Tag Archives: Temple football

03.04.16
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Tennessee Tech’s Season Could Provide Useful Clues

field

Normally, the only football team Temple fans follow in Tennessee is conference rival Memphis.

Now, there are at least a couple of good reasons to follow another one: Tennessee Tech and it is not strictly because at least two former high-profile Temple football assistants are on the staff, and one is head coach Marcus Satterfield.

There are a couple of interesting subplots involved here because Satterfield was a wide-open spread guy who wanted to put five wide receivers on the field every time he could. Head coach Matt Rhule reined him in with a more conventional approach this season, emphasizing the run game. I always had that feeling that Satterfield would send five wides out every time Rhule would turn his back to talk to the defense but, fortunately, that didn’t happen.

Much.

If Satterfield spreads the ball all over the place for TT, we will know that there was a basic difference in offensive philosophy between Rhule and his former coordinator. Since the TT games are not on TV, we will try to judge that by YouTube. Maybe the Golden Eagles will have the “Dog Stare” offense. Geez, I hope Temple streamlines that out of the playbook.

Another subplot is the appearance of Tyree Foreman as running backs coach for Satterfield. Foreman and Temple had a parting of the ways two years ago and the rumor was that Rhule fired him. Now he’s back with Satterfield, who obviously had a difference of opinion.

We will find out a lot about what happened at Temple the last couple of years by looking at the way TT runs things. Either way, good luck to Marcus in whatever he does. The feeling here is that, for Temple at least, the addition by subtraction will be noticeable.

Sunday: The Curious Saquon Barkley Narrative

Tuesday: The Triple Option

Thursday: Ash Wednesday at Matt Rhule Camp

Saturday: Possible Fullback Replacements for Nick Sharga

03.02.16
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The New Run Game Coordinator

Miami Dolphins 2010 Headshots

George DeLeone  poses for his 2010 NFL headshot. (Photo by NFL via Getty Images)

 

In a slow news month for Temple football, arguably the biggest news in February for the Owls was the addition of George DeLeone as run game coordinator. That was a position in college football that didn’t exist 20 years ago, but a quick google search indicates that there are plenty of current RGCs.

gardner

 

DeLeone, a former offensive coordinator at Temple, is a good person to be the first Temple football RGC in history.

When Al Golden hired DeLeone to be OC, I thought it was an ingenious move for a couple of reasons. First, Al was the youngest head coach in college football at the time, 35, and it does not help a young head coach to have an “old head” around to guide him through some of the rough spots.

Nothing was rougher than the tail end of the 20-game losing streak, but DeLeone was as responsible as anybody for it coming to a sweet end. In a 28-14 win over a Bowling Green team that had dropped 140 points combined on the Owls in consecutive seasons, the key play was a flea-flicker. Quarterback Adam DiMichele handed off to halfback Tim Brown, who pitched the ball back to DiMichele, who found a streaking Travis Sheldon for an easy touchdown. Mix in a Sheldon kickoff return and, wala, the streak was over.

DeLeone, I assume, is doing some diligent film study. If he does, he’s got to like the fact that Jager Gardner has the biggest upside in the running game and moving Jahad Thomas from tailback to the slot has to be intriguing. A guy just like Thomas, Jalen Fitzpatrick, caught a game-tying touchdown pass against DeLeone’s UConn team in 2012. Gardner could be the AAC’s most dominating back in 2016 if he is able to establish a rhythm.

Plus, there is always the flea-flicker.

I sincerely hope that DeLeone injects some of that same innovation to the Temple offense this fall.

Related:

Jager Gardner Key To 2016 Run Game

Friday: Why We Should Follow Tennessee Tech.

Sunday: The Saquon Barkley Narrative

Tuesday: Setting Time Aside for Triple Option

02.29.16
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The Case for Jahad Thomas in Slot

 

Nobody outworks the Owls, so the 3-4 finish could have been a ND hangover.

One of the puzzling lessons of the Notre Dame game was that the Irish seemed to suck all of the Temple TUFF mojo out of the team for the remaining seven games of the season. The Owls finished 3-4 after starting 7-0, and there had to be a reason and the Notre Dame game was the easy scapegoat.

