Spring notebook: Melvin Rice, Tyler Yelk provide secondary overview

With Temple’s players off from practice on Tuesday, it was an opportunity for the coaches to do the talking.

Melvin Rice and Tyler Yelk were able to give an overview of their respective rooms. Rice, Temple’s cornerback's coach, is dealing with an exodus of starters while trying to sift through what’s left and piece together a group mixed with experience and potential.

Christian Braswell and Linwood Crump both entered the transfer portal, while Kimere Brown elected to forgo his extra year of eligibility and pursue a professional career. With that being said, the Owls brought in some transfers of their own (Keyshawn Paul and Cameron Ruiz) and have some familiar faces returning who have a chance to step up and make an impact.

As for Yelk, Temple’s safeties coach, he’s seen a 100% return rate in his room. COVID allowed for a lot of his young players to see playing time in 2020. While there may be not enough snaps to go around for each player on the depth chart, it’s a good problem for a team that struggled with depth last season.

Here are some excerpts from Tuesday’s media availability.

Melvin Rice on UConn transfer cornerback Keyshawn Paul:

“He’s been doing a good job. Everybody notices him on the field when he’s out there. He just brings toughness in the room and leadership, both vocally and physically. I thought it was going to be kind of a curve with him taking a year off last year, but he’s been doing a good job knowing the calls and doing his job. He’s been doing a good job and having a good spring.”

Rice on players like Paul and Ty Mason Jr. returning from sitting out last season:

“The biggest [thing] was just knowing the calls, once they get down pat, they focused on their technique. Those guys who sat out, basically Keyshawn Paul and Ty Mason, again those two guys played a lot of football. It took them about a day or two to get used to the movements and now that they’re in spring practice, those guys are back to normal.”

Rice on Jeremy Jennings, who recently transitioned to cornerback:

“He was a guy who sat out last year because of COVID and he came back the first few days. I coached JJ on special teams, so I kind of know what type of player he was. He played corner in high school. Just saw him move around and there was an interest for him to move back to the corner position and there was interest from me as well. Got a chance to talk to [Head] Coach [Rod] Carey and talked to [wide receivers] Coach [Thad] Ward. Coach Carey gave him the blessing to move over to defense. I’ve been excited with where he’s at. Usually, still it takes a little bit of time to get used to, mainly the calls and adjustments. He brings a lot of grit to the room. Obviously, he’s a fast guy with his speed. He brings a lot of speed and grit to the room. That’s a guy that wants to learn every day and get better every day. I’ve been pleased with where JJ is right now.”

Rice on graduate cornerback Freddie Johnson bounces back:

“As we started spring practice, you’ve seen a different attitude from Freddie. He’s locked in. He wants to get better. He asks a lot of questions in the meeting rooms. He’s a guy that doesn’t say a lot on the field, but he speaks with his actions. I just tell him, ‘It’s your last year, you gotta put it all together.’ The biggest thing is practicing hard every day. He shows up every day to practice.”

Rice on what he’s seen from redshirt freshman cornerback Nate Wyatt:

“This is a big spring for him because he’s been banged up since he’s been here. He’s healthy right now. I’ve seen some good things. Everyone’s got their eye on Nate. He’s a big physical guy and seeing what he does when he’s healthy. He’s been doing a good job of just knowing the defense, not making the mental errors. He’s always in the right spot and he’s got some physical tools that you like to see each practice. I’ll say he’s had a good spring. The challenge for him is this last half of spring practices, seeing where he can take his game. Can he take it to the next level? He’s a guy that’s stood out in the spring so far for me.”

Rice on how redshirt sophomore cornerback Elijah Clark takes that next step:

“The thing that’s going to help him is the competition that’s in the room. Each day and each practice they know that they get gotta compete or they’ll move up or down that rep chart. For him, just taking ownership and just practicing hard every day. That’s going to help him take his game to the next level. He’s been doing a good job. Trying to strain and coverage, that was the biggest thing from last year with him. Again, he’s another guy. There’s a lot of competition in the room. This is the last half of spring to see how hard you can take your game to the next level.”

Tyler Yelk on the depth in the safeties room:

“It’s kind of coming off last year, we’ve got a lot of young guys on the field. Some due to COVID amongst other things, but with that little bit of experience, we still have a lot of veteran guys in the room. Amir Tyler is the one, but even he, who was a primary starter last year, the years before he wasn’t. There’s still a lot of youth in our room, but we’re really excited about the depth.

DaeSean Winston is coming off an opt-out. He brings some experience to the room. M.J. Griffin’s one of those young guys who’s having a great spring. Playing fast and physical and saw you flashes of that last year. Trey Blair and Alex Odom, both in the same class, two young guys. They got on the field last year. Alex, a little bit more than Trey, mainly due to COVID restrictions and things like that. But, both those two guys are gonna have bright futures once they establish themselves out of that kind of rookie status and start to get a little bit more veteran. Jalen Ware saw a lot of time for us last year, as a starter. And a guy like him, Winston and Blair, those are all guys who are competing against each other. Chauncey Moore played some nickel but is rotating around in there. We have some other young guys that are competing and improving in spring. As I rattle through all those names, that kind of sheds light on the depth and we have a lot of guys that can play.”

Yelk on his relationship with veteran safety and team leader Amir Tyler:

“I like to have fun with the guys. I want to make sure that I get to know the guys and coach them hard. We have some fun. We’re pretty loose in our room. I think Amir’s one of those guys, he’s not a BS guy. The only way to coach that is through being authentic. There’s a rhyme or reason to what I teach. It’s been thought out, it’s been changed and I’m willing to adapt and evolve through the years and he’s probably a guy that senses that...He hopefully sees me as a coach and a friend, but someone who’s going to get him better. And he has, but there’s still a way to go. There are a couple of approach angles that he took the other day that he and I went back and forth on a little bit in the meeting. But, I ended up winning that argument.”

Yelk on different personnel packages that could see Temple using three defensive backs on the field:

“If we have good players and we do in our safety room, we got to find ways to get them on the field. It’s kind of a good problem if you want to even call it that, to have. To me, we’d be foolish to not look and evaluate in getting different packages put together to get some of these guys on the field. If that means, yeah we take a linebacker off, heavier personnel, we’re gonna put an extra one on. There’s a time and place. If they got more tight ends on the field, let’s get some bigger bodies and get some of my smaller nickel-style safetes out of there just because of sheer inertia. It’s not gonna work...I’m excited about it. You’re talking to a DB coach. If we can get some more of our guys on the field, I’m all about it.”