5 Trick Plays that could fool Oklahoma

Nice call on this fake field goal for Temple at Houston a couple of years ago.

Usually in this space on Monday after a Temple football game we’d slot it for reviewing some things from the past game.

Our predictions for the first three games way back on May 23d. If anything, we sold Temple short in the first two games.

Bleep that.

That was Howard the Owls were playing and there is not much to learn from that game. Our May 23d post predicted the score of every single Temple game and, if the result of the first two games are any indication, we sold Temple a little bit short.

We had the Owls beating UMass (24-10) and Howard (48-7) and the Owls beat our expectations by 18 points in the first game and seven points in the second. We also had Oklahoma beating the Owls, 34-14, so if the Owls split the difference and are, say, a dozen points better that game finishes 34-26.

The trick now is to shave even more points off that differential and if the TU offense shows the Sooners wrinkles it hasn’t shown so far that could do it. Temple has been pretty vanilla on offense so far but what new OC Tyler Walker has done that is so impressive is a lot of pre-snap reads that cause the defense confusion.

Emphasis on trick.

Here are 5 plays that could fool Oklahoma:

Kajiya Hollawayne, like former Big 33 MVP quarterback Jalen Fitzpatrick, is a Temple WR who can also throw the ball, having committed to UCLA as a QB.

One, the throwback pass _ WR Kajiya Hollawayne is a former top-rated QB recruit at UCLA. We assume he can still throw the ball. Simon throws backward to Hollawayne who finds a streaking JoJo Bermudez down the sideline for six. The Sooners are an over pursuing defense and the pass to Hollawayne suckers the other corner just enough that Bermudez can get behind him. (We gave this suggestion to Matt Rhule before the SMU game one year when we mentioned to him that he has a Big 33 MVP QB who had not thrown the ball in his career up to that point. Rhule had WR Jalen Fitzpatrick throw a 95-yard touchdown pass on a double-reverse in that game.)

Two, the shovel pass _ One of Wayne Hardin’s staples was the shovel pass, faking a handoff usually to a fullback (Henry Hynoski, Mark Bright), then dropping back to pass and then shoveling the ball ahead on a pass against a defense going for the QB. Temple doesn’t have a fullback but does have an effective between-the-tackles runner in Jay Ducker and a shovel pass to him might earn him a touchdown.

Three, the tight end jump pass _ Al Golden pulled this one out at the Fake Miami (Ohio) with Chester Stewart dropping back and jumping while throwing a TD pass to Evan Rodriguez.

Four, the fake field goal _ If you are Temple playing a P4 like Oklahoma, at least once you have to roll the dice for six instead of setting for three. Temple had a successful one at Houston (see video above).

The Fake QB sneak_ Facing a 3d and 1 at midfield in the 2008 Navy game, QB Adam DiMichele feigned a QB sneak and deftly hit Bruce Francis for a touchdown pass. Obviously, this is a 3d and 1 type call or maybe even more ballsy as a 4th and 1 call.

Friday: Oklahoma Preview

Late Saturday Night: TU-Oklahoma Analysis

Immediate help is on the way for Temple football

Jay Ducker was the leading rusher at NIU, Memphis and Sam Houston and hopes to do the same at TU.

Lost in the Big Beautiful Month for Temple football 2026 recruiting that ends Monday is the fact that new head coach K.C. Keeler placed immediate needs ahead of future ones.

Keeler loaded up on the transfer portal to bulk up this roster before concentrating on future rosters and that’s the way it should be.

Any Temple fans having concerns about the roster need not.

That’s because the roster has been UPGRADED with newcomers and not downgraded by any loss of Stan Drayton’s guys.

Colin Chase could make Temple fans forget Dante Wright.

Look just at the key spots:

If Gevani McCoy beats out Evan Simon, he’s a pretty good quarterback.

QUARTERBACK__Temple was pretty much screwed at the backup quarterback position before Keeler addressed that with the addition of Oregon State starter Gevani McCoy in late April. Right now, we don’t know who is going to start at QB, McCoy or Evan Simon but going into this season not a single person can say Temple was better off at this time last year with Forrest Brock as the starter and Simon as a backup. Consider that position upgraded simply because backup quarterbacks have been a disaster at Temple for most of the last six years.

