An improved, consistent Amad Anderson Jr. could be a boost to Owls' WR room

The Temple wide receiver room is losing Jose Barbon, who declared for the 2023 NFL draft, and Adonicas Sanders, who is out of eligibility.

Now Amad Anderson Jr. is taking advantage of the opportunity and hopes to be a key - and more consistent - factor in the Owl's offense in 2023.

“It’s going to be big,” Anderson said Tuesday about the upcoming season. “But right now, I’m just focused on coming to work every day, focusing on and controlling what I can control. Just working on the little things for me, just staying locked in on the keys. Playing with passion is something that I’ve just always had coming up with the game, so I’m just leaning on what I know, and learning from this coaching staff.”

With the departures of both Barbon and Sanders, the Owls brought in Colorado State transfer Dante Wright. The 5-foot, 9-inch receiver played in two games in 2022 before deciding to enter the transfer portal. In 2021, he finished with 43 receptions for 540 yards.

In the short time Wright has been on campus, he and Anderson have already established some chemistry, and Anderson has been impressed with Wright’s approach to the game.

“He’s smart,” Anderson said. “He knows the game of football. He’s also a competitor, and when you have guys like that in your room, that energy is contagious, and you can work with that and expand on that. Dante, he’s a very good player, smart, and he’s going to be a very good guy for us.”

Anderson transferred to Temple from Purdue ahead of the 2021 season, former head coach Rod Carey’s last at Temple, and caught 24 passes for 283 yards and two touchdowns. And last season, head coach Stan Drayton and offensive coordinator Danny Langsdorf’s first on North Broad Street, was full of ups and downs for Anderson. Through the season’s first five games, he collected just five receptions for 45 yards and struggled with some dropped passes.

After that, however, he finished his final six games with 33 receptions for 434 yards. Anderson was a pivotal factor in the Owl's comeback to force overtime in their loss to Navy on Oct. 29 -- and even that day was a microcosm of his season.

Earlier in the game, Anderson muffed a punt that led to a Navy touchdown and gave way to a 10-0 lead for the Midshipmen. But before the day was over, Anderson finished with eight receptions, including a one-handed, 40-yard catch on the game-tying drive to force overtime, for 114 yards and a touchdown.

The 5-foot, 11-inch receiver also saw time on special teams, returning eight for an average of just 5.12 yards per return last season while working through the aforementioned ball security issues, along with resisting the urge of going East-West on returns instead of cutting upfield for positive yardage.

Drayton said he has seen improvement in Anderson’s play throughout this spring and said Anderson picked up right where he left off at the end of last season.

“I think Amad is doing a really great job right now,” Drayton said. “I think he has picked up where he left off a year ago. We addressed some of the concerns from his production a year ago. Just consistency in getting lined up, integrity of routes, and things of that sort. Both of which have improved quite a bit.”

Drayton isn’t the only person that has noticed improvement from Anderson.

“A person that stands out the most to me on offense is Amad Anderson,” safety Muheem McCargo said last week. “He’s one of the guys that I go up against in the slot, and he gives me the biggest matchup where I really have to try and lock in and know what I’m doing, otherwise he can really hurt our defense.”

Anderson and the rest of the receivers have taken advantage of this offseason to strengthen their relationship with rising sophomore quarterback E.J. Warner.

“It’s fun, he’s another one of those guys who love the game,” Anderson said. “When you have guys who love to be here, love to be coached, who come in here with a great mindset, it’s easy to work with guys like that. It's fun. That energy is contagious, so me, EJ, and a lot of the receivers and quarterbacks have been feeding off watching the film, getting better, and learning every day from the film.

“It’s crazy to say that we still have a whole offseason to get better. I’m excited and can’t wait.”