Tag Archives: K.C. Keeler

06.19.25
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Temple returns to recruiting footprint

Another year around the sun came and went on June 19th for this reporter and it was my annual reminder that the expiration date invisibly stamped on my forehead is rapidly approaching.

In a sense, Temple Football Forever, too. We don’t know the date and probably don’t want to at this point.

Yet while this website won’t last forever, what new head K.C. Keeler did this week was a sign that Temple football as a program will last, if not forever, a long time.

If Keeler keeps this kind of recruiting up, chances are he will be talking about Temple going from one year with a lot of losses to one year with a lot of wins like he did here at SHS last year.

That’s because he stepped away from the nasty habits of the last three head coaches and returned to the Owls’ recruiting footprint.

Bruce Arians once said it was simply metro Philadelphia, South Jersey, the Lehigh Valley and the D.C./Virginia corridor that included Norfolk and Richmond.

Al Golden reaffirmed that when he arrived on the scene, correctly pointing out that Temple is smack dab in the middle of 46 percent of the nation’s population.

“If you drew a 250-mile circle around Temple, that’s well within a five-hour drive for any family who wants to send their kids here,” Golden said. “That’s 46 percent of the nation’s population and you should be able to find 25 great players from that many kids.”

Arians went 6-5 twice against a Top 10 schedule with that philosophy.

Golden ended 20 years of Temple misery adopting it.

What do Arians (York), Golden (Colts Neck, N.J.), Matt Rhule (State College) and Keeler (Emmaus) all have in common? They played their high school football within 250 miles of Temple.

What do Geoff Collins, Rod Carey, and Stan Drayton have in common?

They did not.

Daron Harris makes returning kickoff and punts for touchdowns look easy, like this one against Imhotep.

Now with a slew of local recruits signed recently, Keeler apparently has decided that blueprint makes sense for him, too.

Among those guys are a 6-4, 315-pound offensive tackle from Strath Haven named Billy Brown, an All-Philadelphia Catholic League tight end named J. P. Oates and defensive backs Daron Harris of Chester and Dylan Abram of Monsignor Bonner.

Temple might not be back this year, but rest assured Keeler’s plan is to return the Owls to those kinds of days.

That’s not all.

Defensive tackle Jude Okeleke (pronounced OAK-LEAK-EEE) turned down a solid offer from Fran Brown and Syracuse to commit to Temple this week, saying “I’m home.” While not a Philly-area recruit, it’s nice to know that Okeleke considers Philadelphia home. Technically, he is within that 250-mile footprint, having played at the Taft School in Watertown, Conn. Better yet, he is considered one of the top 75 DT prospects in the country. Being from Nigeria and not able to earn NIL money, Temple gets the added benefit of probably keeping him for four years.

Brown was a first-team Philadelphia Inquirer OT playing in 2023 before moving onto Phillips Academy in Andover, Mass. last fall.

Oates was a first-team All-PCL tight end for a 10-0 regular season LaSalle High team last year, catching 47 passes for 576 yards and five touchdowns.

Harris was called “one of the top athletes in the state” by Chester head coach Dennis Shaw, scoring 28 touchdowns for the Clippers in a variety of ways (5 rushing, 7 kick returns and 2 interception returns).

Abram was all-PCL and had five interceptions for Bonner after returning to his original school from Philly Public League power Imhotep.

None of this proves Temple football is back to the winning days of Arians, Golden and Matt Rhule but usually a good blueprint leads to a solid foundation.

History always repeats itself and, while we’re all getting older, all evidence points to Temple football getting better.

Monday: The Foreign Component

06.15.25
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Seeing double: A Brady Palmer vs. Brady Palmer matchup

The “other” Brady Palmer committed to Cal on the same weekend the “good” Brady Palmer committed to Temple. No relation.

Seeing double is what could happen if Temple and California decided to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of a Garden State Bowl matchup with an intersectional football game during the 2029 season.

That’s because, in addition to the Golden Anniversary, it could feature maybe the first college football game where the starters at quarterback for both teams have the same first and last names.

Brady Palmer.

That’s because on the same exact weekend in 2025 the two 2026 grads of the same name committed to Temple and Cal, respectively.

