Tag Archives: K.C. Keeler

09.05.26
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An eye-opening opener against Rhode Island

Driving down Delaware Avenue, the all-news-all-the-time AM station gave its top Philadelphia stories on the hour.

“The top stories are Philadelphia reports four new West Nile Virus cases and the Temple Owls open their football season today.”

Odd juxtaposition of stories, but it was nice to see Temple football getting the same kind of billing as a health scare. Most times the local sports talk stations ignore the Owls, let alone the all-news station.

New season, new stories, so the task for the day was to judge whether the Owls would provide eye-popping results or eye-opening ones.

We’ll have to go with the latter in a workmanlike 38-14 win over visiting Rhode Island. Eye-popping would have been one of the quarterbacks throwing for six touchdowns, like the guy last year did in the opener. Eye-popping would have been for the defensive line to have a few sacks.

Neither happened.

Not great, not overly good, but just OK because, from the way K.C. Keeler talked over the last few months, he said that he has two quarterbacks who can win in this conference and maybe he’s correct but neither one knocked my socks off like Evan Simon did in the UMass game a year ago.

Don’t know if the Owls have one quarterback who can compete against this conference and certainly, on the results, did not see one who is capable of beating Penn State.

You would have hoped to see one of them take the job but neither did. John Madden’s old saying was “if you have two quarterbacks you have none” seemed to apply after the game because the Owls still have two quarterbacks.

The other concerning thing was the defensive line. Keeler said the line was so upgraded that it “could be the story of the year in this conference.”

Hell, it wasn’t even the story of the day because the Owls–although limiting Rhode Island to 97 yards on the ground–got no pressure on Rhode Island quarterback Tyler Budge, other than a single shoe-string sack by Kevin Hornbeak and one in the fourth quarter by Davier Bishop. Most of the time, URI rolled the pocket away from the rush and no doubt Penn State was taking notes.

The offensive line that helped the Owls put up 500+ yards of total offense against Navy last year could only muster 369 yards against a FCS team, albeit a very good one. On Jaxon Smolik’s touchdown pass, he was hit and this offensive line can’t let that happen after giving Simon a clean pocket for most of last year. He didn’t really have a clean pocket all day, nor did Ajani Sheppard.

Another head-scratcher was that tight end Peter Clarke was rewarded for his loyalty by being only targeted twice. Clarke was a matchup nightmare last year and why the Owls only threw two passes his way was baffling. Let’s hope they are saving him for Penn State.

That’s the hope. Doubtful because offensive coordinator Tyler Walker showed a nice wrinkle on the first play of the game, and if he’s saving Clarke for Penn State, he probably would have saved that play for the Nittany Lions, too.

Peter Clarke was MIA through no fault of his own. (Photo courtesy of Zamani Feelings)

To me, if Clarke is going to be a first-team All-American he needs a 10-touchdown, 1,000-yard season. The opening game did not help that cause.

The highlight of the day was sophomore running back Keveun Mason rushing for 158 yards on 20 carries and that’s impressive because he lost the job to starter Sam Brown, who will be ready for Penn State. We were looking forward to seeing Brown play and, if he’s better than Mason, he must be very good. Also, the secondary had two pick 6s in a single game and that hasn’t happened at Temple since Chuck Heater was the defensive coordinator in 2011.

What we do know is for the Owls to have any chance against the better opponents ahead, they have to get some sacks on defense and someone is going to have emerge as a clear starting quarterback by winning the job outright.

That, and staying away from mosquito bites.

Monday: Cherry on Top

Friday: Penn State Preview

Saturday: Penn State game analysis

09.04.26
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Rutgers game a cautionary tale for the Owls

Temple beat UMass, 42-10, in the opener last year. Rutgers s*it the bed in its opener last night.

Our “friends” at Rutgers had a rough opener on Thursday night, which might serve as a cautionary tale for our Temple Owls.

Rutgers entered its home game against UMass as a 28.5-favorite and lost.

Must admit it couldn’t happen to a nicer fan base.

(Not you, Joe, because there are exceptions to every rule and he is the most decent RU fan who regularly posts on this website.)

Yet I do remember holding my transistor radio and listening to this gem while walking past that bubble practice facility RU used to have on the way into a Temple game one night.

“Let’s face it. Rutgers should always blow out teams like Temple.”

Other guy: “Agreed.”

Me in real time: “Who the f*ck do they think they are?”

Should be one of the nicest opening days in Temple football history ….

Temple won, 48-14, in Piscataway, behind a quarterback who became a legendary on-campus bartender (Mike Frost) and then part owner of the place.

(The post-game brewskis with my friend Joe Klecko never tasted better.)

That’s what great rivalries are made of and Temple-Rutgers was once that before the days of the geographically rivalry went by the wayside. Two schools 63 miles apart with huge alumni bases living in that 63-mile blueprint.

Rhode Island, the Owls’ foe (2 p.m., tomorrow) is not a rival but a team the Owls have a 12-0 overall record against and some memorable games. The Owls are 14.5-point favorites and the line moving from 10 to 14 in two days tells me something.

The wise guys like Temple and I like wise guys.

That’s not important in this context, though, because if UMass proved anything it’s that anybody anywhere can beat anybody anywhere if the T’s aren’t crossed and the I’s aren’t dotted.

Says here Rutgers had a hard time getting ink out of the pen, let alone dotting I’s and T’s.

Also says here that K.C. Keeler has cursive handwriting and has taken care of those factors.

As RU fans found out on Thursday night, you never know until the ball is kicked off and the lights are on but Keeler made a revealing statement to the team the other day that might have hit home.

“One of the betting websites, not that I ever quote betting websites, had this Temple-RU game as the ninth most likely upset between FCS and FBS teams,” Keeler said. “I told my guys that was the old Temple. This is the new Temple.”