At first, it didn’t make sense.

Going down the rosters of the two teams, it could not have been the size factor as both lines were relatively the same height and weight.

fitzy

If Jahad does what another No. 5, Jalen Fitzpatrick (above), did for the Owls’ receiving game, the offense will be that much more explosive in 2016.

Knowing how hard the Owls practice (see above video), it could not be because Notre Dame outworked the Owls. Got to figure the Owls get out there in the snow even more than Notre Dame—which has a bigger indoor practice facility—so it had to be something.

It doesn’t take Sherlock Holmes to figure  out the difference was the running game and the size of the running backs, as Temple’s running game seemed to be worn down after ND, but ND did not suffer the same lack of production after TU.

The size was a factor there.

The Notre Dame running backs, C.J. Prosise (appropriately enough, pronounced PRO SIZE) and Josh Adams, were 6-1, 220 and 6-2, 210, respectively. The primary Temple back, Jahad Thomas, was 5-10, 180 (and the 180 might be generous).

There is no tougher kid on the Temple team than Thomas, but it was apparent he was so dinged up that his production dropped off dramatically in the final seven games.

The solution is simple: Temple needs a tough, reliable, slot receiver who is capable of making defenses pay with runs after catches and that receiver should be Jahad Thomas.

Temple needs a Prosise (or PRO SIZE) running back who can take the pounding for 14 games, not seven, and hand nicks out and not be nicked up and that guy could very well be Jager Gardner (6-2, 205) or Ryquell Armstead (5-10, 205). David Hood (5-10, 185) could be the occasional change-of-pace guy. Have those two battle it out in spring practice which begins in a couple of weeks and, if one emerges, make that guy the No. 1 back. If it’s too close to call, alternate series or quarters until one does.

Plus, it will be doing Thomas a favor because his position at the next level is slot receiver, not featured back. If Thomas lines up in the slot and does the same thing another No. 5, Jalen Fitzpatrick, did for Temple, the Owls will have something special again.

It’s the best of both worlds for Temple because, although departing slot receiver John Christopher was as tough as they come and had great hands, he did not get the yards after catch Thomas will. Plus, he and P.J. Walker have a symmetry that goes back to high school and, with Robby Anderson gone, Walker will need to establish the same kind of relationship with a receiver again.

Good teams learn lessons from losses and that’s probably the best takeaway from the Notre Dame one.

Wednesday: The New Run Game Coordinator

02.27.16
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There’s No Doubting Thomas

falcons

Glenn Thomas has been a positive influence on P.J. Walker.

When the Temple offensive coordinator position opened up, we put together a wish list of five potential candidates for the job, listed the pros and cons, but came to the conclusion that Matt Rhule will hire “the least sexy” person for the job, Glenn Thomas.

Now, sexy in football and sexy in real life are two different things. To me, Mike Locksley would have been football sexy because he would have locked up the recruiting in DMV (Delaware, Maryland, Virginia) and had Power 5 OC experience.

pjwalker

The goal should be getting P.J.’s QB rating over 150.8.

Sometimes, though, least sexy is good when you want to get things done. (I learned that watching Sheena Parveen doing the Tornado Watch last week when I listened to the entire forecast but realized afterward that I didn’t really hear anything because I was so distracted.)  Things were not perfect–down 11 in the fourth quarter there has to be an alternative to wasting 20 seconds looking to the sideline for a play–but there was an undeniable upward trend in 2015.

sharknado

The forecast for the TU offense is bright and sunny.

Thomas has the potential of getting things done, especially with the arrival of recruit Anthony Russo. Thomas was Matty Ryan’s quarterback coach with the Atlanta Falcons and Russo’s game is so much reminiscent of Ryan’s that guru Trent Dilfer ended up calling Russo “Ryan Russo” for a day at his Elite 11 camp.