You can’t make this up and we certainly didn’t so both schools should roll with the good fortune. How could a network resist a Brady Palmer vs. Brady Palmer matchup, especially if both are able to secure the starting jobs at their respective schools? Brady Palmer vs. Brady Palmer with Paul Palmer handling the color on Temple radio.

It’s too good to pass up.

The 1979 matchup featured the nation’s top-rated quarterback in passing efficiency, Brian Broomell, vs. Cal’s Rich Campbell, who later played in the NFL.

Temple won, 28-17, before 40,000 fans at Giants Stadium.

Both are highly rated quarterbacks and Temple’s Palmer is an Elite 11 one, joining the ranks of recent Temple quarterbacks who made the Elite 11 (Anthony Russo and Re’Al Mitchell were the others). He was the starter at St. Francis High School in Wheaton, Ill. and now transferred to national powerhouse St. Thomas Acquinas (Fl.) for his senior year. In Illinois, Palmer threw for 33 touchdown passes and reportedly clocked a 4.5 in the 40-yard dash, which would make him exactly as fast as former Temple great running back Bernard Pierce.

The California Brady Palmer threw for 16 touchdowns against just five interceptions for Cathedral Catholic (San Diego) in the 2024 season. To be fair, his offer sheet was more impressive than the Temple Brady Palmer as he turned down scholarships from Utah and TCU to sign with Cal.

On the other hand, that Palmer was not an Elite 11 quarterback.

This one is and we can settle the issue of who is better with a Garden State Bowl rematch in 2029.

Friday: Home Cooking

06.13.25
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Temple still celebrating Super Sunday

When it rains it pours and we’re not referring to this upcoming weekend forecast.

Temple football is still celebrating a Super Sunday of recruiting and, while we detailed the most high-profile one in our Monday post with a quarterback named Brody Norman, three guys committed who could be on-field sensations for the Owls.

Could be is the key phrasing because way back in 2008 I was watching film with other Temple season-ticket holders who were ohhing and ahhing the No. 1 recruiting class in the MAC that Al Golden was able to pull in for that night.

A friend named Sal who was sitting in the first row turned to me and said, “they all look like O.J. Simpson on the film.”

Good point.

He killed with that one (no pun intended).

Hunter Watson’s impressive offer sheet (there were four other confirmed offers as well).

Still, there is good film and bad film and the other three guys who signed on Sunday night weren’t chopped liver.

Those three–there were other subsequent good ones after Sunday night but we’ll cover them later–are running back R.J. Blount of Pennsauken, N.J. (home to former Temple greats Todd and Scott McNair), wide receiver Hunter Watson of Jersey City St. Peter’s Prep (which produced Al Golden’s first recruit, Kee-Ayre Griffin) and offensive lineman John Watkins of St. Frances Academy (Baltimore).

To be clear, this is not immediate help but it’s nice to know that new head coach K.C. Keeler and staff are preparing for the future.

These guys are 2026 high school grads but this shows that Keeler is using this so-called “offseason” time to replenish the talent in the program. It also shows that the staff is working just as hard on a couple of weeks in June as they will a week before the UMass game.

Could not find the junior year RB stats at Pennsauken for both of the McNairs, but my guess is that both would have been hard-pressed to duplicate the 2024 stats of Blount who posted 1,585 yards and 21 touchdowns.

According to the ESPN website, Watson turned down offers from Syracuse, Boston College, and West Virginia to come to Temple.

That’s pretty good.

By all metrics, Temple’s transfer portal and high school recruits rate higher in Keeler’s first season than any of the three Stan Drayton seasons.

There’s something special that is connecting kids to Keeler and his staff and Philadelphia and the impressive campus that appeals to over 30,000 “regular” full-time students. It’s worth celebrating.

The film is O.J. good without any of the negative killer side effects.

Monday: Seeing Double

06.08.25
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Temple football’s No. 1 target commits

By all accounts, the gathering on June 3d between Temple fans and new head coach K.C. Keeler broke all records for an Owl event in the offseason in terms of attendance.

The buzz both inside and outside the Wissahickon Brewing Company was positive enough to get people to buy season tickets and have those people get other people to buy season tickets. The impact should show in fannies in the seats come September.

