Tag Archives: K.C. Keeler

08.21.26
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What the new single digits say about Temple football

Temple hasn’t announced which single digits go to what players, but I’m guessing Saboor Karriem is No. 2.

Asked Grok the other day what school started the single-digit tradition in college football and got the correct answer.

Temple University.

The “later coach” it lapsed under was Steve Addazio

You knew that.

I knew that.

College football fans in general, though, have a very short memory as many of the SEC and Big 10 teams are adopting the same tradition, so forgive them for thinking this is a new thing.

Sometimes artificial intelligence can be very smart and this is one of those times.

The only surprise for me was that Curly Ordonez did not get a single digit.

There are things, though, that artificial intelligence can’t do and tell you the whys of who got the new Temple single digits.

Here’s what we do know: Some old, some new, Temple players got or retained single digits on Thursday. What we don’t know is what digits are assigned to whom and those will be released in the next several days.

Presumably, Colin Chase will retain his No. 1, as will first-team All-American punter Dante Atton, who will retain his No. 7.

That brings us to the new guys, center Grayson Mains, safety Saboor Karriem, tight end Peter Clarke, linebacker Eric Stuart, and Sam Brown.

Unfortunately, Mains will never see his number on gameday because archaic football rules don’t allow offensive linemen wear single digits. Think about that. Defensive linemen are allowed to wear single digits yet offensive linemen aren’t? Makes zero sense.

Anyway, that gets us into the reasoning part because the new single digits tell us more about the 2026 Owls than the old ones do and that’s something that would stump artificial intelligence.

Real intelligence tells you that Mains fought off a challenge from a highly regarded P4 transfer, Rutgers’ John Stone, to keep his starting center job. He is the unquestioned leader of the offensive line.

Real intelligence tells you that Karriem, the defensive star in Illinois’ 34-32 win over USC in the Big 10 this year, has a chance to be a star for Temple in many other games.

Real intelligence–and NFL scouts–tells you that Clarke is one of the top five tight ends in the next draft and “only” needs 10 touchdowns and 1,000 Temple yards this year to move up to No. 1.

Real intelligence says that a healthy Brown is a Big 10 quality running back and watching that translate to the American Conference should be fun to watch.

Real intelligence says Stuart was Temple’s top linebacker while wearing No. 22 last year and he improved over that standard subsequently.

Type all of those questions into Grok and you get no answers but real intelligence sometimes fills in those gaps.

What the new digits say about the most important digits (w/l) seems encouraging for the number on the left being higher than the number on the right.

Monday: Russian Roulette

Friday: Things I’d like to see less of in 2026

Monday: Game Week

08.16.26
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The opener will be on us before we know it

Saboor Karriem goes for the tackle against Eagles’ No. 1 pick Makai Lemon. Both will be calling the same stadium home.
Hey, guess who follows Temple Football Forever? The father of Penn State starting quarterback, Rocco Becht. Anthony Becht was a great tight end at Monsignor Bonner and the New York Jets. Thanks for the follow.

One of the things about getting older is having pains in places where you’ve never had them before.

Because I had a pain in my leg I couldn’t identify other than it being nerve-related, I mentioned that to my physician and he referred me to a neurologist. That was way back in April.

Made the appointment the next day and the “earliest” he could see me was Aug. 13.

“Geez, that seems like years away,” I told the person who answered the phone.

“That’s the earliest we have.”

That’s the U.S. Healthcare system in a nutshell.

Long story short, that time between April and August lasted what seemed like five minutes simply because the late spring and summer is my favorite time of the year.

So it goes with Temple’s football opener against visiting Rhode Island on Sept. 5.

If the time between April and August seemed like five minutes, the time between now and kickoff will be like a minute.

Or shorter.

Nobody knows that better than Temple head football coach K.C. Keeler, whose Owls conducted their first preseason scrimmage on Saturday.

One of the strongest areas of the team is the safeties and defensive coordinator Brian L. Smith calls it the deepest part of the defense.

