that is almost as impressive, navigating a transfer portal without the net of SEC or Big 10 type money.

Maybe it wasn’t a coincidence that Temple football hasn’t done very much of anything since the transfer portal’s arrival in 2017.

That was one year after the Owls hoisted a championship trophy and the Owls struggled not only with opponents on the field but a revolving door at the $17 million Edberg Olson Practice facility.

No more.

Keeler said a lot of interesting things six days ago in his transfer portal wrap, but none more interesting than this quote: “We were one of the few G5 teams to keep our all starters.”

Hmm.

That got me thinking.

“Few?”

Nobody in the G5 keeps their starters anymore so we had to dig deep to find out if the key word was “few” or “any” and the latter turned out to be true.

A G5 team without P4 money in the era of the transfer portal is the kind of balancing act we see here.

Temple was the ONLY G5 team that kept all of its starters out of the transfer portal–with a qualifier. The starters applied to only the last game of the season and not guys who started single games before that.

Then we went over the rosters of G5 teams since 2017 and couldn’t find a single team that was able to keep all of its starters from the final game of the previous season from hitting the transfer portal.

Of course, Temple lost quite a few starters the more traditional way (graduation and expired eligibility) but, in this era of the G5 being used as a farm system for the P4, what Keeler and company have done is very impressive.

It speaks to the culture Keeler has been able to develop in a single year.

It also says something about the culture before that as Rod Carey was a “my way or the highway” guy and Stan Drayton was pretty much a fatalist when it came to losing players.

Temple could have the top TE in the country in 2026 with Peter Clarke.

Keeler tells the players to keep the main thing the main thing during the season–concentrating on winning–and that he and General Manager Clayton Barnes will figure out the side thing once the season is over. Also, Keeler gave last year’s players the kind of rope they didn’t get this year because, he said, “of the coaching change.”

Then, after the spring game, he shut the faucet off, saying that “now that the players have gotten to know me, once they enter the portal they are not coming back.”

There are exceptions to every rule and, this year, third-string quarterback Tyler Douglas was one. One he was told he didn’t fit into the QB plans, he hit the portal. At the same time, Keeler told him if he was willing to switch to WR, he would be welcome back.

Douglas came back and will battle for a WR slot. Keeler gave tight end Peter Clarke–ranked among the top 10 in the country at his position–a lot of credit in both keeping the locker room together and recruiting a few key transfer portal recruits.

Of course, roster retention on a 5-7 team is a double-edged sword, You want to keep starters and allow the backups to have other places to play all while at the same time upgrading the roster through both high school recruiting and the transfer portal.

Temple appears to have struck that balance and, in its own way, a kind of high-wire act more impressive than Wallenda’s.

Friday: Trust but Verify

Monday: A Coaching Matchup to Remember

01.23.26
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The Keeler Presser’s Most Surprising Answer

I suspect some of these folks are the heroes Temple needs right now.

Now that their offseason personnel work is done, Temple football fans finally got a chance to hear some questions and answers.

Some were predictable.

Some came out of left field.

First, the predictable.

As we speculated in this space way back in December, we figured that Temple–specifically athletic director Arthur Johnson–was caught with pants down the day he received a call from Birmingham Bowl officials asking if Temple was interested in playing Georgia Southern.

For the record, this site anticipated that call because Temple players were not only in the classroom but killing it while there. (Unlike the Miami QB who admitted to not attending a class in two years.) After the season was over, we wrote that Temple might not receive a bowl call but, as a 5-7 team with a good academic record, it should be prepared just in case.

Head coach K.C. Keeler’s answer to that question was illuminating because he indicated by the time Keeler got the call Appalachian State already accepted.

That’s all I needed to know because, a week ago, we wrote that’s exactly the way we expected Keeler to answer the question and, if he did, that indicated that the fault was that the Temple administration wasn’t prepared for such a call.

Inexcusable.

This should have been buttoned down long before Bowl Selection Sunday. Johnson should have told President John Fry that the call was possible and that the university should say yes.

Why?

Because I–and almost all of the computer models–felt that Temple would have kicked the living crap out of Georgia Southern (unlike the non-competitive App State squad) and that would have jump-started momentum and possibly season-ticket sales–into the 2026 season.

We will never know because someone higher up than Keeler fumbled the ball.

Now to the good part.

Keeler indicated that he and General Manager Clayton Barnes “met with a group of donors” last week.

My reaction?

“We have donors?”

It’s nearly February, which means the Keelers will return to this boardwalk in Bethany Beach, Delaware for the annual Solar Plunge like this photo from 11 months ago. Hopefully, they will find a Temple grad there with bucoo bucks and a Yacht docked nearby.

As someone who worked his way through Temple on two part-time jobs and slept (maybe) an average of four hours a night and STILL scrounged my couch to find tokens to get to school, hard to believe we have donors.

But, according to Keeler, we do.

(Hell, if I parlayed those tokens and that degree into a multimillion business like the hero who gave $55 million to the College of Heath in October, my $55 million would have gone into the football program and not a penny for the COH or even Temple basketball but I chose the newspaper business about 20 years too late and I’ve returned to my scrounging for tokens days.)

Because, in college football these days, donors might be more important than even players or coaches and their very existence at this so-called “commuter” school is an indication of more wins in the future.

Until sanity is restored, it’s not the Jimmy’s and the Joe’s and the X’s and O’s that win anymore in college football.

It’s the money. If you want to get to the other side, you have to play the game the way it is and not the way you want it to be.