Keeler offered a few interesting nuggets in the sense that “we’re probably done” with the transfer portal for this cycle and concentrating instead on high school recruits.

Already, those dividends are paying off.

It didn’t take more than a few days for arguably Temple’s No. 1 target, a quarterback from North Carolina named Brody Norman, to commit. Five days to be exact because Norman announced on his twitter feed at exactly 7:41 p.m. on Sunday night he was an Owl.

There’s definitely an Anthony Russo-type vibe to the the Norman signing in it’s been a very long time since Temple signed a quarterback with gaudy stats like this.

As a senior at Archbishop Wood, Russo had 35 touchdown passes vs. only four interceptions for Steve Devlin’s state championship Vikings. Russo had just visited with then LSU head coach Les Miles in the Archbishop Wood cafeteria when then Temple head coach Matt Rhule got Russo to switch his Rutgers’ commitment for the Owls. Russo finished in the top four of Temple’s all-time quarterbacks from a statistical standpoint and probably would have worked his way up the ladder had then head coach Rod Carey not tried to make an option quarterback out of a drop back passer.

Temple sports set a record for an offseason event with a big crowd on Tuesday night to listen to K.C. Keeler

That was a whole different time in college football when G5 teams routinely out recruited regional P5 rivals because there wasn’t a whole lot of money to throw around and the G5 team could offer immediate playing time.

Keeler pulled off his own heist with the Norman recruit, taking advantage of the current state of college football when many P4 teams eschew recruiting high school players in favor of raiding other P4 team’s ready-made quarterback in the transfer portal.

With Norman, P4’s loss is Temple’s gain.

Norman had 32 touchdown passes in the junior year at Mooresville, N.C. His team finished 11-2 and won its league championship.

Who knows how many he will have this upcoming season but that fact that he won’t be distracted by having to deal with recruiters should help him focus on his high school season and padding those high school numbers.

Like Russo, the most important statistic for a quarterback is a championship pedigree followed by number of touchdown passes vs. interceptions.

Norman passes the smell test on both counts.

He obviously loves Philadelphia and, while he won’t arrive on campus for another couple of years, Philadelphia will no doubt love him back.

Friday: Sunday’s other three commits

Monday: Seeing double

06.05.25
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Temple football: Location, location, location

First-year Temple head football coach K.C. Keeler is proving the old real estate adage:

Location, Location, Location.

At this time last year, then Temple head coach Stan Drayton was starting the second week of his two-week vacation in Houston, Tex (his house there)., texting the two reporters who cover Temple football on a regular basis that everything back home was cool because he was in constant contact with the senior leadership group.

Contrast that to what happened on Tuesday night when Keeler met with a couple hundred Temple fans at the Wissahickon Brewing Company.

That’s in Philadelphia, not Houston.

In that time, Keeler showed a grasp of the Temple personnel that Drayton never had.

There, he called last year’s starting quarterback, Evan Simon, “a dude” and incoming quarterback Gevani McCoy a guy who could win the job based on his history as a starter at both Oregon State and Idaho (two teams who have beaten Temple in the last 30 years). Drayton, on the other hand, fumbled his quarterback situation by naming the worst quarterback in Temple history, Forrest Brock, as the starter in the Oklahoma game over a Temple quarterback, Evan Simon, who started and did decently well in Big 10 games.

K.C. Keeler comes approved by Hooter.

Drayton, a running back guru, fumbled the ball.

Keeler, on the other hand, seems to have a grasp on his QB situation by even floating the idea of a two-quarterback system.

Afterward, Keeler left–not for Houston–but for his home here. This weekend, he might go as far as his longstanding home at Rehoboth Beach, Del., which is exactly 1,535 miles from Houston and only 121 miles from Philadelphia.

No need to have the team leadership group on standby. He can be at 10th and Diamond in a hurry.

Keeler dropped a couple of jokes–not staged, but based on his first few months here–that had the Temple fans in stitches on Tuesday and left the definite impression he was not going anywhere and he was large and in charge.

I don’t know about you but that’s comforting to me.

Monday: The No. 1 Target

06.01.25
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Networking: Rebuilding the fan base

All three “major” Temple sports coaches will be attending this event tomorrow night, but I’m guessing Keeler will be the one drawing the crowd.