Among the starters is expected to be Illinois transfer Saboor Karriem, who comes to Philadelphia with CVS type receipts. He started and had the most tackles in a 34-32 Big 10 win over USC last year, notching seven solo tackles and three assists. While there are concerns about the bright lights in big games at both the quarterback and cornerback positions at Temple, there are no such concerns about the safeties and linebackers, who played well for the Owls and other teams last year.

Recently, Karriem was “mic’d” up by the Temple video staff and his best quote was, “I miss my brothers, but I have 115 (other) brothers (here).”

Because of the uncertainty at quarterback, it looks like the Owls will have to lean on the defense for most of their success this year.

Fortunately. the defense is showing signs of being up to the task in summer ball so far but the proof will come on Sept. 5.

“Rhode Island Sept. 5 at 2 p.m., that’s it,” Karriem said.

It might seem a long way off now but it’ll be upon us in a minute. That’s the way these things work, both in life and in football.

08.13.26
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Temple QBs in Practice: Between a Rock and (not so) Hard Place

K.C. Keeler and Tyler Walker discuss the quarterback competition.

Something Temple offensive coordinator Tyler Walker said about quarterbacks and getting them up to game speed stood out like a (not so) sore thumb.

Or leg.

Or shoulder.

Joey Schlaffer recreates on Thursday the exact same touchdown catch he had for Penn State a year ago in a 52-6 win over Villanova, a leaping one in the back of the end zone.

The Owls quarterbacks are not allowed to get hit in practice, anytime, anywhere.

Problematic any year, but particularly in a year that the Owls have two guys who’ve never–really seldom–have been hit in a real game.

“They’ve been getting better from the spring and the summer,” Walker said. “They put in a lot of reps. The one thing that I can’t recreate is the game reps. That goes without saying. We had a guy last year in Evan Simon who has 2,000 game reps. We just don’t have that. So there’s going to be some ups and downs. There’s going to be some trials.”

One of the highlights in Thursday’s practice was a 5-yard run for a touchdown by Ajani Sheppard. That would have been all the more impressive except for one thing.

The Temple defenders were not allowed to touch Sheppard on that 5-yard run.

Unfortunately, the Rhode Island defenders in Game One will not have that similar restriction.

The solution seems obvious. Make the quarterbacks live and take the orange jersey off but that’s not how college football works in 2026. It’s how college football worked in 1974 and 1979, but it hasn’t worked that way for a while.

Now Temple fans will have to find out if the Owls’ QBs can take a hit roughly about the same time the QBs themselves will find out if they can take a hit.

We’re exaggerating for effect here, but only a little.

According to ESPN.com, Jaxon Smolik–the Owls’ expected starter–played in only two games last year, Iowa and Nevada. In both games, he had no completions, no attempts, no carries.

Most importantly, he wasn’t touched.

Neither was Sheppard, who did not appear in a single game last year.

James Franklin on Jaxon Smolik.

Yikes indeed.

Now we can see why Walker was shaking his head when describing game reps.

The irony of all this is that the three highly regarded true freshmen coming in–Lamar Best, Brody Norman and Brady Palmer–have plenty of gameday hits under their belts a year ago.

It hasn’t helped them move up the depth chart yet, but don’t be surprised if the first group gets challenged by the second group sooner than later. Practice makes perfect, but there is a lot to be said about games themselves. That is the rock and hard place Temple finds themselves with respect to the quarterback position.

It’s a practice, not a game. How important is that?

Just ask Allen Iverson.

Monday: Speed To Burn

08.09.26
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Keeler’s statement about Kromah is telling

The more one hears K.C. Keeler talk, the more impressed you have to be with the guy. That goes both for his opening day press conference a week ago and his talk with Temple grad Zach Gelb (above).

Take the saga of defensive lineman Sekou Kromah, who committed to Rutgers on Sunday.

Temple got Evan Simon (12) from Rutgers and now is sending Sekou Kromah (58) to Rutgers.