RUNNING BACK__Temple went into last season with high hopes for an FIU transfer (E.J. Wilson) and a true sophomore, Joquez Smith, not realizing that the 2023 leading JUCO rusher in the nation was on the roster in Terrez Worthy. Once Worthy got in the game, Temple realized it had something but he didn’t get highlighted until the middle of the season. Not satisfied with JUST Worthy, Keeler added Jay Ducker, who was the leading rusher in the MAC as a true freshman and the leading rusher at NIU, Memphis and Sam Houston State in the last three seasons. Think he’s not motivated to add Temple to that list? Hunter Smith, who was the leading rusher at Louisiana Monroe as a freshman, adds depth and joins a crowded room that includes Worthy, Smith and Ducker. Fortunately, Wilson is gone. Position definitely upgraded.

WIDE RECEIVERS__While Temple lost a couple of serviceable receivers in Dante Wright and John Adams, they added the leading receiver from Delaware (JoJo Bermudez). Grambling transfer Antonio Jones showed he had pretty good hands last year and returns, as does Xavier Irvin, who showed flashes of being pretty good. Colin Chase (St. Thomas) could surprise. EVEN.

OFFENSIVE LINE__Temple returns seven guys who started FBS games in South Carolina transfer Grayson Mains, Chris Smith, Jackson Pruitt, Luke Watson, Eric King, Diego Barajas and Kevin Terry. Keeler also brought in a letterwinner from Georgia who should provide depth. UPGRADE.

DEFENSIVE LINE__Keeler has called that the deepest position on the team with single-digit Demerick Morris coming back to Temple after a short stint at Oklahoma State. His teammates voted to allow him back, which shows he’s a leader. Other solid players include Miami (Fla.) transfer Allan Haye, Philadelphia city star Tyrese Whitaker, Rutgers’ transfer Cam’Ron Stewart (who has been good here) and Georgia Tech transfer K.J. Miles. UMass starter Aaron Beckwith transferred here over the winter but is not expected to start here. HUGE UPGRADE.

LINEBACKER__Eric Stuart is the lone returning starter but Keeler recognized that fact and brought in UMass starter Jalen Stewart and Delaware’s best linebacker, Ty Davis, who both should start here. Another potential starter is Kentucky backup Jayvant Brown, who turned down Alabama and Auburn offers to sign at Kentucky. UPGRADE

SPECIALS__Temple returns punter Dante Atton and former Temple kicker Maddux Trijillo called his backup, Carl Hardin, “the second best kicker in the AAC.” We’ll see if Maddux is as good a talent evaluator as he is a kicker but Hardin was consistent throughout the spring. Tylik Mitchell could be the best kickoff returner Temple has had since Isiah Wright. DOWNGRADE (because MT was so good). Hopefully, Temple will not be punting this year.

Anyone who has any concerns about Temple’s roster being thin is ignoring the players Keeler is bringing in and, in this day and age of the transfer portal, fans do that at their own peril.

Friday: Just Short of an A

Objectively, the best Temple recruiting month ever

The Owls already here hit the weight room on the hottest day in Philly since 2012.

A couple of famous names who signed on the dotted line illustrated what we’ve been thinking for a couple of weeks.

Objectively, this 2026 recruiting class is the best Temple one since 2007 and the credit must be given to a full court press the K.C. Keeler staff did this month.

Also objectively, this is the best recruiting month ever.

In an era where the G5 never beats the P5 (or P4 now), at least five recruits came down to two choices:

Temple and Syracuse.

Like the old Bill Cosby ad said, “they could have gone anywhere. They chose Temple.”

Now to the two famous names that haven’t been discussed in this space before:

Duane Johnson Jr. and Hanks.

Not Tom Hanks, but Alex Hanks, who is one of the Syracuse flips as a 6-1, 195-pound safety. The recruiting site 247 has him turning down a ‘Cuse offer on June 20 to commit to Temple.

