Shore thing: Owls make the trip to Morey's Pier after Cape May practice
WILDWOOD, NJ -- After practicing at Lower Cape May Regional High School, Geoff Collins and his Temple football team made the trip about 25 minutes up the Garden State Parkway to Morey’s Pier at the Wildwood Boardwalk to sign autographs and talk to reporters Saturday afternoon.
Although the playbook and schemes were scaled down on both sides of the ball, a few players flashed, including redshirt sophomore wide receiver Branden Mack, who hauled in a long touchdown pass from quarterback Anthony Russo to close out the day.
Russo, who has repeatedly drawn praise from his coaches and teammates during preseason camp and seems to be firmly entrenched as the backup to starter Frank Nutile, saw his first two passes fall incomplete on the final drive of the afternoon before he hit running back Rob Ritrovato along the right sideline for a first down. After misfiring on a pass intended for Travon Williams, he found Mack, the 6-foot-5, 215-pound product of Cheltenham High School, in stride, putting the ball over redshirt freshman cornerback Christian Braswell.
Nutile said the late touchdown was one of two on the day for Mack, who seems to be emerging among a deep group of wideouts who will be looking to replace Keith Kirkwood (New Orleans Saints) and Adonis Jennings (Green Bay Packers).
“B Mack has been playing unbelievable,” Nutile said. “He’s doing a really good job winning the one-on-one opportunities, going and getting the 50/50 balls, and also he’s running a bunch of great routes, too, with some intermediate to medium routes. And he’s just a big frame out there, so he makes our job a lot easier throwing to a guy like that who can go out and get it.”
"B Mack is really tall, long, physical receiver," cornerback Rock Ya-Sin said, "so you have to beat him up at the line of scrimmage, fight at the line of scrimmage every time you guard him. And then once he gets down the field and the ball's in the air, he feels like it's his ball, but I also feel like it's my ball, so it's always a big competition for the ball."
You can listen here to interviews with Geoff Collins, defensive coordinator Andrew Thacker, offensive coordinator Dave Patenaude, safety Delvon Randall, Nutile, defensive tackle Micahel Dogbe, cornerback Rock Ya-Sin and linebacker Shaun Bradley.
Stay tuned: Matt Vender and Tom Ignudo will have practice notebooks later today on the defense and the offense, which got a lift Saturday on a touchdown pass from true freshman quarterback Trad Beatty to wideout Isaiah Wright.