First things first, though, and that is the continued progress in P.J. Walker’s game. For Walker not to be known as a guy who peaked as a freshman, he must slightly improve his numbers in his final year of 2016. Thomas, at least, has him pointed in the right direction. As a freshman, Walker had 20 touchdown throws against only eight interceptions. In Marcus Satterfield’s ill-advised spread formation in 2014 (when Walker got zero protection in the pocket), Walker fell to 13 touchdowns vs. 15 interceptions.  A new scheme that featured a fullback and two tight ends—ostensibly  two additional blockers for Walker—enabled P.J. to see the field better last year and go 19-8.

Ideally, against this schedule, you’d like those numbers to be around 25 and eight (or less) for 2016. If that happens, another double-digit winning season is in sight and that’s about as sexy as things get for Temple football fans.

Unless, of course, Sheena Parveen comes on the Jumbotron instead of Hurricane Schwartz.

Monday: The Case For An Exciting Name As New Slot Receiver

02.25.16
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The Case for A 5-2 Defense At Temple

charter

A possible two-deep using a 5-2 alignment

Some people wonder what football coaches do at this time of year, the few days after signing day and the few days before spring camp begins.

While the players do some conditioning drills outside and some weightlifting inside, the really good staffs are inside trying to figure out how to best utilize the talent that is available on the team. That was shown a year ago when Temple head coach Matt Rhule was reviewing film of a loss at Houston, saw his former offensive coordinator line up with five wides on a first and goal at the 1 and said he got physically ill watching that alignment. After a visit to the porcelain throne, Rhule scraped the Satterfield offense and went with his own.



“Give me a great
wrestler as a nose
guard and I will
show you a guy
who is going to
blow up the center
every time”
_ Vince Hoch
former TU DC

The result was a new offensive philosophy built around the talent at hand, a mix that (largely) saw two tight ends, a fullback and a heavy dose of play-action in the passing game. The result was a tie for the most points ever scored by a Temple offense and a 30 percent improvement in third-down efficiency.

That’s using your head for more than a hat rack.

Conversely, with the collection of depth and new high-end talent coming in, a strong case can be made for a 5-2 defense. With the number of quality linemen the Owls have on that side of the ball, they can cause havoc in opposing backfields by blowing up the point of attack with five guys across the front, instead of four. Imagine speedy defensive ends like Sharif Finch and Haason Reddick containing mobile quarterbacks when interior linemen like Karamo Dioubate and Greg Webb are on each side of nose guard Averee Robinson, a two-time Pennsylvania State Class AAAA (large school) heavyweight wrestling champion at Susquehanna Township. Former Temple defensive coordinator Vince Hoch was fond of saying “give me a great wrestler as a nose guard and I will show you a guy who is going to blow up the center every time.” Robinson has that kind of gap leverage potential as a nose guard. Like his brother, Adrian, he is playing out of position at Temple. Adrian was a natural OLB, his future position in the NFL, who was forced into DE duty as an Owl. Averee’s future is as a nose guard at the next level, whether it is the NFL or Canada.

I like the two linebackers for a couple of reasons. In Avery Williams (2) and Stephaun Marshall (6), you have two proven single-digit tough guys to carry the linebacker load. If I’m only going to use two LBs, I’m comforted by the fact that they are among the nine toughest guys on the team already. Then I can still use another proven tough guy, Nick Sharga (4), in the same role he had last year (roughly 10-15 plays on offense and 10-15 plays on defense as a backup LB).

There is experience all over the place with this defense, and a couple of big-time playmakers coming in to flank Robinson in Greg Webb and Karamo Dioubate. With Robinson blowing up the center, and Dioubate and Webb during their thing, these mobile quarterbacks are hit as soon as (or right after) they get the snap and do not get a chance to turn a corner or build up a head of steam.

Robinson and Freddy Booth-Lloyd playing nose guard could just be the disruption along the DL the Owls need to stop those mobile quarterbacks. The experiment is worth a try in spring practice.

 

02.23.16
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Pierre Is Temple’s Latest Beef

fiftyfive

Willa Pierre is the newest Temple Owl.

