Tuesday’s media availability offered a look at some of the more intriguing players on Temple’s roster.
Wide receiver Ashton Allen, a former track All-American at USC, entered the transfer portal back in March to explore football and track and field opportunities. The 6-foot-3, 200-pound wideout, who played football at Maryland’s Bullis School and has reported a 4.25 40-yard dash time, verbally committed to Temple back in May and said he appreciated what he is calling a “leap of faith” from the Owls’ staff, considering he hasn’t played football since high school.
UTEP transfer Torey Richardson is looking to end what has been a long and winding road of a college career with a Temple secondary that could use his help at cornerback. Richardson, who originally started his college career at Houston before bouncing to Blinn Community College, missed the entire 2022 season at UTEP before posting 3.0 TFL, an interception and eight pass breakups last fall in the season that preceded his arrival at Temple.
And Maddux Trujillo could bring Temple a placekicker with the strongest leg and range the Owls have had since Brandon McManus. The Austin Peay transfer has hit several kicks beyond 50 yards in camp and narrowly missed a 60-yarder during Tuesday’s practice, according to a source.
Here are some takeaways from their Tuesday conversation with reporters.
Track speed
Allen spent four seasons as a sprinter on USC’s track and field team, returning to football this season for the first time since high school. While at USC, the 6-foot-2, 220-pound former wideout was part of the Trojans' 2022 National Champion 4x100 team and was also an All-American in both the 4x400 and the 4x100. He also posted the fourth-best 400-meter dash time in program history after running a 45.94 in January of 2023.
After stockpiling his resume with track accolades, Allen declined the opportunity to participate in outdoor track events in the spring, focusing instead on the transition to football before entering the transfer portal in March.
Allen said his coach at Maryland’s Bullis School had a connection with Temple running backs coach, Maryland native and former Virginia running back Tyree Foreman, that put him on the Owls’ radar and led him to North Broad Street.
Temple wide receivers coach Tyron Carrier had some fun in describing Allen’s return to football when speaking with reporters Monday.
“He kind of looks like Bambi, a baby deer out there at times,” Carrier said. “But for the most part, he’s learning and he’s willing to learn. The receiving room says he’s cheating because he has yet to develop any flaws. Everything he’s learning through this process has been through me. The future is bright for him. He’s producing and he’s getting better every day.”
Allen has one year of eligibility left and said Tuesday that he’s grateful for getting one last chance to give college football a shot.
“It’s definitely a leap of faith to take me after not playing college ball at all and only having one year,” said Allen. “They were impressed with my film and knew I had the speed and I think most importantly, they had the confidence that they could develop me. So I trust Coach TC (Carrier) and (Temple offensive coordinator) Coach (Danny) Langsdorf to get me to where I need to be.”
Revamped secondary
To be blunt, Temple’s defense was a mess last season due to injuries, inexperience and a lack of talent.
The Owls allowed an average of 35.7 points per game, third worst in the American Athletic Conference, and finished 10th in the league in passing defense and dead last in defensive efficiency. Injuries on the defensive line caused a chain reaction of issues on the defense, and communication issues in the secondary didn’t help. Head coach Stan Drayton and defensive coordinator Everett Withers hit the transfer portal to address what they hope will be a heavily improved cornerback room.
Richardson had what looked to be a solid spring despite learning a new defense with so many new faces in the secondary. Now he’ll need to step forward at a position where Temple needs a lot of help, especially after losing Jalen McMurray to Tennessee in the transfer portal.
“There definitely were some growing pains in the spring,” Richardson said Tuesday. “But you know, we are all trying to learn a new system and learning how to play with each other side by side, and have each other's back. We still even at the beginning of fall camp had to work through little kinks and stuff like that, so it’s just working daily to make sure it’s perfect.”
Perfect probably isn’t a realistic goal, but anything north of what the coaches saw last season would be a welcomed change for the Owls. A new-look secondary that also includes fellow transfer corner DeVonta Owens and transfer safety Andreas Keaton Richardson has the potential to be one of the most improved parts of Temple’s roster.
Kicking with confidence
Temple’s preseason camp practice blog owlsports.com reported that Trujillo ended practice Sunday with a 58-yard field goal.
Trujillo has steadily improved as his collegiate career has gone on, going 13 of 15 on field goals and 48 of 50 on extra points last season, with his career-best kick coming back in 2022 with a 55-yarder against Jacksonville State.
Drayton has been impressed with his new placekicker and indicated Monday that the next step of course is proving he can do it once again when the season arrives.
“When the real bullets are flying,” Drayton said. “I hope that there’s ice in his veins.”
Trujillo believes his confidence will allow him to succeed at a high level, and that includes the ability to be able to shake off a miss.
“You attack every day as best as you can. You give 100% every day and some days it might not fall your way, but that’s how it works,” Trujillo said. “It’s not what happens to you, it’s how you react to them.”
“So I think Coach Fisher (Temple special teams analyst John Fisher) and Coach Scheier (Temple special teams coach Adam Scheier) have done a great job here of helping me respond to misses and come back, and they know that they have that confidence in me, and I have that confidence in myself. I’ve been there before where I’ve missed field goals. I had it my sophomore year, but it didn’t go my way. I’ve also had the highs. I had it last year where I thought I took it very well and my freshman year where it seemed like I got as many accolades as a freshman could get. So it’s really about finding a medium and just resetting to zero. Every single kick you get back to zero, which means you’re not too high, you’re not too low. You’re zero.”