One of the recurring responses on the OwlsDaily.com website to any enthusiasm about K.C. Keeler being hired is the question how that translate to fannies in the seats?

Good question.

It is one that Temple head coach will try to answer Tuesday night (6) at a networking event (Wissahickon Brewing Company) in the East Falls section of Philadelphia.

Keeler has been reaching out to Temple fans at other places (golf tournaments, Maxi’s Bar on campus, etc.) and there will be more.

Does it translate to fannies in the seats?

Yes and no.

Yes, in the sense that hiring a Hall of Fame head coach like Keeler naturally sells tickets.

No, in the sense that we’re not going to see 60,000 Temple fans in the stands JUST because Temple has a high-profile head coach.

Weather should be great to talk Temple sports over a few brewskis in this outdoor space tomorrow night.

Like everything, the proof is in the pudding. Nobody is going to buy the pudding until it’s so good it creates a demand for the pudding.

In other words, if the Owls win at UMass to open the season and beat Howard and give Oklahoma a good game, that translates to fannies in the seats for the rest of the season. Wish I could go but am working that night. If any fan goes, I hope someone brings up our ideal of bringing the tush push back to Temple using DL and former high school quarterback Colin Greene as the tusher and tight end Peter Clarke as the pusher.

That’s what happens when a fan base goes to the Military Bowl one year after an eight-win regular season and the next few goes 1-6, followed by a whole bunch of 3-9s.

This fan base is beaten down and it’s going to take some time to get off the mat.

It helps that Keeler has been pounding the pavement for players in the transfer portal. It also helps that he’s reaching out a hand to lift up some fans who have been down on the mat for way too long.

Friday: Location

Monday: No. 1 Target

05.29.25
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USF site: Keeler could be a home run hire

Temple being No. 1 in the new hire department only bodes well for the 2025 Owls.

There’s an old saying among a group of hikers who encounter a bear on a trail.

Since bears can run between 30-40 mph and the fastest humans only 15mph, the math doesn’t math for the two-legged mammals.

The saying simply is this:

The USF website “Green, Gold and Bold” gives the highest mark for football hires to Temple.

“You don’t have to outrun a bear. All you have to do is outrun the slowest hiker.”

When it comes to the AAC, the football foes are humans. Reach up to the P4 and most of those are bears.

So it was important the other day to scour one of the fellow “human” websites and find out what others are thinking of Temple football.

Most of them are positive that Keeler can push one or two of the other new head coaches into the path of any AAC bears and make a legitimate run toward respectability.

Here’s what the USF site, Green Gold and Bold, had to say about the Keeler hire: “Keeler is 271-112-1. The cupboard may be bare at Temple, but it probably won’t be for long. Give Temple an “A” for this hire.”

A couple of things here.

One, the cupboard WAS bare but Keeler and his staff made so many key offseason acquisitions that cannot be said now. He got the leading rusher from three schools–Memphis, Northern Illinois and Sam Houston–to come to Temple and assume that same role. He was able to keep Temple’s best rusher, Terrez Worthy, from last year to remain at Temple after he flirted with Tarleton State. The Jay Ducker/Worthy battle will be one to watch. No cupboard bare at the RB position.

Two, he upgraded the quarterback position by enticing the starting quarterback from last year at Oregon State to come to Temple. He also upgraded depth in the position by keeping Temple’s only good quarterback from last year, Evan Simon. (My prediction here is that Evan wins the job outright from Gevani McCoy because Keeler is a fair man who will realize that on his own when that battle is played out at 10th and Diamond in August.) There are at least two tasty choices in the cupboard at the most important position on the field. I won’t be mad if either McCoy or Simon start for the Owls. I was mad that the worst quarterback in football history, Forrest Brock, started for the Owls last season.

Three, the Owls’ best interior defensive lineman, Demerick Morris, transferred to Oklahoma State (presumably for NIL money) before having second thoughts and returning to Temple.

Morris is the only single-digit Owl to leave for another school and return to Temple. That is history in the making.

Playing for a Hall of Fame coach must have had a lot to do with it because I can’t imagine Temple had a bag of money to throw his way.

Saying Temple got an A for the hire and an F for roster implies that the hire has nothing to do with improving the roster. Inheriting a bad roster without an alternative was what new coaches did a decade ago in the pre-transfer portal era.