It was a lot easier to judge Temple football recruiting classes back when Al Golden had the CEO reins and that was because of Golden’s straight-forward recruiting philosophy.

“I believe in recruiting a full team, 25 guys—11 players on defense, 11 on offense, three specialists, depending on need,” Golden told the Temple crown on his first signing night.

Current head coach Matt Rhule believes the same thing, but has had to adjust his philosophy because Steve Addazio’s half-hazard recruiting methods—going down the aisle and picking up this guy and that guy without regard for position—has left Rhule scrambling to get the right mix.

That left most Temple fans asking the question: “Where’s The Beef?” after the current class included a lot of speedy athletes, but not nearly as many of the so-called “big uglies” who create the space for the athletes to do their thing.

As John Kerry might say, help is on the way. The Owls’ latest recruit, 6-3, 293-pound offensive tackle Willa Pierre, is from talent-rich Florida. One of the things you’ve got to love the fact that Pierre was a starter on a high-talent-level OL as a sophomore. The three-star lineman has made a verbal commitment, and you hope he is as much of a man of his word as, say, Keyvone Bruton, was after his Sept. 6 commitment to the Owls. Not only did Bruton commit after the 27-10 win over Penn State, he said he would not take any other visits and he kept that promise, too.

If Pierre is any indication, the current crop of recruits will be top-heavy on linemen on both sides of the ball and then Rhule can hit the reset button after Feb. of 2017 and start recruiting entire teams once again. That method is a proven one for Temple.

 

02.21.16
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A Stadium David Jones Can Be Proud Of

plans

Imagine in say, 10 years, an impartial visiting fan who happens to be one of the best sports writers in America writes this of the new Temple Football Stadium which, for purposes here, we will just call The Apollo:

“It simply is the best place in the region to watch a game. I’ve been going there since it opened a couple of years ago and it is … bright, warm, inviting and fun. Concession food is decent, booths adequately staffed. Above all, the student section is tremendous—full of energy and volume and ritual gags … marketing directors can’t prefabricate this sort of fun. It’s organic and spontaneous and precisely why college sports are awesome. This venue is stigmatized by outdated fear of North Philly and shouldn’t be. The best place to watch a game in Pennsylvania.”

owlet

Imagine this view of Center City.

A great writer did pen those wonderful words about an on-campus sports facility and it was long-time Penn State football beat writer Dave Jones of the Harrisburg Patriot-News. He was writing about the current Liacouras Center.

The point here is that Temple got this on-campus basketball facility right 20 years ago and, if Jones can give the same glowing report of this Apollo that he can of that Apollo then Temple will have gotten this stadium right. In that story, published exactly five years ago (Feb. 20, 2011), Jones ranked it the top basketball venue by far in the state, ahead of Pitt’s Petersen Events Center (third) and well ahead of Penn State’s Bryce Jordan Arena (dead last). Of that cavernous place, Jones wrote: “If it weren’t for the small, hard-core, following of students, this place would be a $55 million Bingo Hall. Often, it is anyway.” Jones added: “Everyone has his opinion and they are all valid. (Except only mine is correct.).” Having been to all those places, too, I can vouch his opinion is correct. The LC is a wonderful state-of-the-art facility that Temple got right.

Temple must get this football one right or it will risk building a half-assed facility like Tulane’s, which is a Bingo Hall. If the Owls build something like Houston’s, they will have done it right.

Then, in 2026, Jones can write something like this: “The chairs, with Cherry seatbacks, are roomy and comfortable and the school was really ahead of the technology curve by installing two large 3-D video screens beyond both end zones. Those screens are the envy of Eagles’ fans, whose mere HDTV screens look like a 1950s black-and-white TV in comparison. The view of Center City through the open south end zone is breathtaking. Putting the 15,000 students opposite the 15,000 alumni from enhances the home field advantage and the nearly fully enclosed stadium captures the sound as much as it escapes from the Linc. Often, opposing quarterbacks have to use hand signals because the noise is so loud. The best place to watch a football game in Pennsylvania.”