Owlsdaily.com editor Shawn Pastor asked the question a week ago and the Temple coach didn’t dance around it, saying it would be his preference that Kromah lands at another place because the “process happened too late” and “we really don’t have a spot for him” and the Temple defensive line was so much better than it was a year ago that he didn’t see a role for Kromah.

“I can’t believe the job our recruiting staff did recruiting defensive linemen,” Keeler said. “We feel there are 10 that can start for us. That’s how good we feel about our defensive line. That defensive line will be the surprise of our conference.”

The implication was clear. What Temple has now along the defensive line is significantly better than last year and Kromah was part of that inferior line last year. Keeler didn’t want to interrupt the chemistry among those 10 “starters.”

That said, Keeler also noted that if Kromah didn’t find a spot, the Owls would be obligated to take him back in some capacity and would probably do so.

Well, both Kromah and Keeler got what they wanted with him landing at a P4 school and you can only wish the best for Kromah in this matter.

Selfishly, as a Temple fan, I wanted him to come back because you can’t have too much depth on both the offensive and defensive lines and at worst Kromah would have supplied that depth piece. At best, he would battle to earn his starting job back.

Interesting that Evan Simon, who was a backup at Rutgers, shined as a starter here and John Stone, who came from Rutgers, was called one of the two best offensive lineman with the Owls now (the other being returning center Grayson Mains). Sam Brown is running with the first team as the featured back and that’s impressive because the Owls have a couple of returning players with plenty of time.

So effectively, at least this year, the Owls have “traded” Sekou Kromah to Rutgers for John Stone and Sam Brown.

You have to like that deal, giving up a backup DT for a starting guard and a starting running back.

That’s all on paper. What happens on the field in a real game is way more important and we will see that in a few weeks.

Friday: Between a Rock and a Hard Place

08.03.26
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Keeler’s biggest coaching gamble: The QB position

James Franklin speaks highly of Jaxon Smolik in this video.

To hear K.C. Keeler tell it at American Conference Media Day, the Temple quarterback starting job is not settled law as practice starts in earnest this week.

In fact, it looks like a two-man battle between Cherry and White game star Jaxon Smolik and a guy who might fit offensive coordinator Tyler Walker’s scheme even better–Ajani Sheppard.

Both are long on talent and short on playing time and that’s why the quarterback position is Keeler’s biggest gamble at Temple, maybe in his entire coaching career. Last year, Keeler had two proven FBS starters to choose from in Evan Simon and Gevani McCoy.

This year he has none.

Well-paid staffs at Penn State, Rutgers and Washington State got a close-up look at the two current Temple options and decided, no, let’s not give either one an extended look in a real game.

That gives one pause.

As long as Jaxon is wearing a Cherry, and not White, helmet at Temple, he should put up big numbers. Those White helmets are bad luck.

Practice, yes. Not a game. You know what Allen Iverson thinks about that.

If it’s Smolik, and he gets the early nod it as it appears he will, he comes with endorsements.

It’s all a matter of trust at this point. Temple fans have to decide whether they trust Keeler and, in a way, Virginia Tech head coach James Franklin.

Franklin?

Yes.

A year ago, then head Penn State coach Franklin said he wasn’t “blowing smoke” or engaging in “coach talk” when he said that Smolik was looking good and that the PSU battle for the second spot behind Drew Allar would go on for an extended period of time.

If he was blowing smoke or engaging in coachspeak, Temple is in trouble.

There is some evidence that at one point Keeler thought that, too, as his first option was Saginaw State starting quarterback Mason McKenzie, who almost came here, but decided the lure of being a P4 starter was more enticing than playing for the winningest active head coach in college football. McKenzie would not have been a sure thing at Temple but he came with real game receipts that neither Smolik nor Sheppard have.

That forced Temple to Plan B and Smolik, who was Penn State’s Plan C. Or Sheppard, who was once the Plan B at both Washington State and Rutgers.

Now both are A and 1A at Temple and, like it or not, Keeler is faced with the task of beating a team in the second game of the season with that team’s third-team quarterback from last season.

