Fresh perspective: Smith, Watson and Pruitt talk about increased roles
A trio of Temple freshmen - Luke Watson, Jackson Pruitt and Joquez Smith - found themselves playing prominent roles in last Saturday night’s nonconference road game at Rutgers, albeit in a 36-7 loss to the Scarlet Knights.
Watson, a true freshman from Delaware’s St. Mark’s High School, got his first career start at left tackle after starting the season opener at Akron, while Pruitt, a redshirt freshman from Detroit’s Cass Tech, moved over to left guard against the Scarlet Knights a week after starting the season opener at right guard.
And Smith, a true freshman from Tampa Jesuit High School, gave the Owls a glimmer of hope at the running back position behind them, tallying 45 yards on nine carries in his first college football game. Second-year head coach Stan Drayton said Smith would touch the ball “quite a bit” more in the future for Temple’s offense.
All three players met with reporters Tuesday afternoon on Zoom in interviews you can watch here.
The Owls will be depending upon Watson, Pruitt and Smith when they host FCS opponent Norfolk State Saturday afternoon at Lincoln Financial Field as they look to shake off last Saturday’s loss. Kickoff is set for 2 p.m. and the game will be televised on ESPN+.
Smith, who got his first carry on Temple’s third series and eventually popped off runs of 12 and 14 yards, said he noticed a difference in the Rutgers defense once he was able to start getting into a rhythm last Saturday.
“They started playing a little closer (to the line of scrimmage), so that’s when we started hitting them over the top with deeper passes, stuff like that,” Smith said. “Just playing with them, trying to get them to try to figure out if we were going to try to run it, throw it, so it opened up the offense.”
The 6-foot-5, 285-pound Watson got the start in place of junior college transfer Diego Barajas, who got hurt in last week’s win over Akron. Playing left tackle in high school, Watson said, helped him in playing all 78 snaps Saturday night.
“I think that if I didn’t play left tackle in high school, it would have been way harder,” Watson said Tuesday. “But just having the feeling of being kind of alone and out on an island helped, definitely just from the beginning. Obviously, college rushers and the Rutgers rushers were a little better than high school, but it definitely felt comfortable. It wasn't uncomfortable.”
Pruitt, who also talked about the NIL opportunities he’s had at Temple, including a relationship with Dunkin Donuts, said being cross-trained at multiple positions by his offensive line coach Chris Wiesehan helped with jumping from right guard to left guard over the last week.
“It’s not that much of a challenge. With Coach Wies, we work everything every day,” Pruitt said, “from left tackle to right tackle every day. We get that work. In the spring, I played center the whole spring, and I played some tackle as well. Last year, I played tackle. So really, it’s just moving around and learning, especially with my mental capacity, I think I’m able to pick up on things pretty quick, so it’s not that much of a challenge.”
Smith, Watson and Pruitt are all working together to try to rectify a Temple running game that was the third-worst among all FBS programs last season. Through two games, the Owls haven’t been much better, averaging 64.5 yards through their first two games, which ranks them 121st among all FBS programs.
Saturday will be a chance to bolster that stat and open up an offense that needs all the help it can get.
Stewart suffers another injury setback
Wide receiver Ian Stewart announced on his Instagram story that he will be sidelined another six weeks with a stress reaction in his foot that he experienced during pregame warmups last Saturday at Rutgers.
Stewart caught seven passes for 76 yards through the first four games of last season, including the first touchdown pass of quarterback E.J. Warner’s career, before a foot injury sidelined him for the rest of the season. He earned a single digit last month and was set to be healthy for Temple’s opener before he tweaked his hamstring, he wrote Tuesday on Instagram.
Now the stress reaction will keep him out for another month-and-a-half.