Tag Archives: Temple football

04.15.16
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Cherry and White: A Day For Good Guys

My favorite answer here comes at the 10:35 time stamp.

Full disclosure: I hate the Cherry and White game, but love Cherry and White Day.

I always have felt the same way about the game, because the Cherry and White game pits the Good Guys vs. the Good Guys. If, say, Marshall Ellick beats Nate Hairston on a fly pattern for six, half of me is high-fiving, but the other half is not returning the high five. The reasoning is simple. Half of me thinks we’re going to have a great vertical passing game and the other half is concerned about replacing Tavon Young at a corner.

If our defensive line gets 10 sacks, I’m worried about our offensive line. If Jager Gardner, Ryquell Armstead and Jahad Thomas gain 300 yards against the defense, I’m just as worried about the defensive line as I am excited about the offensive line.

stadiumnew

Work, in  a manner of speaking, already being done on new stadium site.

And on and on …

You get the idea.

There are really no winners and losers when the good guys play the good guys. To really get a feel for how the Owls will be this summer, we will all have to wait until the Army game. Or Stony Brook. Even then, it might be too early because

newstadium

Field samples taken earlier this week.

Penn State should be the telling game.

For the first 10 or so Cherry and White games, I left Geasey Field or Temple Stadium or Ambler thinking the Owls would go unbeaten. It’s the last 30  years or so I’ve discovered the real truth. You cannot tell anything from the game itself.

The day, though, is another story. It’s a chance for Temple fans to get together again and that is  where the real victory is. There is no better place to pick up Temple “stuff” than Cherry and White Day, so bring cash.

kid

Just what is this guy’s problem?

This year, with a new stadium on the horizon, there should be a palpable excitement among those fans knowing this is one of the last two or three games on the East side of campus. With that in mind, it would be nice to see a drawing depicting two things: 1) What the stadium will look like; 2) Will it be North-South or East-West? Fifty percent of the people swear up and down on a stack of bibles that the stadium will be East-West, while another 50 percent will swear that it is North-South. Me? I would like for it to be North-South (better view of Center City), but the land configuration dictates East-West.

Other than that, as Jose from Norristown might say, I would like to see a donation jar to purchase former Owl kicker Wes Sornisky his own grave stone (he is buried anonymously in a Potter’s Field in Delaware after dying alone in a fire),  a folding chair in Doc Chodoff’s name to given to a loyal fan and the revival of the Mark Bresani Spirit Award given to the most spirited player of the spring.

Maybe not this year, but certainly in the future.

Sunday: General Cherry and White Thoughts

04.13.16
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Practice Concerns

 

P.J. Walker is ready for a big senior year in 2016.  Interesting that Adam DiMichele (background) is never far away.

So far, I haven’t seen the word “ameliorate” as a word of the day at the end of the Bill O’Reilly show, but it is a good word as any to describe how the Temple football practices have evolved this spring.

The definition of the word is “to make or become better, more bearable, or more satisfactory” and, since head coach Matt Rhule has not canceled any practices in the last two weeks, the trend has to be interpreted that, in his mind, things have gotten more satisfactory.

cherryweather

Weather could not be better.

Rhule canceled practice a couple of week ago citing concerns about both senior leadership and the speed the redshirt freshman were learning the system.  Since Rhule the football CEO, we fans—the shareholders—should have been concerned that he had practice concerns. Since those concerns have “ameliorated” we have less to worry about.

The senior leadership has gotten markedly better and hopefully they will show the red shirt freshmen the way.

There is not much about this team I worry about. I think it is a double-digit win team but that doesn’t mean it is perfect. A little more girth in the middle of the defensive line would help. Not all that concerned about the linebackers, safeties or corners.

On offense, I have confidence in the line as tackle Dion Dawkins is the next NFL draft choice and Brendan McGowan has proven to be a capable replacement for Kyle Friend and there is a whole lot of talent battling for the remaining spots.

The running backs are deep and talented and I have a gut feeling that Jager Gardner is a future star.

In the passing game, I would like to see P.J. Walker able to fake it into the line, sucker up the LBs and safeties to the line of scrimmage, and float a long ball in stride for six. I haven’t seen that since Jalen Fitzpatrick (UConn, Penn State) in 2014. Maybe Cortrelle Simpson is that guy; maybe it’s Marshall Ellick. I was somewhat surprised Robby Anderson ran a track 4.37 on pro day, because he didn’t show it on the field last year. Maybe a guy like Ellick, who runs a track 4.5, runs a football 4.37.