Not ideal, but it wouldn’t be the first time Keeler has done more with less so this big gamble will be the most intriguing story line of the season.

Friday: Finally Getting His Due

07.31.26
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Keeler and Keller: Perfect together

Cherry and White, 1978, in front of Temple Stadium. K.C. Keeler would be wise to be restricting the uniform/helmet combo to above (in case anyone can’t see, that’s a Cherry, not a White, helmet Ross Mongiardo is holding).

(Photo Courtesy, Matt McArdle, 32)

Everything is a lot more expensive these days.

I learned that the hard way this week.

Having been an automotive AAA member for more than 25 years, I was shocked when my $125 yearly membership fee gave me the “privilege” of having a new battery dropped into my car on Sunday for the princely sum (at least for me) of $247.

With my registration expiring today, I took the same car down to my friendly neighborhood mechanic. Trustworthy guy. Told him to slap on an inspection sticker and not fix anything that didn’t need to be fixed right away.

Pat Keller was a star quarterback at Central Bucks East. He volunteered to switch to tight end in an attempt to help the team.

Still, the minimum charge to keep the vehicle on the road was $525.

That’s almost $1,000 bucks in one week for a car that gets me from Point A to Point B.

Yikes. (I didn’t know there was anything wrong with the car.)

College football has also gotten way more expensive, especially in the area of player acquisition and retention.

So it comes as a surprise that the perfect coach/player relationship–not only at Temple but maybe in all of college football–is the inexpensive Keeler and Keller one at Temple.

They are both as “old school” as it gets and it’s for free or pretty close to it.

K.C. Keeler, the head coach, and Pat Keller, the longtime Temple backup quarterback, have similar values. Keeler has coached most of his life in the era where players only got room, board and tuition. Keller’s only motivation is something every “student/athlete” wants: Playing time.

If anything demonstrates the kind of coach Keeler is, it’s the relationship with Keller. He’s not the No. 1 player on the team. In fact, he’s closer to the No. 105 player on a team of 105 scholarship players but he’s right at the top of Keeler’s radar.

Give credit to Shawn Pastor of Owlsdaily.com for unearthing this gem on American Conference Media Day.

Pastor asks the best questions and it’s not surprising he gets the best answers of anyone covering the team.

This one is an all-timer.

“Pat came to us and goes, ‘Coach, you guys are set at quarterback.  I want to find a way to get on the field,'” Keeler said.  “And Pat is one of my favorite players of all time.  You talk about just a ‘yes sir’ kind of guy.  And has some ability, too.  So Pat has moved in with those guys and he’s competing.  And he knows for the most part it’s can he find a way to get on special teams?  Can he find a way to get on the bus?  But that’s just who Pat is.  He’s just looking for any way he can to help this team.”

Best line of that quote: “Pat is one of my favorite players of all time.”

Not the guy who threw 25 touchdown passes against only two interceptions (Evan Simon), although I’m sure he qualifies under those parameters but the fifth-team quarterback who asks to be moved to tight end so he can get on the field.

And that guy is making zero NIL money, although he probably gets a $2,500 COA stipend. That’s a mere pittance in college football these days.

Yet it says more for the way Keeler relates to his roster from 1-105 than any other story. That’s probably why he is the winningest active head coach in Division One college football.

That story costs nothing but is worth a thousand bucks, maybe a million.

07.26.26
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Biggest Media Day Takeaway: The Defensive Line

An unexpected question led to an unexpected answer from second-year Temple head coach K.C. Keeler during one of the many media day side interviews.

Someone asked Keeler about “taking back” arguably his top defensive lineman of a year ago, Sekou Kromah, if a court challenge the player had against the NCAA succeeded. The expected answer was that the Owls were supporting Kromah in his effort to play another year but wouldn’t commit either way until the issue was resolved.

Now the Owls need Nebraska assistant Adam DiMichele, who turned 41 on Sunday, to sue the NCAA for that final year of eligibility Joe Paterno denied him and come back to play quarterback for the Owls. Hey, Lebron James is older so he can do it.