I’ll accept that only for now and hope we get back to room, board and tuition and what amateur sports is supposed to be all about sooner than later.

Monday: The Personnel Piece

01.18.26
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Good News for Temple fans: Some answers

For the first time since a tersely worded statement about a bowl game miscommunication, Temple fans will be hearing from their beloved football program.

Really, it was longer than that, because that statement came with no answers and only generated more questions.

Both Temple head coach K.C. Keeler and General Manager Clayton Barnes will be meeting with the media on Tuesday to answer questions really for the first time since the December signing day.

That’s a long time ago. It’s been radio silence ever since.

Ostensibly, the questions will be about the roster additions and, while that is important, the No. 1 question should be about the bowl game.

Grayson Mains (57) has been the bulwark for the Owls OL the past two seasons. RU’s John Stone wants that job. That should be a key position battle.

Here’s my five:

One, “K.C., did you hear about the bowl game offer BEFORE or AFTER App State accepted that bid?”

(That’s important to determine who fumbled the ball, Arthur Johnson or somebody else? If K.C. was asked before and he said something like “I need time to think about it” then that’s understandable. If, on the other hand, Johnson told the Birmingham Bowl people that he needed to ask permission from President John Fry, that indicates Temple wasn’t ready for the call.)

Two, “K.C., would you have said yes if asked?”

(Knowing K.C.’s competitive nature, I would guess yes, but it would be nice to get that answer on the record.)

Now we can get to the business of the day:

Who will apply the kind of pressure on the QB in 2026 that Badmus, Stewart, Poteat and Kromah did in 2025?

Three, “Would you have liked for one of the two quarterbacks you signed to have been a high-achieving FCS or DII guy and what were the obstacles that prevented that?”

(That question is open-ended, which means it cannot be answered with a simple yes or no. Meaning, we might get an insight about whether the Owls were willing to spend $300,000 on a QB again. Everything Temple has done at the most important position on the field indicates it hopes someone will get the job done vs. someone who already did get the job done on a college football field.)

Four, “It looks like John Stone of Rutgers is your top offensive line acquisition. If Grayson Mains beats him out, can Stone play another position on the OL? Can Mains?”

(Obviously, if either can play another position, the OL improves.)

Five, “Who do you see fulfilling the pass-rushing roles previously held by guys like Poteat, Stewart, Badmus and Kromah and are those potential upgrades?”

(I don’t see any pass rushers, but this is a question probably better directed to Barnes who might.)

Bonus question: “Six, you indicated before that if any players entered the portal they would not be welcomed back. What made Tyler Douglas the exception to that rule?”

(Expect that answer to be something about Douglas being willing to switch positions to WR.)

Thanks, K.C.

Don’t wait until spring ball to have another one of these.

Friday: Analyzing The Answers

01.16.26
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Best available QB is a cautionary portal tale

College football players still in the portal piss me off.

Yesterday (Jan. 15, 2025), a date that will live in infamy, was the last day that players could both 1) enter their name in the portal and 2) declare a new school.

Peter Clarke is the first guy from London since Ben Franklin to realize he’s better off in Philadelphia.

There is, Thank Freaking God, no spring transfer portal window anymore.

It is now a minute past the deadline and one of the best quarterbacks remaining in the portal, Incarnate Word’s E.J. Colson, is still there.

He might find a new school. He might not but his chances of not finding a landing spot skyrocketed several minutes ago.

There are a couple of reasons for that.

One, pretty much all 134 FBS schools have now allocated their available scholarships for quarterbacks.

One of those schools is Temple.

The Owls chose not to wait on Colson–hell, we will now never know that they even tried to get him–and “settled” on both Penn State backup Jaxon Smolik and Washington State backup Ajani Sheppard.

Looks like Longstreet signed with LSU yesterday.

We say settled because neither did squat in the few opportunities they had on the field at the schools they played at (Sheppard was also a backup at Rutgers).

Colson, on the other hand, did plenty in his most recent opportunities.

The guy started a couple of games at UCF (when UCF was good), transferred to Purdue, had a moment of clarity when he saw he couldn’t get on the field there and transferred to an FCS school (Incarnate Word) that had a track record for producing quarterbacks like Cam Ward.

He finished the 2025 season there with 2,134 yards, 16 touchdown passes and only four interceptions and declared himself the “best available” quarterback in the portal.

That must have been some agent whispering in his ear because, while he thought his landing spot might have been a place like USC or LSU, he’s still up there and nobody knows if his parachute has a backup.

His landing spot could be a splat.

It wouldn’t be the first time this happened.

In 2022, Liberty had a 1,000-yard back in the portal who we urged Temple to get on this site.

Temple didn’t get him nor did any other school.

As a result, he lost both his scholarship to Liberty and a chance to prove to the NFL that he had the talent to play there. As far as we know, he is completely out of football.

Fortunately for Temple, not all feel that way.

Peter Clarke was told this week that if he declared for the NFL draft, he would be one of the top five tight ends chosen.

Clarke looked at this thing realistically and figured that another year at Temple might push him from No. 5 to No. 1.

Jaxon Smolik, who transferred from Penn State to Temple. looked at the Clarke film with Temple OC Tyler Walker and figured that was his ticket to the NFL, too, and committed here.

Maybe both will sign with the Eagles someday.

Their chances are much better than Colson’s and that is one of the thousands of reasons why the transfer portal taketh more than it giveth and agents should put more care into finding their clients a spot where they can play vs. a spot that might never happen.

Monday: The Good News for Temple