On special teams, would be nice to see a Delano Green, a guy who can flip the field position all by himself, and fewer fair catches. Maybe, out of Sean Chandler, Simpson and Kareem Ali, one guy will emerge.

Either way, since it snowed last Saturday and will be 70 and sunny this Saturday, any other concerns have been, well, ameliorated.

Friday: Good Guys vs. Good Guys

04.11.16
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First Game Week Of Season

cherryandwhite

When you roughly have only a dozen games per season (and hopefully a couple more this one), it is more than OK to count the Cherry and White Game as one.

It is and it isn’t.

The great Paul Palmer—in my mind, the greatest Temple football player of my lifetime—messaged me a couple of days ago and said he did not play in a single Cherry and White game, so take this game for what little it is worth.

The actual game itself is not as important as getting Temple fans together. In my mind, Temple fans are the greatest fans in the country. You know, the few, the proud, the Marines? That’s Temple fans. It takes a leather neck and a leather heart to be one as I have been for nearly 40 years now. It’s easy to be a fan of Alabama. That team goes to a bowl every year. Try being a fan of a team which wins a bowl once every 32 years.

That’s hard.

So getting together with the guys who have been through these wars will be a special reunion. It is never near the absolute heroes who were getting shot at on Wake Island or Iwo Jima, but the verbal insults hurled by Fordham fans (“Temple sucks”) hurt in their own small way nonetheless.

I will admit that the Temple sucks from lowly Fordham probably was the low point.

Temple doesn’t suck anymore and let’s keep it that way.

If anything, Cherry and White represents hope for the future and the one game where there is a metaphysical certainly that no one will yell “Temple sucks” after it is over.

Wednesday: Practice Concerns

04.09.16
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Who Is Marshall Ellick?

 

Evidently, Marshall was a QB in high school but catches some passes at the 3-minute mark.

Every morning the local Allentown television station, WFMZ, throws a question in with its weather report and the one Tuesday morning was: Philadelphia is a one-day drive from what percent of the United States’ population?

ellick

Marshall Ellick last year.

The answer was 40 percent and the weather guy, Matt Broderick, made clear he did not mean one of those kind of 18-hour drives where you have to stick toothpicks in your eyes to keep from driving off the road, just a leisurely eight-hour or less one. It is one of those reasons Temple is in a prime position to be a football power, so close to so much talent and located in a transportation hub and world-class city like Philadelphia.

With so much of the population so close, it goes to figure that Temple will get its share of not only top talent inside that circle, but guys who are overlooked.

Redshirt sophomore Marshall Ellick might be one of those guys.

The same day Philadelphia was the answer to a trivia question on TV, Temple football head coach Matt Rhule noted that one of those guys within that drive, Marshall Ellick, from Richmond, Va., came out of nowhere to be a candidate for a starting wide receiver job.

Marshall Ellick?

There are not very many things that surprise me about Temple football, but I have to admit Marshall Ellick’s name being a candidate to start at wide receiver is one of the biggest camp surprises in recent years. According to the participation charts, Ellick, who wears No. 84 now (and wore No. 14 in last year’s spring game and No. 24 last fall), was in a few games on special teams and caught no passes.

This was surprising not just because of Ellick’s lack of recent playing time, but because there are so many other guys who apparently have a head start on him. Guys like Ventell Bryant, Romond Deloatch and Cortrelle Simpson.

He is 6-2, 205, ran a 4.5-40 in high school (maybe he’s faster now) and is a walk-on who has a chance, some say very good, to start. As far as stories go this spring, it’s hard to beat that and just a reminder to print out a program before you leave the house on April 16.

Monday: First Game Week of 2016

Wednesday: Practice Concerns

Friday: Good Guys vs. Good Guys

Sunday (4/17): Post C and W Thoughts

Tuesday: Only a Play Away

04.05.16
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Stadium Funding: The Other 99 Percent

sanders

Bernie Sanders’ HQ are inside the doors at the corner of 10th and Diamond.

When it comes to funding the new stadium, Temple University has done relatively well with the 1 percent, getting roughly $26 million from donors who rate near the top one percent of wage earners who currently are alumni.

It’s the other 99 percent that have not been mined yet, so the inspiration for that might be literally across the street from Temple football’s current headquarters.

