Temple lost multiple key contributors from its offense last season. Starting quarterback E.J. Warner transferred to Rice, leading rusher Darvon Hubbard left the program, and the Owls’ top two receivers, Amad Anderson Jr. and David Martin-Robinson graduated.
So the Owls entered preseason camp Monday with many questions, with the starting quarterback job being chief among them. But the way offensive coordinator Danny Langsdorf sees it, there is still plenty of talent available at the skill positions.
“We have a big, strong guy in [Maryland transfer Antwain] Littleton, an all-around guy in Joquez [Smith],” Langsdorf told reporters during a Zoom call Thursday. “[Junior college transfer] Terrez Worthy is an exciting, new-style runner. He is a little quicker. And E.J. Wilson is another all-around guy. We have some good things going [at running back] and some different styles of runners.”
Langsdorf and special teams coordinator and tight ends coach Adam Scheier were two of the three assistants made available to the media following Thursday’s practice. Langsdorf touched on transfer quarterback Evan Simon’s progress, the quarterback competition and depth at wide receiver and running back. Scheier discussed what he feels is newfound special teams depth, the progress of punter Dante Atton, and the tight end position.
The search for the starting signal caller
After Warner had two outstanding seasons on North Broad Street, he decided to transfer to fellow American Athletic Conference program Rice, leaving a gaping hole at the quarterback position.
The Owls brought in Evan Simon from Rutgers to compete with redshirt junior Forrest Brock for the starting quarterback spot. Simon had an up-and-down spring for the Owls, but now with some more time in the program, Langsdorf gave the indication Thursday that he’s settling in well.
“We had a chance to review post-spring, install again in June, and review in the summer, and now we are doing it again for really the third or fourth time,” Langsdorf said. “He has had a chance to get caught up and is much more comfortable with the terminology and the reads and he has shown that already. He is much further along. It was a bit of a disadvantage in the spring because he is trying to figure out formations and alignments, and now he is making checks and doing all the things we need him to do.”
Brock and Simon were the two presumed competitors for the starting spot, but redshirt freshman Tyler Douglas is also being considered as a potential starter for the season opener at Oklahoma.
“Tyler Douglas is in that mix too,” Langsdorf said. “He has gotten a bunch of the second-team reps, which is a mixture of the ones and the twos and occasionally the threes. He is very much in that mix. [Walk-on Patrick Keller] and [incoming true freshman Chris Dietrich] are a little behind and are kind of in a backup role, but we are really competing three guys for the starter – Tyler, Evan and Forrest.”
Drayton and Langsdorf hope to have a starter decided about two weeks before the Owls’ season opener so they can give that quarterback their fair share of first-team rep.
Antwain Littleton headlines new-look running back room
Redshirt junior Antwain Littleton, a Maryland transfer, is drawing high praise early in camp. Littleton was a consistent rotation running back for the Terrapins and now expects to bring some punch to a new-look running back room for the Owls.
“[Littleton] is a bigger guy,” Langsdorf said. “He is a lot more powerful runner than some of the smaller guys we have who are a little more shifty and try to make you miss. He is going to do the same thing, but then try to run you over.”
Alongside Littleton, the running back room features JUCO transfer Terrez Worthy and returners Joquez Smith and E.J. Wilson. Each back has a different skill set to give the Temple offense different looks.
“[Littleton’s] style of runner is nice to have. He has caught the ball out of the backfield. He is a good blocker and a hard runner,” Langsdorf said. “I feel like with him and E.J. [Wilson,] then you sprinkle in some Terrez [Worthy] and Joquez [Smith,] you have a lot of different ways to attack. Different speeds and different styles.”
More depth at wide receiver and tight end?
The wide receiver room will see the return of four key contributors from last season in Zae Baines and Dante Wright, the Owls’ third- and fourth-leading receivers from 2023. John Adams saw significant time and caught 15 passes for 149 yards and two touchdowns before a broken leg prematurely ended his season. The 6-foot-2, 190-pound redshirt junior from South Jersey’s Deptford High School joined the program as a walk-on, but it wouldn’t be a surprise to see him earn a scholarship this season. Ian Stewart returns after he earned a single digit prior to last season, but the Michigan State transfer, who played in just six games in 2023 due to an injury, has to prove he can stay healthy.
The returners are joined by intriguing new faces like Grambling State transfer Antonio Jones and former USC track runner Ashton Allen.
“We feel good about where the veterans are,” Langsdorf said. “I feel like we are doing a great job of taking the veteran older guys and the new guys. We have a good mixture, whether it’s size and speed or quickness or route runner. We have a lot of different types of receivers that I feel we can throw in there and not really miss a beat with what we are trying to do. I feel like this is the best depth we have had. We got some bigger guys that have more range, and we got a couple smaller guys who have speed. It is a good mixture of both.”
Drayton seemed pleased about the team’s tight end depth when speaking with reporters Tuesday, touching on the good things he has seen from Peter Clarke, Reese Clark, Landon Morris and James Della Pesca.
Scheier, like Drayton, also seems happy with that room and was the latest to speak highly of Morris, an Indianapolis native who originally signed with Syracuse before entering the portal and transferring to Utah. He didn’t play there in 2022, sat out last season due to the NCAA’s double-transfer rule at the time and is now ready to contribute this season.
“He is going to work into a role,” Scheier said. “What the role is going to be, I don’t know. Preseason camp will determine that because there are four other guys who are fighting their tails off to be the starter. If we have to play all five to get the best one or two tight ends on the field, we will play all five. If one or two guys emerge like David Matin-Robinson and Jordan Smith did a year ago, we will play two guys. Landon is certainly in the mix and brings a lot from the pass game perspective.”
Strength in numbers
The injury woes from last season impacted the Owls’ depth on special teams. As of Aug. 1, Temple is as healthy as it’s been in a long time, and the special teams' depth is evident to Scheier, a veteran special teams coach with stops on his resume that include Rutgers, Mississippi State, Texas Tech and Ohio State.
“We are without question a more athletic, faster and longer football team, and that is going to add to the special teams depth,” Scheier said.
That, Scheier said, could potentially mean less special teams responsibility for Temple’s starters.
“Starters will still play special teams,” Scheier said, “but they may only play one or two units because the depth is going to allow us not to have drop offs. We were hamstrung last year not being able to use [Jordan] Magee and [Yvandy] Rigby on special teams because we didn’t have the depth. Those two could have been the two best special teams players in the entire conference. This year, we have more depth.”
Sophomore punter Dante Atton, one of the few players you could pencil in as a starter at this point, joined the program last season as a rugby-style kicker out of Melbourne who got his shot to play college football via the Prokick Australia program. He averaged 39.4 yards on 43 punts last season, and Scheier believes those numbers will improve because of his improved leg strength.
“He has been looking great,” Scheier said. “We are three practices in and two punting periods in. Going back to the spring, it is night and day in terms of his leg strength, his comfort with the scheme, how it works, and how we can maximize the punt yards. He is having a good camp so far. Two practices in and going back to the spring and what I am seeing so far, he is making major steps.”
