If Temple finds itself needing a game-winning touchdown catch in the closing moments of its season opener at Duke on Sept. 2, getting the ball to redshirt senior wide receiver Adonicas Sanders might be a good – and proven – option.
The Georgia Tech transfer caught 65 passes for 834 yards in his four seasons on the field with the Yellow Jackets. Two of his four career touchdown catches came against Duke, including a 36-yard scoring reception with just 51 seconds left to play last October in Durham to lift Georgia Tech to a 31-27 win over the Blue Devils.
“I don't know what it is against Duke,” Sanders told reporters earlier this week during Monday’s media availability. “I always have a great game against Duke, and I’m ready to play them September 2.”
Sanders was ready to play Duke in the two prior seasons as well. The 6-foot-1, 190-pound North Charleston, South Carolina native saw his only catch go for a 24-yard touchdown in Georgia Tech’s 56-33 win over Duke in Atlanta in 2020, and he caught three balls for 69 yards in the Yellow Jackets’ 41-23 loss to the Blue Devils in 2019.
Sanders was one of six Temple players to be awarded a single digit in a team ceremony Monday night at Edberg-Olson Hall. Like a previous Temple transfer in Rock Ya-Sin, who came to Temple from Presbyterian College, Sanders earned his single digit before playing in a regular season game with the Owls.
“People are pulling his jersey off and he finds a way to catch the football,” first-year Temple head coach Stan Drayton said Monday when talking about Sanders. “I mean, he’s a Temple tough guy.”
When asked Monday about committing to and playing for a Georgia Tech program that had previously utilized a run-heavy, triple option offense prior to former Temple head coach and current Yellow Jackets head coach Geoff Collins’ arrival, Sanders described himself in more humble terms that might indicate he’s still scratching the surface of his potential as a player.
“My decision at Georgia Tech at that time, I was focused on education and getting my degree from Georgia Tech. I wasn’t really big on football,” Sanders said. “I got my degree and that’s what I went there for.”
Klein staying at right tackle for now
In speaking with reporters last Friday at Edberg-Olson Hall, Temple offensive line coach Chris Wiesehan said having fifth-year offensive lineman Adam Klein settle in at right tackle could mean “stability on the edge” in terms of protecting the Owls’ starting quarterback, be it D’Wan Mathis or transfer Quincy Patterson.
But in that same response, Wiesehan also said, “the snap’s really important, so you’d better have a guy who can do that, because he starts the play,” alluding to Klein’s experience at that position. Wiesehan also said he was going to keep things fluid in terms of who is in the mix for the starting center position in addition to Wisdom Quarshie.
Asked Monday about where he’s been practicing, Klein said most of his time has been spent at right tackle in preseason camp and that the team has continued to do a lot of cross-training under Wiesehan.
“I’ll always be ready if Coach Wiese needs me at center,” Klein said. “I’ve had reps there, especially in spring ball and stuff like that. So if my name is called to play that position, I can do that, too.”
But when asked if he’s a right tackle as of now, Klein simply said, “yes.”
Second scrimmage set for Saturday
The Owls will scrimmage again Saturday, their second of the preseason after scrimmaging last Saturday.
Darian Varner, who also earned a single digit this week, wouldn’t pin a win or loss on either side of the ball when describing last weekend’s scrimmage.
Varner, who told reporters Monday that he weighed in at 285 or 290 pounds when he was playing inside at defensive tackle and led the Owls with 3.0 sacks last season, said he now weighs 258 pounds and would like to ultimately play at 260 or 265 pounds to “keep it smooth, feel fast and light on my feet.”
Moving to defensive end under new Temple defensive line coach Antoine Smith has been a change Varner has welcomed.
“Mentally, I would say that nothing really changed,” Varner said. “Just in my mind, playing a little faster. Physically, I would say I was built for it a little bit. Coach Smith just got me right for it."
Camden Price joins the program at kicker
As OwlScoop.com Assistant Editor Kyle Gauss first reported Tuesday, former Miami placekicker Camden Price is now on Temple’s roster as a graduate transfer and is now practicing with the Owls.
Price converted 6 of his 7 field goal attempts and all 18 of his extra points in 2019 before Jose Borregales and then his younger brother, Andres Borregales, won the job in the 2020 and 2021 seasons, respectively, with Price backing them up.
Price’s career-long field goal went for 32 yards. He now provides competition for returning sophomore placekicker Rory Bell, who converted just 9 of his 16 field goal attempts and all 23 of his extra points. Temple’s only points in a 55-3 blowout loss to then-No. 5 Cincinnati last season came on a career-high 55-yard field goal by Bell, the second-longest made field goal in the program’s history and the longest in the American Athletic Conference last fall.
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