Recent portal departures leave Owls more roster flexibility

When the two-week spring transfer portal window opened Tuesday, it predictably caused a lot of roster movement around the county, and Temple has certainly not been immune to it over the last five days.

In addition to defensive end Zamar Grove and quarterback Clifton McDowell leaving the program prior to Tuesday, 10 players have entered the portal since it opened, with the one significant departure being defensive tackle Jason Moore, a Georgia Tech transfer who signed with the Owls back in February.

A former walk-on who commuted to campus before eventually earning a scholarship, Moore graduated from Georgia Tech and landed at Temple as a transfer due in part to his connections to Larry Knight and Chris Wiesehan, both of whom were on the Yellow Jackets staff before returning to Temple.

Moore, who had 14 tackles and three sacks at Georgia Tech, was on the field to start the three open scrimmages made available to the media this spring – two practices and then the Cherry and White game – and was made available to reporters just nine days ago.

Multiple sources have indicated that Moore’s decision to enter the portal this week was NIL-related.

With the recent departures, Temple now has more roster flexibility with 81 players set to be on scholarship, including those set to arrive this summer.

Here’s a quick glance at the other players who have entered the portal.

Gensley Auguste

A 3-star recruit who initially committed to Georgia Tech out of New Jersey’s West Orange High School before flipping to Temple, Auguste played sparingly in 2023 as a true freshman and redshirted. He recorded a tackle in the Owls’ win over FCS program Norfolk State.

Joseph Appiah Darkwa

The German defensive tackle transferred to Temple prior to the 2022 season after spending the previous three at Penn State. With the Owls dealing with multiple injuries on the defensive line last season, Appiah Darkwa saw a bump in playing time and recorded seven tackles last season, along with the first sack of his career.

Kaleb Barnett

A native of the Bahamas, Barnett was a relative newcomer to football when he enrolled at Miami Jackson High School. The Temple staff signed him as part of its 2023 class due in large part to the speed he displayed on the track and hoped to develop him into a player who could see significant snaps at cornerback down the line, but Barnett is in the portal after redshirting this past fall as a true freshman.

Corey Cuascut-Palmer

A local player who spent three seasons at Camden High School and one at IMG Academy, Cuascut-Palmer played safety, then cornerback and then switched over to wide receiver six games into last season while also seeing snaps on Temple’s coverage units. In last Saturday’s Cherry and White game, he dropped a beautifully-thrown pass from quarterback Patrick Keller in the end zone.

Daiyaan Hawkins

Rod Carey’s staff recruited Hawkins out of The Haverford School, where he was just as much of a track star. While the speed was there, Hawkins played sparingly over the four previous seasons and didn’t look likely to figure into Everett Withers’ plans on defense with an influx of transfers in his position room.

Sam Martin

Martin was a two-way standout at Staten Island’s Curtis High School and became Temple’s primary kickoff returner last season as a redshirt freshman. He took one back for a touchdown in a road loss to Tulsa, marking the Owls’ first kickoff return TD in five seasons. But after this spring, players like Zyil Powell, Nebraska transfer Javier Morton and Arkansas transfer Jaylen Lewis were going to be ahead of him on the depth chart entering preseason camp.

Chevez Trask

Recruited by the previous staff out of Chicago’s Evans High School, Trask was moved to the defensive line coming out of preseason camp last year. He recorded three tackles this past season in limited action.

Kyle Williams

OwlScoop asked running backs coach Tyree Foreman about Williams last month following the team’s first spring scrimmage when it appeared that Williams had not gotten any reps that day.

“He’s a little bit behind the other guys,” Foreman said. “There’s some things we’ve got to fix with Kyle and get straight. He’s definitely not out of it.”

But Williams never got into it.

Williams came into the program with as much promise as any Stan Drayton-era recruit as a first-team all-state player out of Harrisburg High School. But when there was playing time to be had last season in a backfield that needed an infusion of young talent, it was fellow true freshman Joquez Smith and not Williams who saw the field. Williams redshirted and was surpassed this spring by Smith, E.J. Wilson, Maryland transfer Antwain Littleton and JUCO transfer Tyrei Washington, and Lackawanna College’s Terrez Worthy will jump into the competition once he arrives this summer. Williams coughed up a fumble in the spring game that was returned by linebacker London Hall for a 60-yard touchdown.

Corey Yeoman

A South Jersey standout who played at St. Augustine Prep as freshman and at Atlantic City High School as a sophomore before transferring down to Clearwater Academy International to finish out his high school career, Yeoman signed with Temple as a linebacker to join the Owls’ 2022 recruiting class. The brother of former USC star Anthony Sarao redshirted in 2022 before tallying 35 tackles and a half sack last season. Although the coaches said all spring that they didn’t have a depth chart, Yeoman was likely to be surpassed on one by an influx of new players in the room, including transfers Eric Stuart and T.K. Wright.