The other is Duane Johnson Jr., who is no relation to the “other” Dwayne Johnson Jr.–better known as The Rock–who played his high school football in Bethlehem, Pa. and college at Miami (where he played against Temple). This Duane Johnson Jr. is FROM Miami and, like the other Johnson, a 6-3, 190-pound linebacker at the high school level. The Rock bulked up to 6-3, 290 and became a DE at Miami before becoming a superstar in wrestling and movies.

Temple’s Duane Johnson turned down offers from his hometown FIU and Bowling Green to come to 10th and Diamond.

Temple’s 2026 recruiting company as of 6/26/25.

Another player we haven’t mentioned here previously is Josh Nengite of Susquehanna Township (Pa.), and the attached announcement here gives a clue as to why he–and the other 23 June commits–picked Temple: “The goals for the program and how we are going to accomplish them.”

Keeler and his staffed are locked in with that message.

For all of this excitement about Temple’s 2026 recruiting class, 247 still has the Owls–with 24 commits–rated as No. 76 nationally. Historically, that ranks behind Al Golden’s second class at Temple (2007), which ranked No. 1 in the MAC and No. 52 in both the Rivals.com and Scout.com national rankings. That translated to a 2009 appearance in the Eagle Bank Bowl against a UCLA team that had a No. 3 recruiting ranking in 2007.

Bad, because only 64 teams play in the so-called Power 5. Good, because of the other 66 teams in FBS, Temple is rated No. 12.

Good, because Keeler’s 2026 class is rated ahead of Nebraska, Auburn, Virginia, Missouri and Virginia Tech.

The other consideration here is that Temple’s Fab Five that turned down ‘Cuse turned down a very good staff with a great history of recruiting for a staff with a vision for the future. It’s one thing that new head coach K.C. Keeler already has a proven eye for talent. It’s validation when an entirely different staff sees the same thing. So maybe that 76 is closer to 66 because no other G5 program is grabbing that many P4 offers, at least thumbing through the other AAC offer sheets.

No one knows if our Duane Johnson will approach the fame of the other Dwayne Johnson or our Hanks will make a football impact that Tom Hanks made on the world stage.

What we do know is that they will join a group of guys who have been vetted by dozens of eyeballs on two highly paid and well-respected staffs 500 miles apart and now will be playing before a lot more eyeballs in the largest stadium in the AAC.

Chances are pretty good those Lincoln Financial Field eyeballs will like what they see.

Monday: Immediate vs. Future

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

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

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.

Ground Game: New pieces stand out

Hunter Smith’s high school recruiting film.

Recruiting guru Lou Adler is credited for saying it first:

“The best predictor of future performance is past performance.”

Adler said it in his capacity of recruiting business talent, but it also applies to football talent.

Last week, the Temple football Owls probably grabbed their starting quarterback in Gevani McCoy, although Evan Simon might have something to say about that.

Around the same time, the Owls appeared to have fixed their run game depth by adding Hunter Smith.

This is where the past performance comes into play.

With the addition of Smith, this is what Temple’s running back room looks like: Jay Ducker, the one-time leading rusher in the MAC is pairing with the one-time Louisiana-Monroe rushing leader in Smith.

Smith led the Warhawks with 507 rushing yards in 2023 before suffering an ACL injury. Ducker led the MAC in rushing two years earlier (2021) with 1,184 yards.

Temple head coach K.C. Keeler said Ducker had a “good camp” for the Owls in the spring but said Ducker needs to turn a lot of those yards he got into touchdowns and improve his closing speed. That opens the door for holdover Torrez Worthy to grab the job as he is the fastest back (4.49-40) since Ray Davis in the 2019 season. Davis now plays for the Buffalo Bills.

A red flag for both newcomers is that speed, as both scored just three touchdowns. Worthy outran the entire Tulane team for Temple’s only highlight in a 52-6 loss last year so if he wins the job, it will be by speed alone. A dark horse to win the job is another speedster, De’Carlos Young. Joquez Smith also had a 142-yard game for Temple two years ago so he’s in the mix as well.