Improvising and adjusting that roster upward is what good new coaches do now. South Florida noticed what a lot of Temple fans did last December in the coaching department, while, at the same time, ignoring what he did after he was hired.

A for the former, F for the latter.

Monday: Networking

05.25.25
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Tush Push Could Return to Temple

Not quite the tush push, but a reminder of the days when “Temple TUFF” was more than a phrase.

Something that got plenty of attention here, but little elsewhere, was the story of the tush push staying in the NFL.

It’s always been legal in college football.

Temple’s last head coach, Stan Drayton, dabbled in it with mixed results in the last two seasons. When he tried it with a big tight end, David Martin-Robinson, it worked pretty well two years ago. When he tried it with a 160-pound backup quarterback a year ago at UConn, the play went viral for being laughable.

Temple TUFF dictates that the play return under the former framework, not the ladder.

The Owls are deep with big tight ends who can do the pushing. They have a big defensive lineman, Colin Greene, a former quarterback, who can do the tushing. The great thing about having Greene take the snap is that there can be a lot run off the tush push, like a quick pass or a fake tush push and a toss to the running back.

It’s a play perfect for new head coach K.C. Keeler to run because he understands the dynamics involved and how he can make it play to his advantage.

K.C. Keeler tush pushes his way through the Eagles’ victory parade.

Nobody that we can recall asked Keeler what he thinks of the play but he’s a big Eagles’ fan who attended the victory parade so he might dictate that show up in the playbook at some time in the future.

Former Temple DC Fran Brown already said he’s going to run the play at Syracuse and it makes sense.

For a team that rebuilt the offensive line over the offseason and is deep at tight end, no play makes more sense at Temple than the tush push.

It’s already popular in Philadelphia.

05.23.25
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Way too early 2025 Temple football predictions

K.C. Keeler might have this pose after the Owls beat North Carolina in the Military Bowl.

Our “way-too-early” 2024 predictions appeared in this space on May 19, 2024.

Only four days and a year later, we’re going to swing and hopefully hit on a lot of these but first a review.

We predicted the 2024 Temple Owls to go 2-10 and they went 3-9 (again). We pretty much nailed the Tulsa game on the head, predicting the Owls to win by 11 (they won by 10). Also nailed the UConn game predicting the Owls would lose, 17-14 (they lost 29-20).

Our biggest miss was Utah State, where we predicted the Owls to lose, 34-7 (they won, 45-29). We predicted a 77-6 loss to Oklahoma (they lost 51-3) and a win over Coastal Carolina (they lost that one, 28-20). Also lost FAU as we predicted Temple would lose to Tom Herman. Owls won, 18-15 and Stan Drayton was fired the next day.

The football is a strange shape and it takes funny bounces but we’ll give it the old college try in this spot:

Temple 24, UMass 10 _ The fact that Temple was able to steal UMass’ best linebacker tells you all you need to know about this one. Temple has a seasoned head coach in K.C. Keeler. UMass has a first-time head coach in a former Rutgers’ assistant. Evan Simon throws for two touchdown passes, Gevani McCoy adds another on the ground and Carl Hardin kicks a field goal. Temple is unbeaten (1-0).

Temple 48, Howard 7 _ Howard shocked the world a few years ago when it went to UNLV and came away with a win as a 37-point underdog against an FBS team. That’s not happening. Simon plays the first half and throws for three touchdown passes and McCoy does the same in the second half. Jay Ducker runs for 176 yards but no touchdowns as he is caught from behind twice. Temple is 2-0.

Oklahoma 34, Temple 14 _ Not completely sold on the Owls, the Temple fans are outnumbered in the stands by the visitors from 1,600 miles away. Crowd of 52,333 is heavily pro-Sooner and that makes the difference. Temple is now 2-1.

Georgia Tech 38, Temple 7 _ Plenty of talk about Georgia Tech’s 24-2 loss to Temple in 2019 before the game. Yellowjackets are primed for revenge and get it. Temple is now 2-2.

Owls to face both Bill Belichick and any distractions Jordan Hudson can provide in the Military Bowl.