Without getting into the specifics of politics, Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders—who is speaking at the Liacouras Center on Wednesday night–has opened his Pennsylvania North Philadelphia campaign headquarters at 1000 Diamond Street, directly across the street from the Edberg-Olson complex. If the stadium fund-raisers take a page from Bernie’s fund-raising book, here is what they could do to grab the remaining private funding:

Set up a GoFundMe account and email every single Temple grad. The pitch could be something like this: “We’ve raised several seven-figure donations, but we want every Temple grad to feel like they are a part of this so, like Bernie, we are asking for $27 from each of you. Twenty-seven dollars, not 1 million or even $100,000. We want to start a stadium funding revolution.”

Link the GoFundMe site through the university’s main site and away we go.

Hopefully, the Temple fans respond a little better than they did with the private GoFundMe site for Matt Rhule’s Jetpack which was put up after the Penn State game and has raised $0 dollars so far.

That site was supposed to be a joke, but a similar site for a stadium could be genius.

Thursday: 5 Questions That Need To Be Asked

04.03.16
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First Scrimmage: ‘We’re Not Very Good’

 

Sometimes you have to read between the lines when you listen to some of these early football interviews.

The biggest takeaway from the first scrimmage interview with Temple head coach Matt Rhule—which Morgyn Siegfried does very well—is that “we’re not a very good football team right now.”

Taken on its face value, that’s not good.unfinished

Listen more, though, and Rhule will say that Jahad Thomas didn’t play and Jager Gardner was banged up, but Ryquell Armstead was healthy and making plays all over the place. Those three guys are the keys to making the run game work and it takes just one to make it work. If the run game works, then the rest of the offense works because P.J. Walker’s fakes into the belly of any running back make passing plays much more effective.

 

If the run game is working, then Walker’s fakes to, say, Jager Gardner, bring the linebackers and the safeties closer to the line of scrimmage and the seams in the passing game become that much more open for guys like Adonis Jennings, Ventell Bryant, Cortrelle Simpson, Romond Deloatch, Kip Patton and Colin Thompson. If Jahad is still banged up, more reason to split him out and make him an explosive stretch-the-field receiver where he will be less banged up. It’s not like the Owls are thin on game-breaking running backs.

Small gains in the run game lead to explosive plays in the passing game.

Then, listen to the defensive coaches interview and a whole different viewpoint emerges. “Our chemistry is ridiculous,” was one comment Jared Alwan made of the linebackers and he meant ridiculously good, not ridiculously bad.

The truth is somewhere in between “we’re not a very good football team right now” and “we’re going to be very good by April 16.”

And, hopefully, better by September. It’s all coachspeak right now until then. In my mind, this is a 10-11 win team and nothing anyone says other than an injury to Walker changes that paradigm.

Tuesday: Temple’s 99 percent

Thursday: 5 Questions That Need To Be Asked

04.01.16
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Moody Blues

 

… and I thought Temple dropped softball ….

With the hiring of an architect, Moody Nolan, the endless speculation about what the new on-campus stadium will look like can finally come to an end.

Temple Football Forever was given a working concept of what the stadium will look like and, while it admittedly is preliminary, this is what they were able to come up with:

architect

“We’ll be working on this concept and refining it, of course,” our source said. “What you see here is a generalization based on something novel.”

If what you see above looks like a crude Roman Coliseum, our source says that the resemblance is on purpose.

“Dr. (Neil) Theobald asked us what we could give him for $100 million for the stadium and $26 million for retail. I said to Neil, ‘Well, we won’t be able to put seats in.’ Neil said, ‘We’re OK with benches. That’s fine.’

artwork

An art firm has been commissioned to paint this on the rolldown retail security doors in an attempt to “blend the project in with the surrounding community.”

“We then broke the bad news to him. We won’t be able to do seats,  or benches for $100 million, but we can give you concrete seating, just like the Roman Coliseum had. Neil didn’t look happy, but we sold him on the general concept and have the retail blend in like the outdoor markets in front of the old Roman Coliseum. One of the retail stores will be called Animal House and it will sell themed items like sandals and Cherry and White togas. We could make it a Roman/Greek themed Stadium by calling it the Apollo of Temple. The President said that idea was already tried, but could be revived.

score

The old Geasey Field scoreboard.

‘It was a hard sell, because the President kept saying the Board of Trustees would not go a penny over $126 million so that made it tough. We said we can just move the current Geasey Field scoreboard over to the new stadium to cut corners.

 

“We finally sold the President when we said we would not only blend our theme in with the design of the stadium and the retail, but we would blend the rolldown security doors on the retail stores with the surrounding community. We’ve even commissioned an art firm to paint the row houses of the community on those doors so the project looks like an extension of the neighborhood.”

