Tag Archives: Lamar Best

01.12.26
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Lamar Best’s chances to start just skyrocketed

Lamar Best’s high school film is clearly superior to the high school film of Smolik and Sheppard.

Back when Tiger Woods was winning just about every major golf tournament that there was, sports books had a standard bet before majors: Woods against the field.

Jaxon Smolik played third string QB at Penn State but an interesting tidbit is that he played QB at Dowling Catholic in Iowa which is the high school that produced Caitlin Clark.

Woods won just enough to make the bet–appealing on its face–a moneymaker for the house.

K.C. Keeler went into Temple’s offseason promising to get an experienced QB or two and some Owl fans, me included, weren’t expecting a Woods but certainly hoping for someone who reached the leaderboard of some quarterback competition on the field somewhere.

Instead, they got a couple of guys–third stringers at Penn State and Washington State–who now have a 50/50 chance to win the starting job at some point before the Sept. 5 opener.

Or at least a significant shot against a field that includes three true freshmen.

Say, those three–Brody Norman, Brady Palmer and Lamar Best–are roughly the field and the two transfer portal acquisitions, Ajani Sheppard and Jaxon Smolik–are “Tiger Woods.”

I’ll take the field, specifically Temple’s “secret weapon” in Best, whose film is off the charts. Best is every bit the passer P.J. Walker was and a far better runner. All Walker did was break every career passing mark at Temple.

Ajani Sheppard was third string at Rutgers behind Gavin Wimsatt and Evan Simon.

He might not be the starter but Temple’s failure to get a high achieving starter in its two transfer portal acquisitions raises significant concerns.

Among them, this: Smolik got on the field in a real game and did virtually nothing for Penn State. Same with Sheppard in stints and Rutgers and Washington State.

When you have a chance to get on the field in an actual game, you’ve got to do something. Neither of them did. Sheppard, like former Temple quarterback Evan Simon, is a one-time Rutgers’ backup but Simon threw for over 300 yards in a Big 10 game at Iowa so you knew he came with receipts.

Neither of these guys are coming with receipts.

Both, like Best, Norman, and Palmer, have good high school film but at least in the two transfer portal cases, that film has not translated into actual results in real college football games.

Maybe they will at Temple and maybe they won’t, but they haven’t so far, and the best predictor of future success is past success. I was hoping Temple would land the Saginaw Valley or Western Carolina quarterbacks, but apparently the staff whiffed on those two high-achievers.

This seems like settling to me and far from the dynamic duo of Simon and Gevani McCoy, but we will see.

Back to the drawing board.

BYU’s Bear Bachmeier showed a “true freshman” can go 11-1 on a college football field so that’s why I’m taking the freshman field against the two transfer portal pickups. He had to come from a long way in summer camp to beat more experienced quarterbacks who had a full spring and maybe that’s what will happen here.

May the Best man win.

Or at least the most talented one.

Friday: Best Available

12.04.25
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A Signing Day that could not have gone better

Lamar Best could pull a Bear Bachmeier (BYU) and be 11-1 as a true freshman starting quarterback.

Based on what happened Wednesday inside the Edberg-Olson Practice Facility, Temple is going to have a pretty good football team in 2026.

Certainly, better than the 5-7 product we saw in 2025.

That’s because Temple signed the No. 1 recruiting class–objectively, because that was determined by the 247.com rankings–in the American Conference and 21 of those 32 signees will be enrolled in the school by January, giving them a head start both in the weight room and with the program’s culture.

Signing day 2025 could not have gone better because of that.

It was a history-making class for at least a couple of reasons.

At No. 63 nationally, it was the highest ranked class Temple has had since Steve Addazio was able to bring in the No. 54 class after the 2011 New Mexico Bowl win over Wyoming. (Prior to that, Al Golden brought in a No. 52 class after the 2009 Eagle Bank Bowl game against UCLA.)

That was all in the middle of an historic Temple bowl run, which saw the Owls attain bowl eligibility for nine of 11 seasons. By comparison, Temple hasn’t been eligible for a bowl this decade and it is a decade that is getting pretty old.

Clayton Barnes showed every Temple fan why K.C. Keeler wouldn’t have taken the Owl job if he didn’t come along. He is the Howie Roseman of college football.

What determines the product on the field, though, will be the next signing day early in January when the Owls reap whatever they can sow from the transfer portal.

Probably the marquee pick of the 32 is St. Joseph’s (N.J.) Regional state champion quarterback Lamar Best, who played in a high school league every bit as good as the one current BYU true freshman Bear Bachmeier played at Murietta Valley (Calif.). Best not only knocked off national power Don Bosco in the state title game, he had a very similar sophomore season to Bachmeier in high school. Bachmeier threw for 2,853 yards and 26 touchdowns at Murietta while Best, then at Willingboro, threw for 2,607 and 35 touchdowns.

Whoever Temple brings in could very well lose the starting job to Best but the Owls probably won’t risk that scenario. To me, after an examination of both his film and the last true freshman Temple starter, P.J. Walker, he’s at least as good a passer but a far better runner. Walker was a true drop back passer in comparison to what Best can do with his legs.

The fact that neither head coach K.C. Keeler nor recruiting guru Clayton Barnes want to leave the results of the 2026 season on a true freshman indicates the soundness of their roster approach. They brought in two other great high school quarterbacks, Brody Norman and Brady Palmer.

The only “cinch” starter among the group appears to be Upper Moreland High punter extraordinaire Luke Sword. If he doesn’t punt much, the Owls are either scoring touchdowns or kicking field goals and those are the preferable options.

If nothing else happens, they will need an experienced winning No. 1 quarterback. Keeler said they will bring in two.

If this is Luke Sword’s first punt at Temple, I won’t be mad.

Refreshing to hear for Temple fans who were absolutely screwed by Rod Carey when Anthony Russo went down and felt the same level of de ja vu with Stan Drayton when E. J. Warner missed several games with an injury. Temple will never be one hit away from a season-ending injury with Keeler as head coach.

Whether that quarterback is from the P4, G5 or even the FCS, it doesn’t matter. If anyone doubts K.C. Keeler’s ability to do that, we only need to refer you to the acquisition of Gevani McCoy. That came days after the Owls lost current Heisman Trophy candidate Trinidad Chambliss to Ole Miss.

McCoy earned the admiration of every Temple fan in that he battled holdover Evan Simon to a virtual standoff before the opener at UMass, lost his job, and became a good soldier in supporting his teammates until the end.

Temple needs someone like that, who is good enough to beat out a true freshman with all the talent in the world or back him up as insurance in case he gets hurt. Someone with the character of a McCoy.

If nothing else happens, the floor is six wins. The ceiling with an experienced winning college quarterback is double digits.

If the next recruiting season (portal) is as exciting as the one concluded on Wednesday, Temple fans are in for a treat. They will need to get off the sugar high of the last treat and a month should be enough time.

Monday: Room At The Top

Friday: Burying The Lead