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Spring notebook: Thad Ward on Temple's depth at receiver

Thad Ward is reminded every day by Jadan Blue that the graduate receiver went 2-for-2 in the red zone last season.

Temple’s wide receivers coach knows his group won’t be able to replace Branden Mack, but a group led by Blue and Randle Jones can surely help replicate the production. Mack could be selected in the NFL draft at the end of the month, but his absence hasn’t hindered the growing nature of the depth chart.

Beyond the two returning starters, Temple’s receivers room has some younger depth that could see significant snaps.

Thursday marked the first team scrimmage of Temple’s spring practices. During his media availability the following day, Ward gave a nod to redshirt sophomore Jordan Smith, who he said is playing his best football, and redshirt freshman De’Von Fox, who he added has been playing consistently well since the start of camp.

Here are some excerpts from Friday’s media availability.

Ward on the mantra of the receivers room:

“We have a mentality in our room, we talk about FIMO - forget it and move on. Whether it’s good or bad, we got to forget it and move on. And how can we grow from it? We don’t forget the feeling of how that felt, but we’re going to forget it and move on so we don’t make those same mistakes.”

Ward on returners in the receiving room getting up to speed with a young quarterback group:

“It’s always the next-man-up mentality. We’ve had quarterbacks that were here that are competing for the job and they really believe in D’Wan [Mathis], who came in. [The receivers] feel good about the guys that are here and they’re growing with them. And it does take a mesh, they do have to work together and spend some extra time together, which those guys love doing. It’s all about getting in sync with those quarterbacks.”

Ward on what a pro team will be getting in Branden Mack:

“Tough, tough kid. Smart kid. He’s complete and easy to coach. He wants to be great and [at that level] every single day you have to bring it in that meeting because he’s a sharp kid. He’ll learn - you’ll give it to him on the board and take it to the field - he’s going to know exactly what to do. Not just what he does, but what everybody is doing. That’s different, that’s not normal.”

Ward on Zae Baines:

“Zae Baines has done a good job. He’s a guy that can run all day. He's developing his body right now. He still needs to get bigger and stronger in the weight room, which he’s doing. He’s doing what those guys are asking of him. Zae is going through what we call growing pains.”

Ward on redshirt sophomore Ronnie Stevenson and Georgia Tech transfer Nazir Burnett:

“Ronnie is doing well. I believe he had four receptions yesterday. He’s doing well and getting back into it. Nazir, he's had a good camp up to this point. He’s changing his body and getting acclimated to the group. After taking last year off, he’s getting into his groove as well. He’s shown some promise but still has a long way to go.”

Front page photo courtesy of Matt Hinton, Associated Press.

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