Hunter Smith: Temple’s home run hitter

Hunter Smith never played baseball but had a knack for the long ball going back to his high school days here.

Almost lost in the pages of notes on Temple’s official website was the fact that last year’s Mr. Outside was being left out of contact drills this spring.

Not to worry, though. There’s no injury involved just a preservation of talent, a decision made by head coach K.C. Keeler.

Hunter Smith almost took this to the house against Tulsa. Radical idea: Let’s wear these uniforms every game. At least these same helmets.

Hunter Smith, who led the Sun Belt Conference in rushing in the 2023 season, was the Glenn Davis to Jay Ducker’s Doc Blanchard (that’s a 1940s reference) and gave Temple an effective 1-2 punch … but he wasn’t the home run hitter for the offense last year.

Evan Simon, who threw 24 touchdowns against two interceptions, was.

Given Temple’s quarterback history and the inexperience of the current QB room, it’s unrealistic to give that moniker to the new quarterbacks.

First of all, Simon’s season was historic and bettered anything at least from a stats standpoint that P.J. Walker, Adam DiMichele, Anthony Russo, E.J. Warner or even Maxwell Award-winning quarterback Steve Joachim did.

To get that kind of season two years in a row is unrealistic when it never happened before.

However, it is realistic to expect more from Smith because his role should be expanded. He won’t have to share carries with Jay Ducker so his chance to hit more “home runs” and, as an RB, finding that crease and taking it to the house.

Temple fans saw glimpses of that last year when he had a 65-yard touchdown against Howard and a 54-yard touchdown against UTSA. His 74-yard run at Tulsa set the Owls up with a first-and-goal at the 1 and that’s when OC Tyler Walker got away from the plan (give the tough inside carries to Ducker) and tried to “reward” Smith with the TD by giving it to him the next three times. (Keeler denied that but Ducker was ready and available but not used.) Put it this way: Why give the ball to a guy who had to be gassed after a 72-yard run? Ducker had to be scratching his head.

Now the Owls have to find a guy to fill the inside role that Ducker had and they have plenty of candidates for that. As far as Smith’s role, though, he’s healthy and ready for a great final season and Keeler is wise not to take any chances with spring contact for his version of Kyle Schwarber.

Nobody wanted Schwarbs to pull a hammy in Clearwater and if Smith is going to get any contact, it should come in summer camp.

Friday: One Week to Cherry and White

Stopping the run: The Return of the Nose Guard

Jaylon Joseph’s pass rushing skills at Lafayette got him named to the Jerry Rice Watch Lists as the best player in FCS. Temple fans will get to see those skills this fall.

The biggest difference between some of the positions listed on the Temple football roster this spring versus last year at this time is the return of the nose guard designation.

It’s been awhile and it might have something to do with the realization among the Temple brain trust that sending more bodies up the middle against the service academies takes away the fullback and forces action from sideline to sideline.

Matt Rhule learned that lesson the hard way in the 2016 opener as Phil Snow played a conventional 4-3 defense against Army and the Cadets were able to come away with a 28-16 win as the fullback ran at will up the middle.

To Rhule’s credit, he improvised and adjusted a dozen games later. Averee Robinson–a three-time Pennsylvania State champion heavyweight wrestler–took the nose in a 5-2 defense and dominated the Navy center. The Middies gave up the fullback that game and strung the pitches from sideline to sideline, where Temple’s superior and quicker athletes (including Hasson Riddick and Sean Chandler) were able to shut that down as well in a 34-10 championship win.

What were listed as DTs last year on the roster (there is no official depth chart listed yet) are now NGs and that’s a sign that the Owls are serious about beating the academies. Or at least more serious.

There are plenty of issue on the defensive line still. Among them who is going to be as effective a rush end as Cam Stewart? Who is going to replace Khalil Poteat, Sultan Badmas and Sekou Kromah?

In the opening spring press conference, head coach K.C. Keeler said that the Owls were able to “retain all of our starters” and he felt that Temple was the only team in the G5 able to do that. What he left out, though, was the fact that Kromah was a starter who left because he ran out of eligibility (and the oft-injured Badmus and Poteat were impact backups).

When JaMair Diaz was at Glenville State, he was up for Division II player of the year and had a dozen sacks as a sophomore.

Now the Owls have to look for impact guys to replace them and there are question marks all over the place.

