Most of the hard recruiting work was done by this day on the beach in December with Kevin Kopp, Geoff Collins and Morgyn Seigfried.

Anyone who has been a Temple fan for many seasons has been to at least a couple of these recruiting signing nights.

The one that happens tonight (5-7 p.m., Student Pavilion Building) will have a different feel to it.

Back when Al Golden was having these things, he’d roll out the projector and show all 25 guys’ recruiting highlights. Then the oohs and ahhs would follow, someone would yell out (“they all look like USC and Alabama recruits”) and Golden would shake a few hands of the fans and we’d call it a wrap. There were surprises, last-minute guys who Golden would beat a BC or a Pitt for and who would go on to be great Owls.

For the first time, though, a lot of the surprise element is gone this year. Because of the early signing date, we have known for over a month who is in the fold.

That’s a good thing, not a bad one, because in the past Temple would invariably lose a number of recruits to Power 5 schools between December and February. Off the top of my head, they lost a running back to Iowa, a fullback to Pitt, a safety to Penn State and an “athlete” to Ohio State. Since they did not go to Temple, they shall remain nameless in this space.

The best national site on recruiting, according to most objective observers, is Scout.com and that site has Temple signing at least 25 players with as many as four add-ons coming tonight. Since we’re a little superstitions so we won’t name them until the ink is dry on the dotted line. More on them in this space on Saturday.

Of the 25 so far, though, Scout.com has 22 with at least three stars. Only three of the signees have two-stars. That’s an important distinction because, while Temple has had higher-ranked classes before, they have never had over 20 three-star players in the fold in a single class.

Quality and quantity should be the theme here.

Expect Geoff Collins to talk about adding depth throughout the organization and, unlike last year’s class, there will be quite a few guys in the room from it tonight who will make an impact not only on the highlight screen tonight, but on the field in a few months. That’s because at least five December signees are already working out at the E-O.

That’s progress.

Friday: Recruiting Night Recap