Temple football began its spring practices for the first time under new head coach Stan Drayton Friday morning after finishing up winter workouts.
Drayton takes over a team with likely position battles at every spot after the team finished 3-9 overall and 1-7 in American Athletic Conference play.
The Owls open the 2022 season on Sept. 2 at Duke and will play the first Cherry and White spring game since 2018 on April 9 at Edberg-Olson Hal.
Here is everything Drayton said to the media Friday in his brief press conference before the start of practice.
Drayton on the transition from winter workouts to spring practice:
“I think our kids are ready to get on the football field. I think they were just trying to feel us out in the winter a little bit. The whole purpose of winter conditioning was to develop that trust factor, and that's an ongoing process. But this football team, they're hungry, they're hungry for change. They're excited, and it wasn't a whole lot of verbiage going on, which is good for me, in my opinion. It's all about their actions, and their actions are trending in the right direction. So, I'm excited to see what the day looks like.”
Drayton on bringing back the Cherry and White game:
“It's necessary. It's our longtime tradition around here that brings a lot of pride and pageantry to the campus. Our alumni and our boosters are strong supporters of it. So, I just thought it was a necessary thing to bring back and bring it back full swing.”
Drayton on what he’s looking to see out of the players during the eventual spring game:
“I’m hoping we can develop a physical mindset. We want to be an aggressive style of football club, on both sides of the football, including special teams. Right now it's about identifying who we are, trying to find out what the roster really is, where the voids could be. Right now we just got to get out here and just [get] from point A to point B, just cut it loose, and see who we are.”
Drayton on single digits and what it will take to earn one:
“In terms of single digits, we're talking about the best of the best. We're talking about guys who are doing it right both on and off the football, That still needs to be educated to some of our football players, all of them, in that respect. We hold that whole mantra of being single-digit to a high standard around here. We're nowhere near anointing anybody a single digit at this point, but we talked about it every single day. They hear it every single day, and that is the goal of every single player on this football team is to become a single-digit, or at least have a single-digit mindset.”
Drayton on the origin of the “white flag” social media post and “white flag” T-shirt:
“It’s a version of Temple TUFF. We don't find excuses. We just get our job done. We don't allow distractions to get in the way. Put our personal feelings aside, and we attack things with a winning mindset purpose of what's best for this football team. So no white flags is eliminate distractions, eliminate your personal issues, and let's get to what Temple TUFF is all about.”
Drayton on the connection between him and the players so far:
"I think our players know we care about them. They need to know that we care about them far beyond the helmet. That we care about them becoming great men, great husbands, fathers. We want them to be productive citizens of society, community service, so all that. Development of the whole man is something that I think they bought into, and once they know we care, then we can start to coach them and then they go through a wall for us.”
Drayton on how his first few months have been:
"It’s been phenomenal. It’s been overwhelming. Busy, but I'm built for it. Something that I've always wanted, you know, and I think our kids are starting to really buy into what I'm preaching the philosophy of what this place needs to be. I think they're taking the steps in the right direction.”
Drayton on how recruiting is going so far:
“I think it's going well. We've connected with a lot of coaches in our in our footprint. They have bought into what we're preaching to our young men, our philosophy. They love the fact that we are raising these young men both on and off the football field. They are very proud of the fact that we're bringing a Temple TUFF back to this program. So, this is a matter of process now we got to go through the process of getting to know the actual athlete a little bit better. There hasn't been a whole lot of availability to connect with these student-athletes, but we are connected with their coaches on a regular basis. I think it's going well. We're going to definitely upgrade our football team in the near future.”
Drayton on what he’s seen from some of the early enrollees:
"They're excited about being a foundation piece of this to this new philosophy here at Temple, you know, and it's not new still. Temple TUFF, right? We feel as though these kids decided to come here because that existed here in this program, and they were hoping to try to fill that back. So I'm super excited about the mindset of the guys that we have signed to our program.”
Drayton on if he saw any players who need to improve to breakout during spring practice:
“All of them. They all need to go and give us better effort, better production, and better results than we saw a year ago on film, so I'm giving every single one of them a chance to show that. We talk about it, so that was not enough to just talk about it. These kids had a lot to say when we first walked into this building. It is about their actions, so their actions will speak louder than their words and that starts today.”
Drayton on how some of the team’s recent charity work has impacted team chemistry:
"They really understand it. They understand the purpose of it is about going into a community that supports our program. It's about filling needs for people who can't repay and how important that is to their personal development. In the words of Andrew Katz, back in the day, he said, you don’t live a perfect day, unless you can give back to somebody who can't repay you, and that is something that our players need to learn. For them to be able to be put in a situation where they have an opportunity to give to a community and make a difference within the community is something they directly relate to, and they're seeing the benefits of it and our kids are growing from it exponentially.”
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