After dealing with his own bout with COVID, Temple head coach Rod Carey recapped his team’s 15 spring practices during a media session with reporters Tuesday.

Carey said he is really pleased with how his team performed this spring and said the coaching staff used the last two practices for "skills and drills."

This spring, Carey had his players do some live tackling. That’s not something he’s normally done, but he felt like he had to after not having played football for so long and felt he and his staff needed to put the players in that position.

While Carey is pleased with the progress, he wasn’t quite ready to name starters just yet, with the exception of saying that Georgia transfer D'Wan Mathis is the No. 1 quarterback heading into August's preseason camp. The only way he would lose that spot, Carey said, would be due to injury or terrible play.

At the same time, Carey said he didn’t want to get ahead of himself as the Owls still have 25 practices between the end of summer and the fall to sift through their depth chart.

As far as injuries are concerned, North Carolina transfers Xach Gill and Lancine Turay were both out for the entirety of the spring with lower-body injuries. Gill got banged up in winter conditioning, while Turay had a knee tweak that Temple was being cautious about, according to Carey. Carey implied that Gill, a 6-foot-1, 290-pound redshirt junior defensive tackle, could be out for a significant portion of the season.

"Looking forward to getting him back at some point this season," Carey said, "whether it's mid to late. I don't know. Can't tell you that right now, and I don't think the docs could tell you that right now, but we're hopeful."

Carey also shared some insight on what he's seen from some of the younger guys and deep position battles. Here are a few excerpts from his final media session of the spring.

Carey on former Temple quarterbacks coach Craig Harmon’s departure:

“Certainly didn’t want Craig to leave. Not a decision that I wanted. Certainly looking forward to the future with what we’re gonna do and have in the pipeline to get done. Excited about how it moves us forward. New energy, new ideas and new everything. Looking forward to it.”

Carey on if he’s ever seen a freshman command a room like freshman linebacker Kobe Wilson has:

“No, is the short answer. He’s doing an unbelievable job and it starts with himself and his preparation and how he sets the example, holds everyone accountable. He’s just mission-focused on what we’re trying to get done. It’s fun to see. I think that he’s going to have a bright, bright future with us. When that is, is completely on his timeframe. Could be sooner rather than later. Really excited about him.”

Carey on Wilson pushing graduate linebacker George Reid to start on the weak side:

“I just met with George. ... I told George, I said, ‘Better bring it every day, because you know and I know that Kobe is.’ Certainly feel good about that competition and it’s really close. That’s saying a lot. A guy who was a true freshman last year is on the heels of a guy who’s a fourth and fifth-year guy, who’s been around here a lot. George is enjoying the challenge.”

Carey on D’Wan Mathis and Re-al Mitchell being the frontrunners in the quarterback’s room:

“D’Wan’s our number 1, I told him that. Re-al is definitely our number 2. They definitely had the best two springs. It would go in that order for sure. D'Wan’s rate of improvement and comfort with the offense. His physical skills are out of the world, as far as athletically and arm strength. I think getting comfortable with the offense to make decisions more consistently is a thing that he wants to improve on and what we want to see him improve on. He had great growth this entire spring and it was fun to watch.”

Carey on what put Mathis over the top:

“His productivity in the spring. I think when you look overall, consistency, explosiveness, lack of turnovers. When you put it all together, that certainly separated himself when you look at overall production.

Carey on former walk-ons in quarterback Mariano Valenti and placekicker Rory Bell being awarded scholarships Monday:

“They both earned it, is what it comes down to. They both earned to be put on scholarship. They’ve done everything right and they’re deserving. Super happy for them. Was able to talk with them and put them on. I know that’s a huge marker for a walk-on, to be put on [scholarship]. That’s not the end for those guys. Going forward we expect a lot out of them.”

Carey on if anyone has stood out at running back:

“Ed Saydee really had a great, great spring. Probably graded out the most consistent, hard running behind his pads, running through tackles. Really happy with Ed and his assignments and everything. But then liked what I saw from [Kyle] Dobbins, liked what I saw from Ali Barkley, really liked what I saw from AI (Iverson Clement). Guys have different things that they need to do to become more consistent. And Onasis Neely was out this spring and so was Tayvon Ruley. Hopefully looking forward to getting those guys back at some point and get them in the mix, too. We know Tayvon has played a lot of football. So, feel good about the room. Ed probably separated himself this spring. But, I think there’s gonna be a lot more competition in the fall.”

Carey on what he saw from the safeties across the spring:

“The great thing about that room right now is there’s a lot of guys that have played, extensively or not. We kind of held Amir Tyler back a little bit. We know what he’s about, he’s a sixth-year guy. But the rest of the guys we kind of just let go and it was really a day-to-day adventure on who was gonna run out with the 1s because of the competition in there. If you didn’t bring it, there was no guarantee about your reps the next day. Really saw an improvement as a group and the competition is fun to see.”

Carey on if there’s a particular position he’s looking at adding in the transfer portal:

“You’d always like to look at upfront guys first, O and D-line. But, really at this point, more than any of that, it’s best available that can really make an impact. Even if it’s a room that we feel has [good depth], but we run across somebody that’s just gonna make a difference, I think you got to look at that. It’s really waiver-wire stuff. It’s the first year for all of us going through it fully. We’re starting to see the ebbs and flows of this thing, about when it’s active, when it’s not, what our needs are, what our wants are. We’re into that mode right now. So, it’s how can we make ourselves better?”

Carey on the offensive line:

“[C.J. Perez] and Michael Niese are two guys who benefitted from [the extra year of eligibility] because they both would’ve been done. Michael was probably our most consistent o-lineman last year before he went out with a concussion. And, C.J. certainly won a starting job. Came in, didn’t play as consistent as we wanted him to. I think C.J. has really established himself as a leader of that room. The guys have responded to him and Adam Klein. Isaac Moore is doing a good job, too.”

“I think that group is as tight and really has the characteristics that I'm looking for in an offensive lineman for the first time since I’ve been here. ... But, this group has the characteristics that we’re looking for, which is that rough and tough kind of attitude and bonded together. I’m excited about that group.”