There you have it. Temple spent $1 million for a feasibility study but the advice in the above paragraph comes for free and should be forwarded to the architect as an outline. If the Owls build a stadium Davey Jones can be proud of, they will build one which we can all be. They might have to spend a little more than $126 million but it will be worth it.

Anything less, and they can use it for Friday night bingo.

 

02.19.16
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An Early Selection Wednesday For Temple

crowd

Temple’s crowd Wednesday was its biggest football recruiting tool.

Selection Sunday is 3 ½ weeks away, but the first Selection Wednesday in a long time for Temple football was just concluded and, by all optics, the 20 or so recruits had to be impressed by what they saw.

If any of those recruits were going to make their decision to attend Temple based on the Owls beating the No. 1 team in the country, then Matt Rhule is out of luck. Fortunately, these kids are smart enough to realize that Matt does not control what happens on the basketball court.

amy

Brandon McManus gets some TU love.

The recruits included, but were not limited to, guys like Donald Glenn, Tayon Fleet-Davis, Kenny Pickett, Tommy DeVito, Devin Miller, Mike Tverdov and Brandon Outlaw. DeVito and Outlaw are interesting names. DeVito is the quarterback at Don Bosco Prep, the same place where current backup Frank Nutile went to school. (The Owls also had a quarterback named Mac DeVito in the Pre-Al Golden Era, but we have not been able to establish a relationship between the two. Logically, there might be because Mac DeVito was, like Golden, from nearby Colts Neck, N.J.)  Outlaw is one of the fastest high school sprinters on the East Coast (100- and 200-meters, who plays football in Moorestown, N.J. He has played both running back and wide receiver.He has good bloodlines, as his father, Bufus “Bucky” Outlaw, was a great running back for Southern (better known as South Philly) High in 1977 . Bucky, a Howard University grad, is now a Center City CEO. Fleet-Davis, besides having the greatest last name for any running back in history, is from the same town as former Temple running back Sheldon Morris (Oxon Hill, Md.) and went to the rival high school as THE greatest running back in Temple history, Paul Palmer. Fleet-Davis attends Potomac High, while Palmer went to Winston Churchill High, also in Potomac.

All of these guys saw the campus, if not the basketball team, at its best on Wednesday night.

My guess is the total university experience is much more important for Temple football recruits and, on all of those accounts, the Owls came out on top. The place was packed, the students were vibrant, the place was electric. A Temple football player who won a Super Bowl earlier this month, Brandon McManus, got a prolonged standing ovation from a packed house. The recruits got a taste of the same type of love that could be coming their way in five years.

Everything electric about this game was there and, from one important standpoint, it was a better night for the Owls than Notre Dame in football because the fans were all Temple. The only things bad about ND was the loss and the that the Owls had 100 recruits there that night and no commitments the next day. Maybe had they won, they would have had a handful but we will never know.

Had the Owls capped the night off with a win and, say, closed down Broad Street, the recruits could have gotten even more fresh made juice from the experience. Hopefully, the taste of concentrated juice they had was sweet enough.

02.17.16
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Experience Best Teacher

coaches

When you follow Temple football as much as I do, you inevitably interact with Temple football coaches on rare occasions.

Every signing day during Al Golden’s tenure, he was always gracious enough to take the time to talk to me about a question or two I might have had or share to me his general philosophy about the program.

I liked Al very much, but that did not stop me from criticizing some of his gameday coaching.

When I ran into Steve Addazio at a New York City alumni meeting (I was in NYC that day to audition for the Who Wants to  Be a Millionaire Show), he went into a long story about why he was about to kick Matty Brown off the team because “I’ve had about enough of his shit.” The former Temple players who were standing and talking to Daz with me, Russ and Tom, then explained to Daz that I was the “Temple Football Forever” guy and then Daz begged me to keep that story quiet.

I did, because it was off the record.

promotions

TU promotions: Interesting there is an assistant and an associate HC.

Matty never did get kicked off the team, had a great senior season, and I had another great Temple football coaching story that could be told beyond the statue of limitations.

