Quincy Roche comes 'home'
Temple held its first Cherry and White Spring football game since 2018 on Saturday. The game – an offense-defense scrimmage awarding points for things like explosive plays, turnovers, and three-and-outs – continued a trend of former Owls returning to Edberg-Olson Hall for head coach Stan Drayton’s first year at Temple’s helm.
Saturday’s crowd included the likes of former Temple standouts now in the NFL like current Eagles Shaun Bradley and Haason Reddick, and former Owls stars Paul Palmer and Kevin Ross, now the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ cornerbacks coach.
Also in attendance were Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback Kurt Warner, the father of incoming freshman quarterback Elijah “EJ” Warner, and former Eagles great Brian Westbrook, who was recruited to Villanova by Drayton.
With star power occupying much of 10th and Diamond Streets, OwlScoop got a chance to catch up with New York Giants and former Temple EDGE Quincy Roche.
Roche, entering his second season after spending his rookie campaign with the Pittsburgh Steelers, accumulated 137 tackles, 26 sacks, a 2019 AAC Defensive Player of the Year, and 2019 Sports Illustrated All-American during his tenure at Temple before transferring to Miami.
Roche was happy to see so many alumni return home Saturday.
“Congratulations to him,” Roche said of Drayton. “It definitely seems like the program is heading in the right direction … from everything I hear. Just from having all of the alumni back, it’s already the right step in rebuilding the program.”
Over the course of Temple’s 15 spring practices, Drayton had former single-digit players like Reddick and Atlanta Falcons center Matt Hennessy address the team and share their experiences at Temple and what it meant to be a leader of the locker room.
Roche described it with one word: consistency.
“Showing consistent leadership on and off the field,” Roche told OwlScoop.com. “It has to come full circle. You gotta handle your business on the field and just be one of the hardest workers in the whole building.”
According to Roche, Drayton’s staff has reached out to him about coming back, a phone call he’s been waiting to receive.
“I’m definitely thankful for them reaching out to me,” Roche said, “because I want to be a part of this program. … This is home for me.”
As for now, the second-year pro is nine weeks removed from surgery for a sports hernia and is expected to compete for a consistent pass-rushing role with the Giants alongside fellow second-year EDGE Azeez Ojulari and whoever the team may select in this month’s NFL Draft.