 

There will be a fun element the retail.

“Much of the Roman/Greek theme will be playing up the whole Apollo of Temple concept. The President thought that could be fun. Temple will be the only fan base in the country with a toga party tailgate. So we’re going to pour the concrete as soon as we can and hope to get this thing done in 18 months after that. The only thing we’re concerned about are the fans getting butt hurt over the deal.”

“You mean, because there are no seatbacks or video boards?” I said.

“No, because they are going to have to sit on concrete for three hours every week but the President said something that made sense. He said, ‘If the Romans could sit on concrete for three hours watching Chariot races, then our Temple Tuff fans shouldn’t mind the concrete at all for football games.’

“After that we shook hands and said, ‘Done deal.’ ”

Happy April Fool’s Day everyone.

Sunday: The First Scrimmage

Tuesday: Funding Ideas For Stadium

Related:

Big 10

Urban Meyer

Devonte Watson

 

03.30.16
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5 Potential Punt Return Candidates

 

Unfortunately, this Khalif Herbin TD in 2014 was the last for the Owls on a PR.

One of the most frustrating things to Temple football fans coming out of the 2014 season was the lack of a punt return game. After Khalif Herbin got hurt, the Owls’ top returner was John Christopher, averaged 2.0 yards per return. Last year, things improved significantly as Sean Chandler was the top punt returner with a 12.2 average as he returned 16 punts for 195 yards. Robby Anderson was next with nine returns for a 5.9 average. Neither scored a touchdown on a return.

Still, those numbers could not compare to Delano Green’s 2009 season, when he had 20 returns for 233 yards and a pair of touchdowns.

Chandler, though, seems to have that explosive first step needed but he is a valuable starter and the Owls might want to consider other options in the return game.

The possibilities are endless, and these are just five:

natel

Nate L. Smith

  1. Nate L. Smith

The leading punt returner in the history of high school football in the state of Pennsylvania, Smith has never been given a long look at the position at Temple and maybe this year deserves it. Playing for Archbishop Wood, he had a 62-yard punt return for a touchdown in the state title win over Harrisburg Bishop McDevitt. He was given only one chance to return a punt with the Owls and that was a 21-yard return that set up a game-tying field goal against AAC champion Memphis.

  1. Kareem Ali Jr.

Ali, a four-star recruit, is the son of a couple of speedsters, his mom, Tasha, a track star at Temple, and his dad, Kareem Gilliard, a speedy slot receiver at Temple. He put that speed to good use last spring as he was the team’s top punt returner in practices. Yet because he would not start, he was awarded a redshirt year. If he can duplicate the explosive returns of a year ago, he should be the guy.

Kareem

  1. Cortrelle Simpson

He was two-time Scout Team player of the week in 2015 (prior to Penn State and East Carolina) and has run a 4.33 40 at the Ohio State camp. He had an amazing 795 kick return yards as a high school player, almost all amassed over his junior and senior seasons at Lackey High in Indian Head, Md.

  1. Freddie Johnson

If the above three do not work out in the spring, the cavalry arrives in the summer in the form of North Ft. Myers’ product Freddie Johnson, a dynamic punt returner who is the county 200-meter champion.

  1. Randle Jones

The special teams MVP at North Miami High (primarily for kick returns), he is also a track star who plays wide receiver, like Johnson.

Friday: Early Architectural Drawing of New Stadium

03.28.16
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5 Greatest TU Spring Phenoms

 

myles

In the 2011 game, Myron Myles scored 3 touchdowns.

As Allen Iverson once said, talking practice is different than talking games and, while there will be a Cherry and White game on April 16, even that is still practice. The important thing is doing it in a game, but to get in a game, you’ve got to do it in practice.

That’s why everything that happens until the kickoff of the Army game in September has to be taken with a boulder, not a grain, of salt. Exhibits A through E are these five April phenoms who were were not as phenomenal when the real games started in the fall.

khalif

  1. Khalif Herbin

At Cardinal O’Hara in 2014, Herbin was the key player for the White team in a 10-9 loss to the Cherry squad. Herbin, the No. 1 draft choice of that squad, caught a 66-yard touchdown pass from Connor Reilly in the game. “The whole team recognizes what Khalif can do,” Temple head coach Matt Rhule said. By the end of the next season, he was gone, a victim of injuries.