At a number of positions, Keeler has brought in more significant transfer portal talent since Cherry and White Day than both Rod Carey and Stan Drayton did in the past six years.

The running back room is a perfect example of that.

Still, Worthy, Young (who hasn’t had a chance yet) and Joquez Smith have not produced the same kind of numbers at the FBS level as Ducker and Smith so the Owls appear to be in capable hands with those two.

At least past performance says so.

Friday: Getting a handle

A return to some coaching competency this spring

Take this from a guy who has been all but two of the last 40 or so Cherry and White games: This one as all the makings for being one of the best.

Trust me, the 2 p.m. kickoff for the Cherry and White should be one of the best. If not best, certainly among the most interesting.

I’ve been to the worst.

The worst was the “game” at Lincoln Financial Field in 2017 when 1,000 fans rattling around in a 70K stadium looked like a couple hundred.

A few years before that almost to the day I stood on the top bleacher at the Diamond Street end zone with an umbrella over my head and ducking behind the 6-foot-4 guy standing on the bleacher below me to get a view of Logan Marchi throwing two interceptions off his back foot. He was BY FAR … FAR … the worst of the four quarterbacks playing that day but somehow he started the opener at Notre Dame and was only able to put up 16 points in the next game against a team Rhode Island scorched for 20 points.

Weather forecast says “rain likely” but we are still six days away.

It sucked big time.

Anything will be better than those two games because for the first time since maybe Steve Addazio was here, there will be a lot of coaches who know what they were doing. (Not that Daz did but he brought with him the core staff of the 2010 Florida Gator squad and it was neat to see the professionalism with which they operated.)

Here are the five things I’m looking for:

Hope

You might say I’m a dreamer but, as the Beatles would say, I’m not the only one. New head coach K.C. Keeler did a lot with little at Rowan, Delaware and Sam Houston and his charge is to do the same at Temple.

Weather

Mid-April is always a crapshoot in Philadelphia. The forecast calls for rain but we are six days away and that can change.

Coaching

Last year, it was a clusterbleep because then head coach Stan Drayton stuck with a guy who gave up 38 ppg in his two prior stints as DC. Not surprising Everett Withers went out at Temple doing the same thing and cost his buddy a fourth season. Now there is a new defensive philosophy. Don’t sell that short because D.J. Eliot proved you could do more with the same players if they were coached differently. Brian Smith probably will prove the same thing. In the spring, they’ve been showing 5-2-4, 3-3-5 and 4-3-4 looks, which shows Smith is flexible.

Evan Simon is sacked by Temple in the 2022 Rutgers’ game

Position Battles

This might be the most important. We all know that Evan Simon No. 1 and Tyler Douglas is No. 2 at quarterback. Is the separation so wide at quarterback that Keeler brings a No. 2 from the portal or is Keeler so wedded to a running quarterback that he jumps over both and brings in a No. 1? Another battle to watch is the one between newcomer Jay Ducker (who started at both Memphis and Sam Houston) and Torrez Worthy, who might have been a 1,000-yard rusher at Temple last year if so-called “running back guru” Drayton didn’t dick around and start E.J. Wilson the first few games.

Special Teams

Both last year’s staff and this year’s staff say the second-best kicker in the AAC was Carl Hardin, who happened to be behind Maddox Trujillo. Yet Hardin MISSED two field goals in the last scrimmage (while also making two) and it’s hard to make a case he’s as reliable as Maddox was now. If he finishes up with a couple of makes and no misses, that’s going to put a lot of minds at ease. Also, does Temple continue with the rugby style punts?

Friday: Farewell to a Tradition

Monday: Takeaways from Cherry and White

Temple: The Gold Standard of the AAC

northeast

When Jon Gruden took over the head coaching job of the Oakland Raiders, the first statement he made was that he wanted to “bring 1998 football back to Oakland.”

No one will help him do it more than Nick Sharga.

Sharga wasn’t drafted, but of the nine Temple Owls who signed for NFL teams, he might have the best chance to catch on because he and Gruden are kindred souls.