The unexpected answer was that, while Temple lost some big-time players along the DL, Keeler said that the line was definitely upgraded at all positions due to the personnel General Manager Clayton Barnes and company brought into the building.

Without Kromah, rush end Cameron Stewart, and Khalil Poteat, the Owls figured to struggle finding pieces from elsewhere to plug and play but Keeler honestly felt the new players represented a talent upgrade. Keeler indicated the reason for that was because he couldn’t “cut” anyone a year ago due to the fact that he told the Owls in the first team meeting that anyone who wanted a Temple degree was welcome to stay and get one.

With all but three linemen on the defensive side either graduated or out of eligibility, Keeler (and Barnes) could go out on the open market and get players who were better than the prior staff recruited. Now Poteat has joined the Kromah party and also filed a lawsuit. With so little time remaining, hard to imagine any other place one or both of those guys end up not being Temple again.

Here’s the kicker (or the three-point stance): Even if they come back, there’s no guarantee they could reclaim their spots as starters.

That’s saying something because, when Stewart, Poteat, Kromah and a couple other interior linemen were healthy they were pretty formidable. Arguably, they were the stars of the 26-21 home win over bowl-bound (and champion Tulane-beating) UTSA, sacking Owen McCown three times and hurrying him into incompletions or interceptions 14 more times.

It was the best pass-rush ratio of any game last year.

The problem was health, though, as Kromah was only able to start five games due to a bum shoulder.

With the entire offensive line returning, it only figured that side of the ball would dominate in the Cherry and White game, but it didn’t and the defensive line had more than its share of moments.

So what Keeler said on Friday pretty much jived with what some of the offensive linemen were saying after the spring game.

With only three players back on the DL who saw significant action last year, the Owls had to fill the other holes with seven transfer portal players and one junior college pickup and those guys proved themselves in spring ball.

Khalil Poteat celebrates a sack at UMass.

The cream will rise to the top when summer camp starts in earnest on Friday and we’ll be able to plug some names into starting spots shortly after that.

While most of those names will be new ones, a couple of Prodigal Sons could be added to the list if their cases are expedited through the courts.

For a team that returned every single ELIGIBLE starter (the only one in the G5), adding a couple of guys who supposedly completed their careers at Temple could be the Cherry on top of this White cake.

Friday: An Under-The-Radar Story

Monday: Keeler’s Biggest Gamble at Temple

07.24.26
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Must-see TV begins this morning at 10: Temple Owls

This is where most of the media comes down on the Temple Owls and jives with my 6-6 prediction. However, if the Boston College QB landed at Temple we would have upped at to 9-3. Jaxon Smolik, prove me wrong.

When Astronauts first landed on the moon, the phrase of the day was: “Tranquility base here, the Eagle has landed.”

That referred to the lunar module, which was The Eagle, and the spokesman was the first man on the moon, Neil Armstrong. (And to you skeptics, yes, it was real and we did it 57 years ahead of the current technology.)

On Thursday, another bird, the Owls, have landed, not on the moon, but at St. Petersburg, Fla., the home of the American Conference Media Day. It’s hot in St. Pete (real feel 110) but that’s child’s play compared to the real feel the Owls had in an outdoor practice at the E-O in Philadelphia (111) on June 24. (FYIW, the temperature on the moon 7/20/69 was 250 degrees.)

Tranquil, we’re not sure but it will be today’s home base for the Temple Owls.

So the two Owl player representatives, tight end Peter Clarke and linebacker, should not be sweating much.

Maybe the rest of the league should but they don’t know it yet.

Athlon Sports has a relatively low opinion on the Owls

Thursday was just a feeling out day and the big show begins today on ESPN+ at 8 a.m. and runs until 2 p.m. with every head coach taking the stage. At 10 a.m., it’s K.C. Keeler’s turn. (That’s 4 a.m. Hawaii time for our many Owl fans on the island.)

There will be plenty of questions and plenty of optimism from the assembled head coaches, including Temple’s K.C. Keeler. Usually, there is a Media Poll, which ranks the teams from first to last but that was discontinued last year and there are no plans to have it revived.

