Monday notebook: A different voice in the room
Temple’s Chief of Staff Everett Withers spoke to reporters Monday, stepping in for first-year head coach Stan Drayton, who was home sick for the day.
Withers provided some updates stemming from an injury-filled week against Tulsa. Offensive linemen James Faminu and Adam Klein are currently waiting on MRIs, Withers said, that they will know more about in the coming days. Wide receiver Ian Stewart is still dealing with a foot injury, and the staff is still deciding on next steps for him on a day-to-day basis.
And after not playing in the second half on Friday, Georgia Tech Transfer Adoncias Sanders is day to day with a knee sprain. Withers believes that he is getting closer to hopefully being back at practice.
Withers, who has head coaching experience at programs like Texas State, James Madison and North Carolina, also discussed with the media the impact wide receiver Amad Anderson had in Friday’s 27-16 loss to Tulsa, what his day-to-day job looks like as Drayton’s chief of staff, and how the Owls are getting ready for Navy, where they will face the Midshipmen Saturday in Annapolis in a game that is scheduled for a 3:30 p.m. kickoff.
Navy is currently 2-5 to start the year with a 2-3 record in the American Athletic Conference, having lost its last two games to Memphis and Houston.
You can listen to Withers’ Monday interview here and read some excerpts from it below.
Withers on his role with the team:
“I coach coaches. I spend my day really helping the coaches and trying to help Coach Drayton with the day-to-day dealing with the staff as well as the players. Kind of that relationship piece. I’m kind of that in-between, middleman if it becomes that. I try to keep the coaches on schedule. I try to pass on any information Coach Drayton needs to get to the staff. I kind of look at myself as the non-human element guy. I don’t let feelings get in the way. I’m really the guy that tells the truth. Sometimes it’s not what you want to hear, but it's the truth, very transparent about the way I do business. That’s the just way I am.”
Withers on Navy’s triple-option offense:
“Well, every one of our guys has faced it before. (Temple defensive coordinator D.J.) Eliot’s faced it a number of times. You know, what people don’t understand is, you can’t wholesale change your defense. You have to do things within your defense that fit the rules of stopping the triple option. You have to be able to stop every phase of it and tackle every phase. And I’m sure our staff will do a good job of getting our kids to understand that. We started that process a little bit today. It’s a week-long process to get to understand. There’ll be some new wrinkles in the ball game coming up this Saturday.”
Withers on Amad Anderson and Zae Baines seeing increased roles with Adonicas Sanders missing the second half Friday:
“It was good to see Amad have some success on the field and be targeted and for him to make some plays. Now it’s about taking that and growing and being better this week. It may not mean the numbers that he had this past week. How can he be a better blocker on the premier for us? How can you run better routes and at the right depth for us? Same thing for Zae. Zae had his first action and was targeted a number of times this week. Hopefully, those two guys go into roles that they have which now creates depth in our wide receiver room. So we’ve got to be able to do that. We need those guys to grow. Like you said, whether Adoncias plays or not, we need those guys to step up, play for us to create some depth and give us some more options at wide receiver.”