In his weekly Monday press conference following Temple’s bye week, Stan Drayton said quarterback Evan Simon is “good to go" after recovering from a shoulder injury that forced him to miss the Owls' Oct. 5 game at UConn.

But the Owls’ third-year head coach stopped short of naming Simon his starter.

When asked if he knew if Simon would start Saturday, Drayton said, “Not yet. We’ll see.”

So what would prevent Simon from starting Saturday if he is indeed ready to go?

“Him not being ready to go,” Dratyon replied. “He’s been three weeks now not throwing the football, so we’ve got to get his arm looped up and see what it looks like.”

Simon missed the UConn game with an injury to his sternoclavicular (SC) joint in his right throwing shoulder, one he sustained on the final drive of Temple’s 42-14 loss to Army the previous week. Forrest Brock started in Simon’s place and nearly helped engineer a come-from-behind, game-winning drive against the Huskies before backup quarterback Tyler Douglas fumbled the game’s final snap, which turned into a backbreaking, 96-yard fumble recovery for a touchdown that allowed UConn to seal off a 29-20 win.

In three games as Temple’s starter, Simon has thrown for 680 yards, nine touchdowns and two interceptions while completing 64.6% of his passes. He led the Owls to their only win of the season back on Sept. 21, a 45-29 rout of Utah State that saw the Rutgers transfer account for all six of the Owls’ touchdowns – five through the air and one on the ground.

Brock, who won the preseason camp quarterback battle and the right to start the season opener at then-No. 16 Oklahoma, is 0-3 as Temple’s starter. The California JUCO product has tallied just one touchdown pass and 541 yards to go with five interceptions and a 58.8 completion percentage.

Brock sustained a wrist injury late in Temple’s Sept. 7 loss at Navy. He said he was still dealing with that right wrist contusion at UConn and implied after the game that the pain he experienced while taking snaps from under center was part of what kept him off the field on the game’s final play at UConn and led the coaches to try Douglas on a quarterback sneak, one that looked as if it would have been stopped at the goal line even if the redshirt freshman didn’t fumble the snap.

Drayton indicated that Brock would be ready to play if Simon isn’t ready Saturday.

“He's been fine,” Drayton said. “We just were protecting that wrist, and that wrist has gotten a lot better since that game, obviously. But in that moment, he wasn't quite ready, but there's been a healing process that's been taking place ever since that game. So he's in good shape.”

Tulsa comes to Lincoln Financial Field Saturday for a 2 p.m. kickoff with a 2-4 overall record and an 0-2 mark in American Athletic Conference play. The Golden Hurricane has the second-worst defense in the conference, having allowed an average of 37 points per game, and the team comes in at 10th and 11th, respectively, in rushing and passing defense.

The numbers and the eye test indicate Simon would give Temple the best chance to win Saturday.

So what would Drayton and offensive coordinator Danny Langsdorf have to see between now and Saturday to feel comfortable starting him again?

Again, we got to loosen up that arm,” said Drayton, who said that Simon threw a little bit during Monday’s practice, but not a lot. “He hadn't thrown in three weeks. Can he throw consistently? Can he hold a practice continually? Throw with that arm? And what's the threshold in terms of fatigue and things like that? When a quarterback takes time off, he has to get that arm looped up, and so that's what we're going to do, and we'll see if he's ready to go.”

Drayton answered several more questions Monday, including those about injury updates and how the program spent the bye week.

You can listen to his full Monday press conference here.