When Temple head coach Matt Rhule and his staff released the first depth chart of the 2016 season prior to last Friday’s season opener against Army, there were a few surprises and unexpected names listed with the first-team.
One of those surprises came at the wide receiver spot, where redshirt sophomore Marshall Ellick’s name was listed above the names of more touted and previously productive players – namely sophomore Ventell Bryant, the team’s returning leading receiver.
Friday night, Ellick offered an indication of why he had drawn praise from Matt Rhule throughout spring practice and preseason camp and why he had ascended to the top of the depth chart. Temple’s leading receiver on the evening with four grabs for 46 yards, Ellick was one of very few Owls, especially on offense, to have a productive outing during the ugly 28-13 season-opening loss to Army at Lincoln Financial Field.
But even after a solid performance, Ellick wasn’t looking for superlatives.
“Individually, I felt like I did all right,” Ellick said after the Owls’ upset defeat. “I made a few plays and made a few catches, but I still don’t feel like I played as well as I wanted to. I’m going to improve on this week and get back at it next week.”
Despite Friday’s disappointing and unexpected loss, it’s still quite the accomplishment for Ellick, who came to the program as a preferred walk-on before earning a scholarship this summer. At times, it’s literally been a painful journey.
To say the Richmond, Virginia native’s laundry list of injuries is excessive would be an understatement. He’s endured breaking his leg three times, breaking his arm twice and fracturing his hip just to get to this point. Last season, he was limited to just five games on special-teams duty thanks to a nagging hamstring issue.
Doctors told Ellick he was a slow healer and more susceptible to injuries. But he persevered and once finally healthy, he was named the Owls’ most-improved offensive player during spring ball.
With as much as senior quarterback Phillip Walker (12 for 26 for 168 yards and three interceptions) and the Temple offense struggled on Friday, Ellick left an impression and made the most of his opportunities as the Owls ran just 54 plays (Army ran 72) and had the ball for just 24 minutes, 12 seconds. Army had it for 35:48.
“Army did a good job keeping the ball and it definitely took us out of a groove,” Ellick said. “It’s hard to get into the flow of the game when you’re sitting on the sideline for so long. But that’s what they’re trying to do to you. That’s part of their game style and it’s hard for the offense to restart basically every time we get back on the field because we’re off the field for so long,”
Despite the lopsided play and time of possession totals, Ellick accounted for 25 percent of Temple’s receptions and 27 percent of Temple’s receiving yards. Not bad for someone who hadn’t made much of a mark statistically-speaking in his football career. At Virginia’s Monacan High School, Ellick started just once. And prior to Friday, Ellick’s last receptions in a football game that counted were at Air Force Academy Prep School, where he caught three passes. Two of them went for touchdowns.
While Temple lost a very fast and explosive receiver in Robby Anderson to the NFL and the New York Jets, the Owls do have what looks to be a more varied and deeper receiving corps that includes Ellick, Bryant, Adonis Jennings and a few true freshmen who could eventually push for playing time in Isaiah Wright, Freddie Johnson and Randle Jones.
“We could be the most explosive receiving corps in the conference,” Ellick said confidently, despite what happened to the offense against Army. “The coaches tell us that and we believe that. And we’re going to show that next week. We didn’t have that many possessions because of their offense, but we have the ability a lot of receiving corps don’t have. We’re going to show that next week.”
The fact still remains that Walker and his new group of receivers still aren’t on the same page yet, and the chemistry isn’t where it needs to be. On one of Walker’s interceptions, the ball went right through the hands of slot receiver Brodrick Yancy. And Rhule said one of Walker’s interceptions was the result of a receiver running the wrong route.
Now Stony Brook, an FCS program that posted a 13-9 win over North Dakota in its season opener, is coming to The Linc this Saturday. Temple, of course, needs a win and needs to find better rhythm and chemistry offensively before it heads to Penn State in a little less than two weeks for a much-anticipated contest.
Ellick, an athletic specimen at 6-foot-2, 191 pounds, will be counted upon to help get things back on track. And after enduring a number of injuries and a couple of stops along the way, he’s waited a long time to get his shot.