One of the exclamation points is that it looks like the Owls will go to a 5-2 with two DTs, a NG and two DEs which should help them up front against the service academies. The Owls have three nose guards vying for the starting job in the middle and those are Joseph Auzenne (6-1, 295), Penn State transfer Kaleb Artis (6-4, 315) and Troy Cunningham (6-3, 265). Auzenne has the most experience but his season high for tackles came in the Georgia Tech game (only three). Artis sat out the 2025 season with an injury and Cunningham waited until the last game of the season (North Texas) to see game action.

Other interiors include redshirt sophomore Russell Sykes is listed as a DT. He’s got the requisite size (6-3, 260) but he’s light on experience. He only had one sack and six tackles in the 2025 season.

Not a whole lot of real game experience except for the rush ends like All-Patriot League DE Jaylon Joseph (Lafayette) and Sam Houston State transfer JaMair Diaz, who was once DII Player of the Year at Glenville State. On paper, those might be upgrades over Poteat and Stewart.

Might.

The maddening thing is that we won’t know for sure this spring or even in the summer because between now and then it’s the good guys vs. the good guys.

As with a lot of positions on the 2026 Owls, we will have to wait until the real games are played.

March Madness: Knocking Temple football

The best part about this are the fans coming to the defense of Temple football in the comments.

At about this time every year, there is usually a post-mortem on the Temple basketball season and there will always be some wise guy basketball fan who blames Temple football for the basketball team’s woes.

Newsflash: Nobody on the Temple football team plays on the Temple basketball team anymore and the two teams are separate entities with separate revenue streams.

The failure of Temple basketball rests solely on Temple basketball. Temple football can take care of its own business.

The latest “wise guy” is a basketball expert named Aaron Bracy who said “basketball” was the school’s brand and that somehow football was hurting it.

One, who says “basketball” is the school’s brand?

Two, how is football “hurting” basketball?

John Chaney is from a generation ago and even he–as great a coach as he was–wouldn’t within get a sniff of the NCAA tournament if he had to coach with the transfer portal and NIL as a handicap.

So basketball might have been the brand then, but it certainly is not the brand now.

What has the Temple football program done since Chaney coached his last game?

Qualified for a bowl game nine times in a period of 10 years.

Appeared in two AAC title games, winning one.

Hosted College Football’s Game Day.

Nobody is stopping Temple basketball from hiring the winningest active Division I head coach in that sport.

Attracted the largest TV audience ever to watch a prime-time college football game in the Philadelphia market and that’s including regular and post-season games and that’s a record Temple still holds.

Played and won a league championship game 121 miles away from Philadelphia and attracted a crowd of 10,000 of the 22,232 for that game, making Temple’s 34-10 win essentially a home game.

What are the chances of Temple basketball playing a game 100 miles away and enticing 10,000 Temple fans to make the trip?

Zero.

I like Temple basketball as much as the next guy (but, admittedly nowhere near as much as I like Temple football) but never once did I ever consider blaming the football program for basketball’s woes.

They both play in the same league and they both can win the same league.

The football Owls brought home an AAC championship trophy on the team bus in 2016. Admittedly, that was a decade ago but it’s also something Temple basketball has never done. Hell, the basketball practice facility cost twice as much to build as the football practice facility, and both were built this century.

They have the same chance to do what football did and it’s time for them to do it.

On their own, without pointing the finger anywhere else.

If K.C.’s history is a guide, TU is in for a good season

They say the best predictor of future success is past success and, if that’s true, Temple football is in for a very good 2026 season.

Head coach K.C. Keeler has had a very good history in all of the jobs he had previously of assessing the situation, adapting to the environment in the first season and improving it the next.

Look at it this way.

Spring ball in Philadelphia: 80 degrees on Wednesday, snowing and 34 on Thursday. Owls are getting prepared for games in early September and late November on consecutive days.

In his second year at Rowan College, Keeler went 6-3.

In his second year at Delaware, he went 15-1 and won the FCS national championship.

In his second year at Sam Houston State, he went 11-4 and made the FCS quarterfinals.

All but the Rowan job–his first–represented a significant improvement on the first season. That may have been in part to Keeler learning how to be a head coach on the job after replacing former Philadelphia Eagles linebacker John Bunting.