Gruden, more than anyone with the possible exception of Bill Belichick, believes in the fullback and the play-action passing game.

Simply put, it’s run the tailback behind a great blocking fullback who acts as an additional blocker and establish the run. Once the run game is established, the linebackers and safeties inch up to the line of scrimmage and become susceptible to ball fakes and passes off the fakes.

It’s a style of football that has succeeded in college and the pros for a long time and certainly was a staple of the Raiders’ offense circa 1998. It is probably the style of play Temple should have adopted in 2017 and certainly the style of play it should have going forward.

signed

After Sharga was selected as an UFA, Geoff Collins said something revealing: “Nick Sharga led the entire nation in special teams’ tackles last year.” So much for the claim that Sharga was so injured he could not play fullback. If he was healthy enough to lead the nation in ST tackles, he certainly was healthy enough to be the full-time fullback.

Sharga was just one of nine Owls to NFL teams, with Jacob Martin (Seahawks), Julian Taylor (49ers), Sharif Finch (Tennessee Titans), Sean Chandler (New York Giants), Keith Kirkwood (New Orleans Saints), Adonis Jennings (Cincinnati Bengals), Leon Johnson (Denver Broncos) and Cole Boozer (Tampa Bay) the rest.

Martin and Taylor were late-round draft choices.

That illustrates the fact that Temple is The Gold Standard of the AAC. Not only are the Owls one of only two schools to appear in the finals twice (joining Houston), it is the only school in the American Conference to have multiple picks in each of the last three drafts.

In fact, of all 127 FBS schools, Temple is one of only 26 schools to have multiple players drafted in the last three years. Only Penn State of the other schools in the traditional Northeast can make the same claim.

Arguably, Temple has been the top football program in the AAC using those benchmarks. Add another title this season and a few more drafted players, and there is no argument at all.

It is something recruits should consider when choosing between Temple and a Power 5 school.

Friday: Calling All Fans

The Temple NFL Draft

toughness

About the only person who was not booed at the NFL Draft on Thursday night was from Temple University. The hometown Eagles’ pick was met with mixed boos and cheers, which was surprising. Picks of the New York Giants, Washington Redskins and Dallas Cowboys were booed, as was the Commissioner, which was not.

Only Temple football was cheered, loudly and proudly.

In a city where Temple football has always been second fiddle to the pro team in town, that’s a tremendous moment.

Maybe the best.


“Temple TUFF is the
most elite, toughest,
hardest-working, people
on the planet.”
_ Haason Reddick

Haason Reddick, who was drafted No. 13 overall by the Arizona Cardinals, walked down the steps of the Art Museum to a crescendo of loud cheers and not a single boo.

Derek Barnett, the Tennessee defensive end who went next to the hometown team, was met with a scattering of boos and cheers. There were a lot of Eagles’ fans dressed in green exiting after that pick with thumbs down signs.

We’ll see what happens over the next few years but a writer could not have picked a better scenario for Reddick or a better place for him to flourish. Former Temple head coach Bruce Arians is in charge there and a couple of great former Temple assistants (Nick Rapone and Amos Jones) are among the numerous Owl connections out there.

There will be a lot of Temple stories, old and new, for Reddick to hear from and swap with the old heads.

Arians will take care of Reddick in a way that Doug Pederson could not have so, from the standpoint of a perfect fit, Reddick to Arizona is probably better than any other pick in the draft—even Myles Garrett to Cleveland at No. 1.

If Temple North is the New York Jets, then certainly Temple South is the Arizona Cardinals.

Temple Central will remain embedded in Reddick’s heart and he said it best when interviewed by Upper Dublin High School grad Suzie Kobler on ESPN when she asked him what Temple TUFF was all about. Kobler knows all about Temple having grown up across the street from Temple’s Ambler Campus.

“Temple TUFF is the most elite, toughest, hardest-working, people on the planet,” Reddick said.

Now it’s up to Geoff Collins to turn that quote and that moment into mining a 2017 recruiting class worthy of those words.

Reddick gave him a good head start with the unprecedented love.

Monday: The Other Guys