Temple Owls Preview 2022: Previewing, predicting, and looking ahead to the Temple season with what you need to know and keys to the season.
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Temple Owls Preview
Head Coach: Stan Drayton, 1st year at Temple
2021 Preview: Overall: 3-9, Conference: 1-7
Keys To The Season
Season Prediction, What Will Happen
Temple Top 10 Players | Temple Schedule & Analysis
Temple Owls Preview 2022
It wasn’t all that long ago that Temple appeared to be a steady, winning program that was allowed to assume good records and bowl appearances.
But last year the team couldn’t score in the 3-9 season, and before that was an ugly 1-6 2020 without much of anything going right.
Rod Carey was a strong head coach at Northern Illinois, but he struggled in his three years. Before him, Geoff Collins had a winning record before going to Georgia Tech, Matt Rhule went 28-23 before going on to Baylor and then the Carolina Panthers, Steve Addazio had a winning record, and Al Golden turned around the impossible program before going off to Miami.
Now it’s Stan Drayton’s turn.
The first time head coach has been a whale of a running back coach at several levels over the years, and now he’s getting his shot to take the Temple program and shape it how he wants to.
It’s not going to be easy. He has to get the lines in place, but the skill parts are solid, he’ll make the running game great, and there aren’t any expectations for now.
But it really is possible to win at Temple. Drayton might just need a year or so to do it.
Temple Owls Preview 2022: Offense
The new coaching staff has to find something it can rely on. The Owls were 125th in the nation in total offense last year, couldn’t run, had no downfield passing game, and it failed to score more than 14 points in nine games and in any of the last seven games. On the plus side, there’s experience, and there are some new options to change things up fast.
Head coach Stan Drayton knows how to coach up running backs. That’s how he made his name as an NFL assistant, and making the ground game go will be Job One.
Sophomore Edward Haydee led the team with just 330 yards and three touchdowns last year – averaging under four yards per carry, but he’ll be fine with room to move. Darvon Hubbard is coming in from Texas A&M and Jakari Norwood is moving in from Illinois as part of a rotation.
The line has to be better at keeping defenses out of the backfield. Three starters are expected back, Peace Addo from Duke and James Faminu from Houston will push for time, and there’s enough size to blast away a bit.
Can the quarterback situation be settled fast? Former Georgia transfer D’Wan Mathis has a whole lot of talent, but he needs the line to give him time to work after an injury-plagued – but promising – season. Quincy Patterson is coming in from Virginia Tech to add another option to the mix.
The receiving corps should be a plus. Leading receivers Randle Jones and Jaden Blue are done, but Jose Barbon was second with 39 catches with 431 yards and two scores, and Amad Anderson added 24 grabs. This is one of the team’s deeper areas, helped by getting Ian Stewart from Michigan State.
Temple Owls Preview 2022: Defense
The defensive side has more ready-to-roll parts than the offensive side. Last year’s D fought the good fight. It didn’t generate a pass rush, but it was great at coming up with tackles for loss and ended up fifth in the nation in pass defense. The run defense had problems, but as long as the secondary can hold up again, the D will be okay.
Leading tacklers Amir Tyler is done at safety, but Alex Odom is a good-sized hitter who was second with 65 tackles, and there’s good depth to play around with at the position.
There weren’t a whole lot of picks, but the corner combination of Keyshawn Paul, Cameron Ruiz, and Elijah Clark has size and can hold up. South Carolina transfer Dominick Hill will be an instant factor.
The front three will be active. 285-pound Darian Varner was second on the team with seven tackles for loss, Zach Gill is a 295-pounder, and 300-pound Demerick Morris is one of the team’s bigger bodies inside. Now the front has to get to the quarterback.
Jordan Magee is one of the better pass rushers and top tacklers at one outside linebacker spot, Kobe Wilson is a quick 215-pound hitter in the middle, and there are enough options and help from the transfer portal – Jacob Hollins is a promising backup from Fresno State and Illinois before that – to form a solid corps.
Keys To The Season
Season Prediction, What Will Happen
Temple Top 10 Players | Temple Schedule & Analysis