Keeler proved he was a fast learner.

Temple finished 5-7 in Keeler’s first season at Temple which was particularly impressive in that the program was coming off four-consecutive 3-9 seasons.

When you look at it, though, it should have been 7-5 because normally reliable place-kicker Carl Hardin missed 38- and 45-yard field goals in 32-31 and 14-13 losses. Take the Navy game, for instance. If Hardin had made that first-half 38-yarder, the Owls would have had a 27-24 lead with 1:16 left on the Navy 1 and that touchdown Jay Ducker scored would have made it 34-24 and rendered Blake Horvath’s heroics meaningless.

Ironically, those were two of the only three misses Hardin had in an 11-for-14 season that included a game-winning extra point and a late 51-yard FG at Tulsa.

So there. Maybe Hardin hits all 14 FGs this season.

The goal this year is not to take games down to field goals and instead score enough early touchdowns for those 34-24 leads. To that end, Keeler has not only recruited the No. 1 incoming freshman class in the American Conference but also brought in the No. 1 transfer portal class in that league. On top of that, he retained all of the starters who did not graduate.

That’s not an accident. That is the product of someone who knows what he’s doing.

Monday: Under Attack

5 Things We’d Like to See From Spring Ball

If the Owls beat Penn State this season, expect the drums to start beating for their own stadium like this one on the river

When you spend every March in Philadelphia, as I have (except for the few March months I covered the Phillies), there are certain signs of spring.

One, Rita’s Water Ice opens every March 1.

Two, there is a first sunset after 7 p.m. (Sunday).

Three, Temple starts spring football practice.

Can Phillies opening day be far behind? (Spoiler alert: It will be on us in a flash.)

Temple’s spring practice begins on Tuesday and ends with Cherry and White Day a month from now and we can tell you right now that the only significant outcome will be dibs on first- and second-team spots on the depth chart.

To say that you can determine what the Owls will do in the regular season based on that is really premature but there are some position battles that should be interesting.

Quarterback

Evan Simon set the bar high for the next QB.

We should see separation between Jaxon Smolik and Ajani Sheppard by Cherry and White Day. Expect one to quarterback the Cherry team and one to quarterback the White team. Right now, it’s a 50/50 shot who starts the opener against Rhode Island. Will it be that way in August? Something tells me one of the guys coming in during the summer, Lamar Best, balls out. If he does, it will be hard to keep that “it factor” off the field.

Pass rushers

Plenty of prospects to replace the reliable group of Cam’ron Stewart, Sultan Badmus, Khalil Poteat and Sekou Kromah but just as many suspects. To me, the key to winning in college football is keeping your quarterback’s jersey clean and getting the bad guy’s quarterback dirty and Temple did that in its most significant win, a 26-21 job over a UTSA team destroyed league champion Tulane, 48-26. Getting the guys who replicate that feat on a MORE consistent basis than that one game will be the difference between another 5-7 season and a 7-5 one.

Tight End

1,000 receiving yards and 15 touchdowns should be enough to get Peter Clarke drafted in the first round.

Temple has the best tight end in the country returning in Peter Clarke (IMHO) and he has a chance to become the next Owl drafted in the NFL’s first round. Still, as good as Clarke is, he wasn’t the starter in the opening game last season (spring sensation Ryder Kusch was). Does Temple go two tight ends to jumpstart the running game? That’s an option for the Owls to work on this spring.

Kick returner

Temple had one of the best punt returners in the country in JoJo Bermudez last season. Question is do you use your best wide receiver on punt returns again or find someone else? I think redshirt freshman Tylik Mitchell is one of the many who can fit that role. He ran a 10.7, 100 meters in high school. How fast is that? Former Temple superstar running back Bernard Pierce WON the PIAA state indoor 100 meters as a high school senior at Glen Mills with a 10.8. Mitchell was an elusive running back in North Carolina, so he’s got the same “twitch” to his return game that Bermudez has.

Secondary

The Owls have always had transfers come in to take up key spots and this year is no exception. Purdue transfer Earl Culp should be able to compete for a starting spot as should Asa Locks. There’s always room for a wild card to impress.

Friday: Second Seasons

Monday: Under Attack

Now’s the time to predict 2026: A one-game improvement

I can’t believe Parker Navarro is still in the portal but I know Temple is the perfect place for him.

