Monday notebook: Carey announces Duncan as Saturday's starting QB
If it were up to Rod Carey, Temple would not have played any of its games over the past three weeks.
Temple’s second-year head coach said on Monday during his weekly Zoom press conference that it’s his opinion that the Owls have been at the point of not being able to play due to injuries and COVID-related absences, but the people in charge of those decisions don’t agree with him.
A team spokesperson confirmed to OwlScoop.com that Carey has the full support of Temple’s administration, but the American Athletic Conference didn’t believe Temple met the threshold to cancel its games against Tulane, SMU and UCF.
The league did allow Temple to move its game against SMU from Thursday, Nov. 5, to Saturday, Nov. 7, but that’s as far as they were willing to go. Carey added that the safety of the team has been in question over the past three weeks. The Owls traveled to UCF on Saturday with only 45 scholarship players.
And speaking of injuries and roster shortages, Carey had another notable one to pass along Monday, once again at the quarterback position.
Carey officially ruled out starter Anthony Russo - who missed the Tulane and SMU games due to a right shoulder injury and the UCF game due to COVID protocol - and backup Trad Beatty for Saturday’s game against ECU, and he also told reporters that Re-al Mitchell will be out for the remainder of the season due to an undisclosed injury.
So that means true freshman Matt Duncan will get his first career start, while another true freshman, walk-on quarterback Kamal Gray, will serve as Duncan’s backup.
Now that Duncan is set to start on Saturday, Temple will start its fourth different quarterback of the season. That’s the most ever by a Temple team during the FBS era. In addition, Duncan becomes the first freshman to start at quarterback for the Owls since P.J. Walker did back in 2013.
As for the remaining injuries, cornerback Freddie Johnson is day-to-day with a hamstring injury, while Carey does not foresee linebacker Isaiah Graham-Mobley or cornerback Linwood Crump being available for Saturday’s game. Graham-Mobley has a chance to return against Cincinnati in Temple’s season finale, but Carey couldn’t commit to that happening. Carey was also hopeful that right tackle Micahel Niese, who missed Saturday's game at UCF, will be available for practice tomorrow but remained glum about BUBO Yvandy Rigby’s chances of returning from an ankle injury.
The Owls could be getting linebacker Jordan Magee back from the team’s COVID-19 protocol by the end of this week, Carey said, but it remains unclear whether he’ll be in game-shape by Saturday.
Here are some addition excerpts from Carey ahead of Temple's upcoming matchup against a 1-6 ECU team on Saturday at Lincoln Financial Field at noon. Fans will not be permitted to attend games for the rest of the regular season due to Philadelphia’s new city guidelines that were implemented on Monday afternoon.
On the quarterbacks:
“As of right now, [Trad Beatty] won’t be ready to play Saturday with where he’s progressing on his injury. And [Anthony] Russo will not be available until next Monday…. Re-al Mitchell will be out the rest of the year, so we’ll start Matt Duncan at quarterback this Saturday and he’ll be backed up by Kamal Gray.”
On Mitchell's early struggles at UCF with two turnovers in the first quarter:
“Mitchell’s urgency physically and timing-wise wasn't there at the beginning of the game. I think that led to a couple of those mistakes. And I shared that with him. After he saw it on film, he understood what I was saying.”
On COVID protocol and injuries:
“My opinion has been for the last three weeks that we’ve been at that critical mass. People that make those decisions have not been in agreement with me. I think that’s been reviewed each week and they have not agreed with me on that. After talking with our doctor, too, he agrees with me that COVID has another effect, which we’re now seeing, is that there are a lot more injuries because of the people who are playing and the amount they’re playing. I think we’ve been in critical mass for three weeks, but the powers that be have not agreed with me. ... When safety comes into question, which in my opinion it has been over the last three weeks, I think that’s when it becomes negative to play. I’m not in the decision-making role when it comes to that and there are other people that are.”
“I would have tried to reschedule those games. It’s not that I didn’t want to play. I want the opportunities for the young men, but I think rescheduling would have given us our best opportunity. Not competitively, but as far as numbers-wise and safety-wise, that was my opinion.”
On depth in the running back room:
“I like the way that they’re running behind their pads. They all bring a little something. [Kyle] Dobbins is probably the most explosive, Onasis [Neely] is probably the most downhill, Tayvon [Ruley] has really good hips and [Edward] Saydee is one of those guys that’s just a worker and keeps working his way past everybody. They all have unique gifts. I’d like somebody to really jump up and kind of assume that role. Tayvon has that right now, but I think there’s great competition there.”
On ECU quarterback Holton Ahlers:
“We played against [Ahlers] last year and we thought he had a bright future. That certainly hasn’t produced in wins, I’m sure, in the way [ECU head coach Mike Houston] has wanted it to. But you can see from my perspective how he has matured. He’s way more comfortable running this offense, he has a big-time arm, and he moves well, so it’s going to be a big challenge for us.”
On young offensive linemen David Nwaogwugwu (started at right tackle) and Wisdom Quarshie (played significant snaps at right guard):
“I think David played well for being his first start. He’s played sparingly at times over the course of this year and last year. Really a natural tackle. We’ve had him playing guard at times out of necessity, but was pretty happy with the way David played.”
“[Wisdom] got thrown into the fire there. And I certainly believe he’s going to be a really good player for us. He just probably wasn’t ready for live bullets the way that they were coming at him, but there were some positives from him, too. Big, strong kid who I think has a bright future."
On true freshman safety Alex Odom and true freshman linebacker Kobe Wilson:
“Really bright futures for both of them. Alex, really his first time playing an entire game in the defensive packages we were playing. Handled all the calls really, really well. Kobe, we’ve known, is going to be a special player around here. He had a couple fits there that weren’t quite right, but certainly played physical, downhill and for a majority of the game he was in the right place at the right time executing at a high level.”
On true freshman placekicker Rory Bell, who's perfect on two field goal attempts and his lone extra point but has struggled with sending some kickoffs out of bounds, including one Saturday:
“We’re going to stick with Rory right now. What I’ve told Rory is that he won’t, as a true freshman kicking for me, get scolded or anything for kicking it out of bounds. I said that’s your miss right now. Because the other miss is too costly, it can cost seven points. I think he’s doing exactly what we’re trying to do and we’re trying to get that better. You’ve seen the placement get better. It’s just got to get more consistent and he certainly has the talent to do that.”