Jeff Knowles, Mike Uremovich offer closer look at Owls' roster
Temple defensive coordinator Jeff Knowles and offensive coordinator Mike Uremovich are quite pleased with the progress their units have made over the course of the summer and fall preseason camp.
At this point in camp, the Owls’ defense is calling out the offense’s plays before they run them because they’ve seen them for seven weeks, according to Uremovichh. The two coordinators have started scripting practices together to try to put the other side of the ball in a bad position. They do work together a lot, which helps them, but they’re both ready to get the season underway.
Both coaches spoke with reporters Friday, and here are OwlScoop.com's notes and observations from those conversations.
Defensive line standouts
Knowles all but rattled off an unofficial depth chart Friday, starting with the defensive line.
When Knowles first arrived at Temple, he said he didn’t expect Ifeanyi Maijeh to blow up like he did, but that was before he saw him play.
Knowles had heard from some of the coaches who remained on staff about the redshirt junior defensive tackle’s potential, but didn’t really see it on full display until spring ball got underway.
“I remember spring ball last year and watching him run and bend the edge and see how twitchy he was," Knowles said. "We knew we had something special with him for sure, fairly quickly. His potential, the sky’s the limit. He’s got some things that he just needs to keep playing football and get more reps. He’s gonna be a really good player and if he takes care of himself and keeps hitting that weight room, I think he can be a really good one at the next level, too.”
The Far Rockaway, New York native is coming off a breakout season with 6.5 total sacks, good for eighth in the conference, and 52 total tackles. He notched a career-high in tackles for a single game against No. 19 Cincinnati on November 23 with nine.
Maijeh will be a big key to Temple’s success on the defensive front and is a part of one of the team’s more deeper units, which includes fellow defensive tackles Dan Archibong, Khris Banks and Kevin Robertson.
Where production may be a question mark is at the defensive end position in the absence of Quincy Roche. The 2019 American Athletic Conference Defensive Player of the Year elected to play his final year of college football at Miami as a grad transfer, so his departure leaves big shoes to fill.
Arnold Ebiketie is a name that has been brought up between Temple head coach Rod Carey and Knowles alike, as a player who is primed for a bigger role in 2020. The redshirt junior is up to 240 pounds after weighing between 210-215 last season. In 2019, he spent time rotating at defensive end, compiling 13 total tackles, two tackles for loss, two quarterback hits and two sacks in 12 games.
“I think AK is gonna end up having a big year,” Knowles said. “He’s done really well this fall and he’s playing well.”
The safeties
Amir Tyler is primed to be Temple’s go-to-guy at the safety position, but that hasn’t stopped guys like M.J. Griffin and Jalen Ware from stepping up during preseason camp.
“We’ve really got a couple guys competing to be that other safety alongside Amir,” Knowles said. “That would be our young guys Trey Blair, Alex Odom, and Jalen Ware competing for that other spot.”
Ware comes in as a transfer from Mississippi's Copiah-Lincoln Community College, where he compiled 34 tackles, two sacks, one interception and one forced fumble as a sophomore. While the redshirt junior has prior playing experience, he is still being pushed at the “field” safety position by two other players, who are also new to the program.
As for the two true freshman safeties, Odom (from South Jersey's Kingsway High School) and Blair (from Haverford High School) are forcing Temple’s hand. Blair was a midyear enrollee who began classes at Temple in January, while Odom arrived over the summer. The two of them have been able to make a name for themselves in the safeties room.
“I will say, being here for two months helped guys like that be able to get reps and learn it,” Knowles said. “Whereas in a normal camp, they might have a week to pick it up then you’re moving on to the next thing. With the extra time, they didn’t get to see it versus the live bullets, but it did help them get lined up to make the calls they got to make.”
As of now, Tyler is still the number one option, but there are plenty of cases to be made at the other safety spot.
Navy’s Defense: What to expect?
Despite Navy’s defensive numbers being inflated due to a 55-3 loss to BYU in its season opener, Temple is not taking the Midshipmen for granted.
“Their defense is very very sound, as you would think,” Uremovich said. “Everyone talks about them being an option offense and all the rules and all that. They’re sound, they don’t beat themselves and they play to their strengths. They’re not the biggest defense we’re going to play. They’re athletic, they move, they shift, they give you a million different looks, which is challenging because those kids can learn all that stuff.
“Their defensive coordinator (Brian Newberry) does an unbelievable job of trying to take away what you do best and he’s going to change his plan every week. You watch them from week to week, they have certain base principles that they adhere to, but they’re built on a weekly basis to stop what you do and make you do something else. The biggest challenge with them is finding out how they’re going to try and play you.”
Temple goes into any game, regardless of who it's playing, and scripts 11 plays, Uremovich said. It’s a mix of what the offensive coaching staff likes and trying to see what they can potentially set up for later.
Navy’s defense, which tends to show team’s different looks, doesn't change the Owls' script at all. Instead, it makes them think harder about what they want to do against some of the Midshipmen’s pressure packages.
Navy’s defense, led by linebacker Diego Fagot (team-high 22 tackles, 4.0 tackles for a loss), presents a challenge for a Temple offense that will be looking to get its rhythm going in its first game of the season. After Saturday’s matchup against Air Force, Navy will have three games under its belt.
However, that could play to Owls’ advantage as they have film on the Midshipmen’s defense thus far and Navy doesn’t quite have an idea of how Uremovich’s offense will look in Year 2.
Moving around the line
Adam Klein played tackle, guard, center during Temple’s walkthrough Friday. While he started every game at right tackle for the Owls last season, Temple has been cross training the junior offensive lineman at multiple positions across the line.
Uremovich told Klein that this tells the local product from Episcopal Academy what the coaching staff thinks of him. He’s a guy they’re going to move around to help the team if something happens and an offensive lineman goes down with an injury.
Klein was working at center at the beginning of spring ball, but the coronavirus pandemic threw a wrench in that plan. While Klein is still seeing time at center, Temple elected to bring in C.J. Perez as a grad transfer from Northern Illinois, and he’s seemed to take a firm hold of that position. Uremovich said Klein has seen time at guard, which was confirmed by Maijeh, who appeared on this week’s episode of The Scoop, OwlScoop.com’s weekly podcast. Maijeh said Klein has been playing some right guard, while Vincent Picozzi has been quarantining for the past two weeks due to contact tracing.
Uremovich added that he expects Klein to be among Temple’s starters when they take the field at Navy Oct. 10.
Extra Points: When asked about Kennique Bonner Steward, Uremovich said the redshirt freshman quarterback has elected to opt out of the 2020 season.
Bonner Steward joins junior safety DaeSean Wintson and redshirt junior cornerback Ty Mason as three of the five Temple players who have been confirmed by coaches as opting out of the season due to the pandemic.
Bonner Steward, a Fayetteville, North Carolina native, would have likely been the Owls No. 4 quarterback behind Anthony Russo and Re-al Mitchell and Trad Beatty, but that appears to be a competition between true freshman Matthew Duncan and NIU transfer Mariano Valenti, who has reunited with the staff that originally recruited him.