Going into this transfer portal season we outlined the “type” of quarterback Temple needed to get in order to compete for the American Conference championship.

That quarterback was an FCS superstar or a capable “star” FBS quarterback looking for a tick up in competition.

Temple, for all of its transfer portal successes, failed to get that guy. Instead, they got a couple of guys who only proved that they couldn’t get on the field for P4-type teams. Not only didn’t they get a proven FBS starter, but in terms of receipts, they didn’t get someone with the pedigree of Evan Simon (starter at Rutgers) nor Gevani McCoy (starter at Oregon State), last year’s 1-2 punch.

So while they improved at a lot of positions they regressed at the most important position on the field.

Not good.

So, sadly, I don’t see the Owls competing for an American Conference title but there is room for improvement and I do see the Owls improving incrementally.

At my age, that isn’t fast enough but I will take the small wins when I can get them.

Why are we not waiting until May? It looks like all the players are in place now and they will compete only against themselves between now and Cherry and White Day.

Parker Navarro, a quarterback who does fit all the qualifications of an AAC championship quarterback, is still in the portal.

It doesn’t have to be Navarro, whose eligibility issue is up in the air but someone like him.

We can only hope but I think Temple is done at QB. I hope I’m wrong.

We predict 6-6 without Navarro or someone like him.

With an inexperienced starter, or someone like him, I see the Owls winning 9-10 games and getting into the AAC championship game.

I have this sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach that Temple is done and going with six quarterbacks. None to me have the “it” factor with the possible exception of Lamar Best, who arrives in July.

So we’re going under the assumption that Temple is done at the quarterback position.

I see the Owls beating Rhode Island (55-10), losing to Penn State (35-14), beating Toledo (17-13), losing to Army (24-21), losing at South Florida (55-24), beating UConn (17-10), beating Charlotte (48-23), losing at East Carolina (36-19), losing at Navy (17-14), beating UAB (21-14), beating Rice (28-17) and losing at Memphis (35-21).

That’s 6-6 and the very definition of mediocrity. As Wayne Hardin once said, “mediocrity is not my cup of tea.”

Nor mine.

An experienced guy is out there. With him, I see a more competitive game against Penn State, wins at USF at home vs. Army and at Navy and a possible win at Memphis. That’s not 6-6 nor mediocrity.

Go get him or expect meh when “yeah” should have been the Year Two goal all along.

Monday: 5 Things We’d Like to See From Spring Ball

Friday: The New Bowl System and Temple

One area Owls are in good hands: Feet

While there are some concerns about gameday experience on the quarterback level, there is at least one area where the Owls are in good hands.

Feet.

With both starting kicker Carl Hardin coming back and starting punter Dante Atton as well, the Owls have plenty of gameday experience and clutch plays under their belts at least in that part of special teams.

Hardin, a redshirt junior from Raleigh, N.C., only missed three field goals–a 61-yarder at Georgia Tech, a 45-yarder at Army and a 38-yarder against Navy.

Ironically, had he hit two of those field goals in games against the service academies, the Owls would have been in a pretty nice bowl game somewhere and would have at least had a better chance to finish 7-5 in the regular season.

So even good players have things to work on but, conversely, his successful 51-yarder at Tulsa was the reason the Owls were able to pull that game out.

Hardin’s performance wasn’t a surprise to anyone who watched the Owls in practice and former kicker Maddox Trujillo told K.C. Keeler on his way out that Hardin was not only the second-best kicker on the Owls, but the second-best kicker in the entire league. Hard to argue with Maddox on those points as Hardin finished the year 11-for14 on field goals and 40 for 40 on extra points. Plus, he solved one of the most maddening problems of the Stan Drayton Era–kicking the ball out of bounds.

That used to happen multiple times a game under Drayton but last year happened only once in 2025.

As far as depth, backup kicker Lucas Glassburn–who made his only XP attempt for the Owls in 2025–hit the portal and transferred to New Hampshire, where he will be the starter and Darren Wu moves into Glassburn’s spot at Temple. Wu was Lafayette’s top kicker before transferring to Temple last season.

The punter, Atton, is even more well-known as he is the only returning first-team All-American at any position in Temple football history (not even Paul Palmer and Joe Klecko were first-team All-Americans as underclassmen). Atton pinned opponents inside the 20 a record 27 times.

