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Spring notebook: A look at Temple's special teams, defensive line

Temple’s special teams unit is well aware of where it needs to take a step forward, while the defense is battling personnel turnover.

Both units feel a full offseason is giving them a chance to regroup and focus, and both position coaches spoke with reporters Tuesday afternoon.

Linebackers coach and special teams coordinator Brett Diersen does expect to have a BUBO this season in certain packages with the talent and experience he feels he has at that position. Diersen mentioned D.J. Woodbury, Muheem McCargo, Kwantel Raines and Thomas Joe-Kamara.

In terms of who will be standing in the back on the return team, he said they haven’t gotten that far. The Owls have plenty of depth in that facet with guys like Jadan Blue or Randle Jones, but figuring out kickoff return will happen in three days and punt return, three days after that.

Defensive line coach Walter Stewart is dealing with a complete overhaul of his unit between Dan Archibong declaring for the draft and Ifeanyi Maijeh (Rutgers), Arnold Ebiketie (Penn State) and Khris Banks (Boston College) each choosing the transfer portal.

He doesn’t take the exodus of players by way of the transfer portal personally. He firmly believes each player is there to earn a degree, win and give back to the community. Beyond that, each player is allowed to maneuver through their options individually.

Stewart said that the challenge of a whole new starting unit on the defensive line is “just part of the game.”

Here are some excerpts from Tuesday’s media availability.

Diersen on West Virginia transfer BUBO Kwantel Raines:

“He has an unbelievable football IQ. He’s talented, don’t get me wrong. He has a good skill set, but his football IQ is really good. There's obviously some things every practice that we learn together, but he is savvy.”

Diersen on the poor special teams play over the past two seasons:

“It wasn’t good enough. There’s some stuff we need to tweak. You go home and study it. As long as you understand the why of it, then you need to go do it.

“You have to understand with special teams, let’s take a linebacker for example, where is his mindset? It’s playing defense. So if I make special teams completely boring and very, very hard, he’s not doing that. You can put him out there, but he’s not executing. So I think that’s where I’ve gone as a coordinator. Let’s keep this simple as possible. You’ve got to be sound, but keeping things as simple as possible and keeping it fun.”

Diersen on freshman kicker Rory Bell:

“He’s been consistent. A couple of things have not been the right way we want them, but Rory is a sponge. He’s young. He works at it, that’s the one thing with specialists. They got a lot of free time at practice. I don’t want him standing around, but I don’t want him wearing out his leg. But he does work at it and he cares. That’s 80% of it. ... He’s having a good spring.”

Diersen on what he looks for when recruiting the BUBO position:

“When I look at a kid, I go, can he cover? Not just so much zone, but can he cover? The last thing I look at is can he play in the box enough? The coverage thing is the biggest. I would say you’re probably looking at a safety or corner. A corner that wants to play it or a safety that understands it. If you can’t play corner in college, go to safety. If you can’t play safety in college, you go to the box. I would say length is the first thing but then you got to see if the kid can cover.”

Diersen on junior punter Adam Barry:

“He has more and he knows it. He’s very, very competitive. I expected Adam to have a better year. Obviously, there’s more out there for him. He’s an unbelievable person to be around. My kids love him, actually, my own children. But yeah, there’s more out there for him.”

Stewart on Washington State transfer Will Rodgers:

“All those guys bring a lot of length to the D-line row. Will Rodgers, in particular, brings a lot of experience. We got a lot bigger and a lot longer. Especially with Will, his experience, he's a guy that could definitely help us moving forward.

Stewart on graduate defensive lineman Kevin Robertson:

“Kevin has been doing an excellent job with Covid and getting another opportunity. He’s really transformed his body this offseason. He’s gotten even stronger than what he was. And he’s been in the system, so he knows the expectation of the defense. He’s been a really big help for all of the new guys and the young guys with the overall expectation of the unit.”

Stewart on the impact of the transfer portal on college football:

“It’s the game. It’s college football. That’s where we are at right now as an industry. These guys, the guys that have gone, they’ll be fine. They have been trained properly. It’s just one of those deals as a coach where we are here to develop and to mentor these guys. They have options as athletes that might not be what we would want as coaches or whatever institution. And that’s fine. As long as you’re doing your job at a high level as a coach developing these guys…. it is what it is.”

Stewart on getting some of the new guys up to speed:

“We’re repping guys and developing guys, that’s part of college football. Guys want to leave, guys are going to come back, guys are going to graduate, guys are going to leave early, that’s all part of it. As long as you are developing guys at an efficient clip, the competition will sort itself out. If a guy is doing well, he might get more reps. If a guy isn’t doing as well then hey, someone behind him might be clipping at his heels. As a coach you just have to make sure the room understands the competition that’s happening and that the expectation is being met by everyone.”


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