While the competition heats up in Temple’s quarterback room, two players have separated themselves from the rest of the pack: D’Wan Mathis and Re-al Mitchell.

While Temple offensive coordinator Mike Uremovich stopped short of naming a starter under center, he made it increasingly clear that those two are ahead of Mariano Valenti and Matt Duncan at this point in time.

“I’m confident in both of those guys and both of them operating our offense,” Uremovich said during Temple’s Thursday media availability. “They both ran with the 1s and have both done some reps with the 2s. They both performed well in a lot of different situations, so I’m happy with those guys right now.”

Temple head coach Rod Carey is most intrigued by the way the two introduce added wrinkles to the offense. The Owls' playbook on that side of the ball has predominantly been built around Anthony Russo, a traditional pocket passer, the last three years.

Mathis and Mitchell fighting for the starting role allows the offense to implement designed scrambles and established play-action passes.

Mathis, a 6-foot-6, 205-pound redshirt sophomore, wasn’t promised the job when he came into the open quarterback competition by way of the transfer portal from Georgia. With that being said, he's drawn some early praise this month from his teammates.

The same can be said for Mitchell, who now has a season of Uremovich’s offense under his belt. He’s now back healthy and playing in an offense more tailored to his skill set.

“I see they’re getting more confident as we go on,” redshirt sophomore wide receiver Jordan Smith said Friday. “As we’re building that connection, they’re just getting more confident and making those throws easier.”

As for Mitchell, he transferred into the program from Iowa State prior to the start of last season and was able to see significant reps after Russo dealt with a shoulder injury and missed subsequent time due to the team's COVID protocol. Behind him was Trad Beatty, who suffered what wound up being a career-ending head injury against SMU.

Mitchell and Beatty swapped drives against Tulane and SMU before Beatty went down, giving Mitchell the keys to the offense in Temple’s 38-13 loss against UCF in mid-November. Mitchell took a helmet to the knee, which effectively ended his 2020 campaign. Mitchell finished his first season with the Owls completing 26-of-52 passes with 238 passing yards, one touchdown and two interceptions. He also added 114 rushing yards on 34 attempts.

The competition between Mathis and Mitchell is expected to extend into the summer as the Owls continue to patiently wait for the emergence of Russo’s heir under center.

“It’s a really talented room,” Carey said following the first day of spring practice. “What I’m hoping for is that someone takes it and runs away with the job and makes it very easy at the end of spring to name that.”

Carey is expected to meet with reporters Monday.

Front page photo courtesy of Temple Football.