If things work out the way head coach K.C. Keeler wants, the stats from both Hardin and Atton won’t be as gaudy this year as the goal is to score touchdowns, not field goals nor even punt the ball. (When E.J. Warner was quarterback in 2023, the Owls went two consecutive games without punting.)

It’s nice to know, though, the Owls can milk a clock down to 20 or so seconds in a tie game and win it on a short field goal if needed.

Friday: Now’s The Time

Monday: 5 Things We’d Like to See in Spring Ball

Tribute to a couple of loyal Temple football Owls

When he had a choice of representing Temple or Washington, Tre always picked the Owls.

They say no news is good news so it shouldn’t be surprising when there is news on a couple of Owls, it wasn’t good.

First and most important, Tre Johnson–a great offensive lineman from the Jerry Berndt/Ron Dickerson Era–passed away suddenly on a family trip at the all-too-young age of 54.

No cause of death and it’s none of our business but it’s incredibly sad when someone that young passes.

Second and less important was the fact that Shaun Bradley hung up the cleats after five years in the NFL as a linebacker and special teams player. Ironically, Bradley wore number 54 with the Philadelphia Eagles and No. 23 at Temple before being awarded a single digit (5) before his junior season.

Both had something in common in that they spent their entire college careers as Temple Owls, something that will be less and less common as the years go on, unfortunately.

Both were leaders.

Johnson was drafted No. 31 overall–that would make him a first-round pick today–in 1994 but, then, it was high second-round. The pick turned out to be a good one for the then Washington Redskin as he made the pro bowl in 1999. Johnson actually spanned three eras as he was in the last recruiting class of Bruce Arians and played three years for Berndt and finished up with Dickerson.

Bradley was a sixth-round pick of the hometown Philadelphia Eagles and was one of the best special team players as a rookie.

In 2019, Bradley help bridge the transition between Geoff Collins and Rod Carey and was captain of the team in his senior year. The Owls won seven games in Shaun’s junior year and eight games in his senior season and Carey gave him credit for keeping the team together after Collins left for Georgia Tech.

Bradley had two key stops in a goal-line stand in a 20-17 win over 21st-ranked Maryland, which beat No. 23-ranked Syracuse, 56-21, the week before they lost to the Owls. In fact, for two straight years Bradley was Maryland’s worst nightmare as he helped win the 2018 game at Maryland, 35-14, with a Pick 6.

The second time he beat Maryland was one of the most exciting goal line stands in Temple history The Terrapins had a first-and-goal from the 2 and ended the series back on the 5, going for it on fourth down.

Bradley also had the key play to end Cincinnati’s unbeaten season at Temple’s Homecoming, an interception that ended the game.

As he went out of bounds on the Cincy sideline, he waved goodbye to that team.

Bradley said he’s “excited for the future” and we’re sure that Temple education will bring him good things ahead. His life is just beginning so, while it’s sad he’s leaving football, the worst news of the days was we won’t get to see Tre Johnson anymore.

Johnson made an incredible impact in his 54 years and will be remembered as one of the team’s best offensive linemen in history.

Friday: A Significant Difference

Interpreting the Tyler Douglas departure

In this day and age, checking the Temple football roster on a daily basis is an unfortunate task for close fans of the team.

A simple check a few days ago by OwlsDaily.com’s Shawn Pastor came up with this gem.

Last year’s third-string quarterback–and the second-string quarterback two years ago–is not on the team.

Tyler Douglas.

When will this madness end?

I hate having to check the roster every few days, let alone every day but this is the college football world we live in right now.

Pastor said he reached out to Temple and the program has no comment on the situation.

This is where we are, though.

Douglas was a much-heralded recruit from the same school (Ocean Township, N.J.) that former Temple commit (and NFL quarterback) Kenny Pickett came from.

Much was expected, but little was gained.

Douglas was famous for two plays in his entire career at Temple, both bad.

One was a fourth-and-goal fumble on a tush push at the goal-line that would have given Temple a “sure” win at bowl-bound UConn in 2024 and the other was a botched up fake reverse pass at Army last year in a 14-13 loss. (The UConn thing was not my call. Mine was a Sam Cunningham-style leap with Terrez Worthy that would have worked but I wasn’t OC that day. As far as the Army call, I would have made it with Kajiya Hollawayne on the first play of the game. The reasoning was simple: Hollawayne was a 4* UCLA QB recruit and Douglas wasn’t.)