Yet there are other media outlets who either plan to or have released a poll and one of them was Athlon Sports (see inset). They had the Owls listed for No. 8 in the league and, shockingly, Navy as No. 1.

Shockingly, because Navy lost a lot of talent, including the single closest thing to a one-man team the American has ever seen in quarterback Blake Horvath. New quarterback Braxton Woodson was absolutely dreadful in a blowout loss at Notre Dame when Horvath was injured last year.

Horvath was the only reason Navy beat Temple. Heck, he might have been the only reason Navy came CLOSE to Temple last year and so that prediction may be more based on reputation than reality.

However, despite the fact that the Owls returned every single eligible starter–no other American nor G5 team did that–there are legitimate questions about the Owls, too. One, is quarterback, where, for the first time in a long while, the Owls will have to go without someone who has started a college football game. That’s always a crapshoot.

Some people have expressed concerns about the defensive secondary but the Owls have a guy in Adrian Laing who returned an interception for a touchdown at Charlotte and was absolutely robbed of another goal-line interception in the North Texas game on a ridiculous PI call. Still, it’s not certain if he’s won the starting job this year so the Owls should be OK at corner. If his competition is that good, and I’m more than OK with Laing as a starting corner (and I am), cornerback is the least of my worries.

All of this could be addressed at 10 this morning. I’ll settle for most of it.

That’s why it’s must-see TV.

If you are a die-hard Temple football fan like me, it will be the last must-see TV until you get home from the Sept. 5 opener and check out the Rhode Island-Temple highlights on YouTube.

Monday: Media Day Recap

Friday: Keeler’s Biggest Gamble Yet

Monday: An Under-The-Radar Story

07.19.26
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Temple football focus should be on nothing but Rhode Island

Took a week off to recharge the batteries.

That was the plan.

Little did I know that would be literally.

In this case, not recharge but replace.

In the middle of three days where you couldn’t go outside and breathe without inhaling five packs of cigarettes in an hour, I turned over the engine only to find out my car wouldn’t start.

The final season poll. Rhode Island kept most of its players, including its all-league quarterback, and is ranked No. 9 in the FCS 2026 preseason poll. If the Owls don’t bring violence to this game, they could lose.

Three years of turning that key and never worrying about starting the car were out the window. Called Triple AAA and a guy named “Jack” came by and dumped a new battery in my car.

That was a $247 expense I didn’t count on but I need that car to go to work, doctors and shopping so reluctantly pulled the $247 out of my wallet and handed Jack a $10 trip for his trouble.

My high school basketball coach, George Paull (RIP), once told me, “the only thing I know about cars is that you turn the key and away you go.”

Me, too.

Most times.

Doylestown’s John Fonash had a 96-yard punt return after Temple got a three-and-out on the opening series in this 28-0 win in 1965.

K.C. Keeler has the keys to the Temple football vehicle and he better set the GPS for Rhode Island. (Yeah, we know they are coming here but in terms of preparation that’s the direction he should go.)

Now Temple football recharges the batteries starting today with the focus on directing that trip to the Rhode Island game.

Rhode Island?

Yes. Unlike Temple, RI has a tune-up game at Merrimack the last week of August and that factors into an already problematic opener for the Owls.

Because as tough as the Temple schedule is, the Owls didn’t schedule Howard as a tune-up game the first week of September. They scheduled a Top 10 FCS team and we all know the success FCS teams have against FBS teams in recent years, especially in the opening week of the season.

Temple knows for sure.

The key to beating Rhode Island will be Temple’s defense bringing violence to the football with emphasis on punching that ball out and going the other way with it.

In 2009, the Owls won nine-straight FBS games after losing to eventual FCS champion Villanova in the opener. While hoisting that FCS national title trophy, then Villanova head coach Andy Talley gave special thanks to Temple, calling the Owls, “the best team we faced all year.”