Temple 24, UTSA 21 _ Carl Hardin nails a 48-yarder with 2:53 left to give Temple a lead and Temple’s defense stops the Roadrunners at midfield to end the game. Temple is 3-2.

Navy 31, Temple 21 _ The Midshipmen, which lost to Temple, 32-16, in 2023, get some revenge for that one. Temple, though, shows improvement over its 38-11 loss to Navy last year. Still not good enough. Temple is 3-3.

Make that 99 as of today.

Temple 34, Tulsa 21 _ Jay Ducker runs for 142 yards and sets up two short touchdown passes from Simon to Antonio Jones and Temple comes away with a comfortable win in Oklahoma. Many of the Oklahoma fans who made the trip to Philadelphia show up rooting for the Owls. Crowd is generously announced at 6,234. Temple is 4-3.

Temple 28, Charlotte 14 _ Owls go into the 20,111-seat Jerry Richardson Stadium and come away with a comfortable win. McCoy starts, throws two TDs and runs for one. Simon comes in to close out the game in the fourth quarter. Terrez Worthy scores a 56-yard touchdown and wins the starting RB job from Ducker. Temple is 5-3.

Temple 28, East Carolina 20 _ The last time ECU visited Lincoln Financial Field, the Pirates escaped with a 49-46 win because the Owls couldn’t convert a third-and-1 at midfield (trying a pass instead of a run) and kicked the ball away with a lead. This time, the Temple defense has a much better day, getting two picks. Temple is now 6-3.

Army 31, Temple 28 _ Temple leads the whole game but Army, in a game similar to the 2017 game, wins on a last-second bomb from a backup quarterback. Afterward, K.C. Keeler shakes Jeff Monken’s hand and says, “You are the best coach in the country.” Monken returns the favor, saying, “K.C. you are not so bad yourself.” Temple is 6-4.

Tulane 28, Temple 17 _ Keeler spends the entire off week showing the Owls film of their 52-6 loss at Tulane last year. It helps only a little. Brian Smith’s defense contains but does not stop the Green Wave. Temple is 6-5.

North Texas 31, Temple 17 _ The late November temperature in Denton, Texas is 82 degrees. Owls, who have practiced all week in 30-degree temperatures in Philadelphia can’t hang. Temple finishes 6-6 and accepts a bid to the Military Bowl to play North Carolina afterward.

Keeler laughs.

“I have a lot of respect for coach Belichick but I don’t have the off-field distractions he has,” Keeler says. “We’re going to be focused on winning. I told the kids anybody who opts out of the bowl game is no longer a Temple Owl. Kids said they are all in and so am I.”

There you have it. Temple finishes 6-6 in the regular season.

I had them at 2-10 a year ago. I won’t be mad if they win one more game than predicted this season.

Again.

Monday: The Temple Push


05.18.25
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Wise betting on Owls will be the over this season

This is Sunday’s College Football News’ prediction.

According to most legitimate betting sites, the over/under on Temple wins for the 2025 season is yet to be determined.

However, if the last two years were any indication, that number rested on 2.5 prior to the season and the Owls exceeded the number each time. Shockingly so, because that was with Stan Drayton as head coach and Everett Withers as defensive coordinator.

CFN’s Top 10 Temple players.

That probably means Vegas is currently factoring in things like coaching changes, transfer portal additions (vs. losses) to come up with a number in a matter of weeks, not months.

My guess is that the addition of K.C. Keeler alone moves the needle to four games and that’s probably where the number will rest.

I never bet Temple, either for or against, because my rooting interest is for the Owls to win every game and most things less bum me out to no end. I get no satisfaction of betting against the Owls, and winning some money the same way I get no satisfaction in betting for the Owls and them losing a game they should win.

Yet, for those of you so inclined, I recommend the over.

That means a minimum of five wins. If everything goes right, and the Owls catch a break with very few injuries at important positions, it could be six.

One thing I do know: It won’t be three.

Or less.

I’m not the only one.

On Sunday, College Football News came out with an assessment of the Owls and said their consecutive three-win seasons are over.

For the good.

They say four.

Most Temple fans I’ve seen say five.

I’m leaning toward six.

How they get there will be determined in Friday’s post.

Friday: Promises Made, Promises kept

Monday: Temple and the Push