Two plays.

Two disasters.

Yet, by all accounts, he was/is a good guy so when Temple head coach K.C. Keeler told him he was no longer in his quarterback plans, if he entered the transfer portal, he would get a waiver to come back if nothing happened.

Nothing happened so Douglas ostensibly accepted Keeler’s offer to come back and compete for a wide receiver’s job.

Ostensibly, because one day Douglas was here and the next day he’s gone.

What does that mean for the 2026 Owls? To me, Keeler was being a nice guy allowing Douglas to return but, unlike him, I didn’t see too much playing time for Douglas at WR.

Maybe the Douglas camp came to the same conclusion.

Our stats are skyrocketing right now. Thanks to the fans of this website.

If so, that means Temple can upgrade the roster with a “real” receiver if it wants or save that scholarship for a bigger need, like pass rusher on the defensive side.

According to Feb. 6 data, Missouri edge rusher Damon Wilson–who had 3 1/2 sacks at Georgia–is still available, as is Ohio QB Parker Navarro and San Jose State QB Walker Eget and both quarterbacks have more receipts than Douglas.

Hell, they have more receipts than any of the six quarterbacks currently on the Temple roster.

My interpretation of both the Douglas situation and what Keeler has done so far indicates that they may be done at QB, but open to any other impact player.

Wilson would be that kind of guy who overshot his self worth parachute and pulled the backup parachute plug and could end up at Temple.

Hopefully, Keeler and Clayton Barnes are looking to the sky right now.

One way to spice up the 2026 Temple season: Trickeration

The original “Philly Special” that inspired the next Philly Special.

Believe it or not, “trickeration” is a word.

The Oxford Dictionary lists it as meaning “deception” and indicates the word is used “less than 0.01” percent of the time in the English language with almost all of those references in U.S. English.

With Temple football recently, the word is used less than that.

Maybe 0.00.

If K.C. Keeler and Stan Drayton have one thing in common, it’s that they haven’t really pulled out a successful trick play over the last two seasons. Keeler was asked about that by Shawn Pastor and said: “I don’t like to use them when we’re not playing well.”

To that, I say: There is always the first play of the game.

Keeler tried one at Army late in the game with third-string quarterback Tyler Douglas throwing a reverse pass that was blown up when the Cadets’ leader on defense yelled out “hey, watch 14 with the pass. He’s their backup quarterback.”

For the past two years we were screaming for 4* UCLA quarterback recruit Kaija Hollawayne to put that arm to use but those calls fell on deaf ears. To me, the key part of the trick there is that we know he was a UCLA QB recruit and the Temple coaches know, but the bad guys don’t.

The bad guys certainly knew Douglas was a quarterback and that’s why that play didn’t work.

Deception is the key and, to me, trick plays might not help Temple but they certainly couldn’t hurt.

P.J. “You want to do North Philly, North Philly?” Matt” “Yeah, let’s do it.”

Almost all of the time Matt Rhule used one it worked out.

One year we casually reminded Matt that Jalen Fitzpatrick was the starting QB for the Big 33 game and he hadn’t thrown a pass while playing wide receiver at Temple.

“Don’t be surprised if you see him throw one this year,” Matt told both me and John Belli at the season-ticket holder party. Midway through the season, Fitzpatrick threw a 95-yard touchdown off a double-reverse at SMU, which remains the longest pass completion in Temple history.

ESPN did a show on the “Philly Special” on Friday night where Doug Pederson said “he saw first saw the play in a college game” and then saw the Bears use it in the regular season.

The college game?

Penn State at Temple, 2015. A wide receiver reverse to a high school quarterback named John Christopher, who hit QB P.J. Walker out of the backfield.

That’s why it was called the Philly Special because Temple used it first. The Eagles version also featured a high school quarterback, backup tight end Trey Burton, throwing the pass.

Real football games started on a Aug. 30 and ended last night with the Super Bowl.

Some of the games were more boring than others, including the last one. Trick plays add some spice to the equation, and they work more often than not.

At Temple, they’ve almost always worked and sometimes helped bridge a talent gap.

We talk about bringing back the good old days to Temple and one way would be bringing back those fun plays that led to big gains and even bigger wins.