A newer Temple roster will meet some new AAC opponents in 2023
Temple’s Sept. 2 season opener against Akron is 39 days away, and the Owls will conduct their first preseason practice next week.
While fans still have to wait to see the product on the field, they were able to watch second-year head coach Stan Drayton speak during the American Athletic Conference’s media day Tuesdays in Arlington, Texas.
Drayton is coming off a 3-9 record that included a 1-7 mark in conference play in his first season.
It was Drayton’s second media day, but this one had a different feel.
The American welcomed six new programs in UTSA, North Texas, Rice, UAB, Charlotte and FAU after the departures of Cincinnati, Houston and UCF to the Big 12, but the Owls will only play three of the newcomers this season. They will host UTSA Saturday, Oct. 7 in the program’s Homecoming game, play at North Texas the following Saturday and then play at UAB Saturday, Nov. 18.
And while the conference is changing around the Owls, their roster is also changing.
“There was a transition of new football players onto this team,” Drayton said at his press conference Tuesday morning. “We had some guys graduate, and we brought some guys in by way of high school recruiting and a little bit of portal recruiting.”
The Owls lost their leading wide receiver Jose Barbon to the Dallas Cowboys as an undrafted rookie free agent, and their second sack leader, Darien Varner, transferred to Wisconsin. Several key players graduated as well, including offensive linemen Adam Klein and Issac Moore and defensive back Jalen Ware.
Drayton was able to replenish the roster with 50 players, including a pair of talented running backs in Harrisburg's Kyle Williams and Tampa Jesuit's Joquez Smith, two Florida transfers in linebacker Diwun Black and safety Kamar Wilcoxson, and two transfers from Colorado State in wide receiver Dante Wright and safety Tywan Francis.
Acclimating them all will be a challenge. Drayton preaches a player-led leadership process he said the second-year players have bought into.
“When the new guys trickled into the program, you saw the older guys grab them by the ear and say ‘Hey, this is the way we’re going to do things here at Temple,’” Drayton said.
When asked what is the biggest question he wanted his players to answer, Drayton quickly said “Do you love each other?”
Drayton has built a culture around that mantra, believing trust and love in the locker room leads to success on the field.
“In my experience of winning some national championships in the past (as an assistant coach), the players took ownership,” Drayton said. “They have to love each other, they have to trust each other, they have to earn the right to hold each other accountable.”