When another Matt, Rhule, got the Temple head coaching job, I dashed off an email that day wishing him luck. Much to my surprise, he then called me and we had a wonderful 35-minute discussion about everything from future assistants to helmets. I liked Matt Rhule just as much as Al Golden, but that like did not stop me from criticizing some of his gameday coaching. (If  he coached as brilliantly as Wayne Hardin did during a 13-year career, he would have been above criticism but he  did not and was not.) At the time, I casually mentioned to Matt that I had Bruce Arians‘ cell phone number, Matt asked me for it, I gave it to him, and it gives me great satisfaction that those two Temple coaches keep in touch from time to time. At the UConn post-game in 2012, I found myself standing next to another great guy and great Temple coach,  Chuck Heater, by the team bus. “You are a genius, Chuck,” I told him for shutting out the Huskies in the second half. “It’s the boys, Mike,” Chuck said.

Yeah, the boys and the best kicker in the country, Brandon McManus.

That brings us to today’s coaching promotions and I feel this is a very good day for Matt Rhule and Temple football because George DeLeone got a position of importance (OL coach, run game coordinator).

I’ve always felt the more grizzled guys a young coach has, the better the staff. Phil Snow has proved that on the defensive end and I think George will be the same kind of guy on the offensive end.

That doesn’t mean I don’t have a George story to tell. At the UConn game in 2012, the UConn team was leaving a pre-game meeting at the UConn hotel (where my fellow Owl fan and friend Phil and I were staying) and we saw George , then the Huskies’ OC, on the way out. He recognized us (we think from signing days), nodded, and we went into the meeting room and came away with a UConn offensive playbook that was left behind. It was beautiful, blue, in a binder, and filled with every UConn play.

I won’t say what happened to the playbook, but Temple shut out UConn in the second half on the way to a 17-14 OT win.

Moral of the story is keep a closer eye on those Temple playbooks this season but otherwise to thank goodness George DeLeone is on our side again.

02.15.16
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Dr. Kraft Talks Football On 97.5

smsc

Somewhere between 1 and 2 p.m. on Sunday, Temple athletic director Dr. Pat Kraft made the walk across the street to join a radio program that was being broadcast live from inside the Liacouras Center with hosts Etyan Shander and Geoff Mosher.
There were probably only a handful of people inside the arena to listen and only marginally more driving in their cars, but anytime Kraft speaks it is worth a listen. Too bad the station has not made a podcast of it (probably because he did not mention the Philadelphia Eagles) or we would link it here, but we were taking notes.

    • Here are some bullet points:

On Changing Conference Scenarios: Without specifically addressing the question, Kraft quoted, of all people, Steve Martin. “It’s like Steve Martin says: Be so good that people can’t help but notice you. We were so good in football this past year that people couldn’t help but notice us. Look at our women’s basketball game today. We were playing the No. 1 team in the country (UConn) and giving them all they can handle. We were eight points down when I left (he did not say if it was 8-0). In men’s basketball, I was telling people to take a deep breath and wait this season out and we would be good and that’s turned out to be the case. People are noticing us there, too. The other things take care of themselves.”

    • On the Stadium: “Yeah, it’s something that I think we need. My biggest point is that soon we will be having around 15,000 students on campus and those 15,000 students should be able to have the same experience students at other schools have and not have to be bused to home games.”
    • On the protests to the stadium: When Mosher said he was surprised at some of the protests, Kraft said: “I wasn’t. Look, this is a long process and we’re going to work with the community over their concerns. When they express concerns about any other specific issue related to the stadium, we’re going to ask them what they want us to do to address these specific issues. It’s going to be a give-and-take and we’re going to do our best clear all those issues up before we proceed.”
    • On the immediate future of football: “Guys, we really haven’t reached our peak. We’re not done yet. Matt (Rhule) has brought in a tremendous recruiting class and we’re just going to get better next year and the year after that.”

Unfortunately, Shander and Mosher did not ask Kraft if there was any progress on getting out of the Stony Brook contract so the Owls can lay a spanking on a FBS foe instead but, to be fair, Shander and Mosher probably do not even know Stony Brook is on the schedule.