 

  1. ventresVentres Stevenson

On April 26, 1986, a freshman running back named Ventres Stevenson was the best player on the field and, according to head coach Bruce Arians, “the outstanding player during our spring practice.”  He led the White squad to a 17-7 win over the Cherry squad. Stevenson finished with 86 yards on 16 carries, but finished the season as third string behind Heisman Trophy runner-up Paul Palmer and second-teamer Todd McNair, both future Kansas City Chief players. Stevenson later became a very good back for the Owls, but just not that season.

charlton

  1. Vaughn Charlton

In the 2008 game, Charlton—wearing the Orange jersey—led the Cherry to a 21-6 win at the Edberg-Olson Complex. The Orange jersey meant the quarterback could not be hit and that always made a difference for Charlton, who went 13-for-28 for 209 yards and two touchdowns. Senior Adam DiMichele went on to be the starter that season and only a Hail Mary loss at Buffalo kept the Owls from being bowl eligible. DiMichele thrived on contact and seemed to make some of his better plays after getting hit by defenders and spinning out of contact. Charlton had the tools but never reacted as well to contact.

  1. Louis Angelo

With Louis Angelo calling the signals in the 2001 spring game, the Cherry beat the White in the most lopsided game ever, 36-0. Angelo threw a pair of touchdown passes. By the start of the season, Angelo was behind starter Mac DeVito and backups Mike McGann, Devin Scott and Collin Hannigan.  He did not throw a pass that season.

myron

  1. Myron Myles

In 2011, a freshman running back named Myron Myles—at least that was the name he was going by at the time—gained 133 yards and scored two touchdowns on 20 carries and led the White team to a 27-26 win over the Cherry squad. (Myles also caught a touchdown pass.) Bernard Pierce sat out the game, but, in the fall, led the Owls to nine wins and a bowl game. He was recruited to Temple from Wissahickon High as Myron Ross. Myles later transferred to Millersville, where his best game (114 yards) came during the 2014 season.

Wednesday: In Search of a Punt Returner

03.26.16
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We’re Talkin’ Practice

Learning to distrust the results of Spring Practice is a necessary step to move forward to the more important practice period—the four weeks prior to the opening game, in this case, Army. Still, there are battles to be won now and players who can win them.

Here are 5 Things We Should Know Coming Out of Spring:

thomascatch

1) Backup quarterback

This currently is being billed as the battle for the backup quarterback position, and for some good reasons. Two guys, Frank Nutile (pronounced NEW TILE) and Logan Marchi have been in the program for a couple of seasons. However, Anthony Russo arrives in July and all bets could be off.  If P.J. Walker, who has been rather durable all three seasons, goes down, head coach Matt Rhule cannot be blamed for burning Russo’s redshirt. If it’s for just a play or two, Nutile and Marchi are battling for backup quarterback. That is what this spring is for. Of course, one could play off the charts and change the dynamic.

natel

2) Starting Safety

This battle could get interesting. The defensive coaching staff has resisted the temptation to start Nate L. Smith, but the former George Washington and Archbishop Wood star has made plays during real games every time he’s asked. Delvon Randall should play the other safety, but Rhule moved Brodrick Yancy over to safety and that could mean that they have a plan for Yancy since Rhule called Yancy the “receiver more like John Christopher” than anyone on the team. They like his toughness and that could translate well to the safety position.

averee

3) Interior defensive line

The cavalry here arrives in July, with Karamo Dioubate and Gregg Webb expected to compete for starting positions along with Averee Robinson and Freddy Booth-Lloyd. Yet the Owls really need to build interior depth as many of their returning linemen either are or have started as defensive ends. There may be a few conversions out of necessity.

4)   Interior offensive line

Only two positions are set in stone, offensive tackle (Dion Dawkins) and center (Brendan McGowan). Bryan Carter, a starting offensive tackle, might be needed to return to DL, but that’s what spring is for. There are a number of promising guys, like Jovan Fair, who can earn starting spots.

5) Running back

I fully expect Jahad Thomas to run with the ones again, but it has to be enticing to split out that game-breaking ability and put it in the slot. That’s probably the position Thomas is better-suited for at the next level, so why not start him now. He’s a little (lot) undersize to be an NFL running back, but one good season in the slot earns him some camp looks. The only way he gets those is if Jager Gardner shows the kind of form that enabled him to run for 2,776  yards and 36 touchdowns as a high school senior. Ryquell Armstead and David Hood, who had half that many yards and touchdowns in their senior high school season, are also in the mix.

Monday: Five Biggest Owls’ Spring Phenoms of All Time