Thomas Joe-Kamara stepping into BUBO role for Owls
Thomas Joe-Kamara knows he has to step up. This isn’t unfamiliar territory for the redshirt-freshman BUBO.
Dating back to when Joe-Kamara was a freshman at New Jersey's South Brunswick High School, he was elevated to the varsity team and had to take over for an accomplished senior, just like he will for the Owls in 2020.
Sam Franklin defined what the BUBO position was as a jack-of-all-trades type player. Undergoing a position change, Joe-Kamara tried to soak up as much knowledge as he could from Franklin, understanding that this position could be his for the next three or four seasons, he told reporters during Friday’s media availability.
Franklin’s lasting message for Joe-Kamara?
“Sam told me to go out there every play and show that I’m a dog,” Joe-Kamara said, “to not let down and show that I’m soft to anybody. Because to play this spot, you can’t be soft, you have to be tough. You have to stick your shoulder pads into every hole you see that’s open. Whenever you see the ball, run to the ball.”
Franklin, now on the Carolina Panthers' 53-man roster as an undrafted rookie, did it all for Temple, lining up at multiple positions, including linebacker, defensive end and nickel. Franklin’s versatility helped birth a new position for the Owls named “BUBO.” Bubo is a type of Owl, considered as the biggest, strongest and most ferocious.
“Sam was special. I give Sam a lot of credit because we were only with him for one year,” outside linebackers coach Brett Diersen said Friday. “It was very impressive what he did. I watched Sam from a distance and saw him and he was a student of the game. He didn’t just walk up to the field and do it. He studied a lot and took a lot of notes.
In his new position, Franklin earned second-team All-American Athletic Conference honors, recording 61 tackles, 7.5 tackles for loss, a pick-six and two fumble recoveries in 12 games. Franklin dropped back into pass coverage 476 times in 2019, which was the most on the team, per Pro Football Focus.
Whether Joe-Kamara will completely emulate Franklin’s role remains to be seen, but he’s certainly preparing himself to drop back into coverage for the upcoming season.
Joe-Kamara wasn’t recruited to play the BUBO position. Rather, he was a 3-star safety prospect out of South Brunswick. He thought the positional transition would be more difficult than it actually was. Having played free safety, in addition to a nickel-safety hybrid at the high school level, Joe-Kamara has experience playing a combination of man coverage and playing in the box, which is essentially what he does now as a BUBO, he said.
While Joe-Kamara’s coverage abilities date back to when he played free safety for the Vikings, he’s tried to elevate his play in coverage by lining up against the Owls’ tight ends or redshirt junior wide receiver Jadan Blue during practice.
“In practice when they call man-coverage plays, I opt to cover a tight end or speedy slot receiver, like Blue,” Joe-Kamara said. “Every chance I get, I try to cover Blue in every man-coverage they throw my way so I can actually enhance his game and enhance mine as well. Obviously, Blue is one of the best slot receivers in our conference and if I can cover Blue and better my man-coverage, then I should be able to cover anybody in our conference.”
Not having a spring ball to allow a smooth transition was a struggle for Joe-Kamara. He wasn’t able to see any action on the field, but he’s still been able to see the action through film, which he consistently studied throughout the quarantine period. Joe-Kamara spent his time away from the field getting a better understanding from a knowledge standpoint of particular things he struggled with as a true freshman.
As the season nears, Joe-Kamara and fellow redshirt-freshman Yvandy Rigby are battling it out to start at BUBO, according to Temple defensive coordinator Jeff Knowles. While Rigby could see time at MIKE linebacker, the general consensus is that both will split time as they attempt to replace Franklin’s production.