Then Temple head coach Al Golden would have rather had the win than the compliment, yet that Temple team was the first Temple bowl team in 30 years and gave Rick Neuheisel’s UCLA squad all it could handle in a 31-21 loss at the Eagle Bank Bowl.

This Rhode Island team has something in common with that Villanova team in that it kept almost all of its starters. The Rams only lost their All-American kicker to Louisville.

Yet they retained their most important two players, quarterback Devin Farrell and wide receiver Marquis Buchanan, who were sought after by many FBS schools. Farrell threw for 3,745 passing yards to earn third team All-American status while Buchanan was a first-team All-American with 1,124 receiving yards.

Go to Seat Geek.com for some pretty good seats at a great deal. Better yet, buy Temple season tickets, go to the free season ticket holder party and get locked in for great seats the rest of the year, especially the nearly sold-out Penn State at Temple game.

Farrell gives the Rams something the Owls don’t have–an experienced college starting quarterback while Jaxon Smolik–if he wins the job as expected–gives Temple something Rhode Island doesn’t have, a 4* high school recruit at that same position.

Something’s got to give and how much violence Keeler can convince the other 21 Temple starters to bring to the football between now and then will determine the outcome.

It probably won’t be the 55-7 FCS win the Owls experienced last year, but figure on a 34-14 type of outcome if the battery starts when Keeler turns the key.

07.09.26
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Temple telegraphing its leaders with Media Day docket

Not much mid-July news for Temple football but a couple of clues came out today about the leadership group.

Both past and present.

Head coach K.C. Keeler calls it his leadership council and designated for assignment tight end Peter Clarke and linebacker Eric Stuart. That assignment was accompanying Keeler to the American Conference Media Day sessions.

Those choices said a lot, considering that last year quarterback Evan Simon and defensive end Sekou Kromah were the guys.

Simon at the time was in a knock-down, drag-out battle with Gevani McCoy for the quarterback job. That went down opening day at UMass, where Simon grabbed the job by throwing six touchdown passes. McCoy became the good soldier backup ready to save the season if Simon went down.

Kromah was who we’d thought he’d be, one of the two best pass-rushers on the team, and a solid run-defender. He made life miserable for UTSA quarterback Owen McCown in the Owls’ most impressive win of the season, 26-21, at Lincoln Financial Field.

For some reason, Kromah entered the portal. There were no takers because his eligibility was in question. Today, he filed a federal lawsuit applying for emergency relief, meaning eligibility to play this season. Kromah’s lawyers cited a case in Ohio that was similar to his where a federal judge granted that eligibility and it seems like he has a good chance to play.

Will it be at Temple?

A lot of that is on the other three guys mentioned at the top of this story–Keeler, Clarke and Stuart–because, in cases like this, if a player wants to come back Keeler leans on his leadership council.

Clarke was the glue that kept the team together, staying himself and lobbying every single other returning starter to stay. As a result, Temple was the only G5 team to return every “eligible” starter. Stuart, their best linebacker, was one of them.

Do you think he wants to play behind Kromah again? Certainly the comfort level would be there but Keeler would have to sign off.

Who knows, but an area of need for the Owls seems to be pass-rushers who can also defend the run and Kromah qualifies on both counts. His 4.5 tackles for loss led the Owls and his three sacks were second on the team. A player like that doesn’t drop out of the sky often and, even though the Owls have all their roster spots filled. a little tinkering here and there could restore his scholarship. Even if Kromah is granted injunctive relief, he really isn’t in position to demand NIL money and the restoration of another season gives him another chance to impress the NFL and that’s a good outcome for him.

K.C. seems to be saying “now, Sekou, don’t enter that transfer portal, OK?”

From Temple’s perspective, it’s a trade that could help both parties. They get that proven guy on the defensive line and Kromah gets his scholarship back.

Shawn Pastor, the Editor of Owlsdaily.com, when asked if Temple would have any interest in taking him back, said: “Absolutely” in a post on June 13.

That would give Temple three guys who repped on Media Days and that’s one more than they could have expected a few days ago and you can never have enough of those.

Monday: Best of TFF (vacation week)