Don’t know if Schiano had a similar message for his Knights but, if he did, it never got through.

This is what we do know.

Pro football focus had former Temple lineman Sekou Kromah with a 75.3 rating in Thursday night’s game, which was the highest among any Rutgers’ player, lineman or not.

One month ago Keeler told Kromah to look for another place to play because he was likely to be a backup here but told him we would take him back if he didn’t find a spot.

Let’s hope Keeler is right on both counts, that Kromah found a spot where he can play and this is the new Temple.

In about 24 hours, we will have our answer.

Late Saturday Night: Game Analysis

08.31.26
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After 259 days without it, we now have Temple football

Thirteen days passed between the Temple football Owls “winning the second half” against North Texas and New Year’s Eve.

Since then, as of today, 253 days have passed in this calendar year.

Six more to go means 259 without Temple football.

About damn time we get it back.

After trying to get a Lot K pass for the Penn State game two weeks ago (and failing), I’m going to roll up like Ice Cube five hours before Saturday’s 2 p.m. home opener with Rhode Island and say, “this is going to be a very good day” and thank the attendant and pay my $25 or $30 or whatever for parking. No need to get a pass in advance.

In a way, kind of wish it was as hard to get parking for Rhode Island as it was for me to get parking for Penn State because that would mean the crowd would be closer to 60,000 than the 20,000 I expect. There are other factors to consider. Temple finished 3-9 for five straight seasons before new head coach K.C. Keeler infused life into the program.

One 5-7 season isn’t going to get back the fans to the 30K level the Owls had in consecutive double-digit win seasons.

There is, though, a beginning and it might have been beating the North Texas guys, 18-17, in the second half. North Texas was a damn good college football team last year. Those North Texas guys are pretty much now at Oklahoma State while the USF guys are at Auburn and the Tulane guys are at Florida, only the good ones following their head coach to so-called greener pastures.

At Temple, the “good guys” remained which gives the Owls a leg up on the American Conference competition. One of Walt Disney’s famous quotes is “the difference between winning and losing is most often not quitting.” Since nobody quit Temple, it only follows there should be a lot of winning.

Right now, though, that doesn’t matter.

All that matters is finding a starting quarterback with the moxie and the “it” factor to not only beat Rhode Island but give the Owls a fighting chance against the rest of the schedule.

So the intrigue on Saturday probably will consist of two “starting” quarterbacks facing live bullets (a pass rush and hitting) for the first time at Temple and finding out which guy dodges those bullets the best. Fortunately, the game that decides that will be Rhode Island and not Penn State. Pretty similar to a year ago when both Evan Simon and Gevani McCoy were locked in a struggle for the starting job and Simon got on the field first and kept throwing touchdown passes until they couldn’t take him off the field.

This year, it’s between Penn State transfer Jaxon Smolik and Washington State transfer Ajani Sheppard and there is as much space between them as there was between Simon and McCoy a year ago.

These things have a tendency to work to work out but, at least at Temple, it’s the first time we’ve seen this since Frank Nutile won the job outright in the 2017 season. That year, Nutile–who never started a college football game before–threw for 1,600 yards and 12 touchdowns and was the MVP in a bowl win for the Owls.

Should the same thing happen with both the position and the team this year, Owl fans will take it.

At least this one will. The wait has been long enough, both for this season and a bowl win.

Friday: Rhode Island Preview

Late Saturday Night (pushing midnight due to tailgating): Game Analysis

08.27.26
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Temple football: Sometimes less is more

One of the best interviews with K.C. Keeler I’ve ever seen

Nobody is perfect.

Not even a perfect head coach.

For me, K.C. Keeler is the perfect head coach for my team because my team is Temple and Keeler is from Philadelphia (Emmaus is close enough), was recruited by Temple and didn’t go to Temple only because Hall of Fame coach Wayne Hardin ran out of scholarships and found his way back to Temple when Temple needed him the most.

Yet nobody is perfect, even my perfect head coach.

Would love to see more jet sweeps for JoJo and fewer for Chase this season. No more 3-yard handoffs on the first play of the game to the best running back.

The Navy debacle is well-documented here and I would have wound down the clock down and kicked the field goal with three seconds to win the game, 27-24. That’s not second-guessing. That’s exactly what I told Navy fans I would have done in real time in the same place and at the same time the game was played. They agreed with me that Navy was fucked if Temple did what I told them Temple should do.

In real time.

Keeler got greedy and took the touchdown and trusted his defense against the best player in the league (Blake Horvath). The best player in the league won.

Not the only concerning sign I saw last year so less of those is what I want to see this year.

What did I see last year?

Too many first-play handoffs to Jay Ducker or jet sweeps to Colin Chase.

Don’t get me wrong.

I love Ducker and Chase.

Couple of things wrong with those plays.

One, after three or four games, handing the ball off to Ducker is telegraphing the play to the next team. Two, Chase doesn’t have the speed or the twitch to take the first play to the house. Sam Brown is the “Ducker” of this year. If you are scouting Temple tendencies, you will expect a handoff to Brown on the first series.

That’s not the best game plan, nor is the handoff to the slowest receiver on the field. There is a faster receiver with more twitch who Keeler called the “best punt returner in the nation.”

Know who that guy is?

JoJo Bermudez.

Why Bermudez didn’t get those toss sweeps last year and Chase did is something I will never understand.

First play of the Rhode Island game shouldn’t be the expected handoff to Brown nor a jet sweep to Chase.

If anything was learned from last year, it should be a jet sweep to your best and fastest player, Bermudez. Or maybe you want to save that play for Penn State.

If so, doing less is more.

I’ll leave the perfect decision for my perfect head coach.

Monday: Game Week

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.