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.