Temple resurgent on, off field
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Dallas JacksonClick Team Rankings Here to view this Link. is the National Columnist for Rivals.com. Email him your comments or story ideas to DallasJ@Yahoo-Inc.comClick Team Rankings Here to view this Link. and follow him on TwitterClick Team Rankings Here to view this Link..
When the Temple Owls were unceremoniously voted out of the Big East in 2004, the
program found itself dangerously close to being disbanded.
Nearly a decade later, under second-year head coach Steve Addazio, the
program has rejoined the conference and is set to begin conference play.
"We are coming back from death's door," Addazio said. "In the scope of five or
six years there has been tremendous change here. Temple isn't anything close to
what it was then."
What most remember about Temple football in the early and mid-2000s are one-win
seasons, blowout losses and empty stands in a dilapidated Veterans Stadium.
What has happened since is a complete overhaul from a commuter
school to a booming residential campus with plans to expand. A new
football facility was built. As was a new basketball facility and a massive
residential tower has been constructed.
All signs point to a bright future. One that Addazio hopes to realize.
"The program is ready to take the next step," he said. "But we are a young team
and if we don't reach eight wins or another magic number it is not a failure. I
don't think it would be fair to ask people to measure us over six or eight years
but to take a sweeping judgment based on just this season wouldn't be fair
either."
This Saturday, Temple will take on Penn State in Happy Valley. While the Owls
enter the weekend as underdogs, the game is very winnable - it would be the
Owls' first win over the Nittany Lions in over 60 years.
"We are a legitimate Division I football program," Addazio said. "When we played
Maryland it was the worst first half of football we could have played but in the
second half we played lights out and got it back to 29-27. We are competing with
teams and we are doing it with kids who were recruited to play in the MAC.
"A lot of time we were getting kids that wanted to play in the Big East or the
ACC and saw us as a backup option, and now we are on that top level."
Addazio hopes to continue making progress on the recruiting trail.
The program has never had a recruiting class finish inside the Top 50 since
Rivals.com began tracking results in 2002. It has only finished inside the Top
75 twice, and has finished No. 90 or worse four times.
Rivals.com national recruiting analyst Mike Farrell said that there are
encouraging trends emerging for Temple under Addazio.
"Under Al Golden, Temple got really good at finding kids that were not
heavily recruited and stealing them," Farrell said. "The class that (Addazio)
landed last year was a turning point class in my opinion because they went
head-to-head with some bigger schools and won."
Two of the highlights of the Owls' 2012 class came late in the process, as
Temple was able to swing Warminster (Pa.) Archbishop Wood defensive back, and
long-time West Virginia commit, Nate Smith to join the class.
Smith was the second-highest rated played to choose the program and his
commitment was followed by a capstone commitment from running back
Jamie Gilmore, a three-star player from Citra (Fla.) North Marion.
The pair helped the Owls close the year with the No. 76 recruiting class -- its
second-highest since 2004.
Temple's current class is ranked No. 73 in the nation, and Farrell said that the
next step is simple.
"Getting on that next level and competing with Rutgers in New Jersey,
competing with Syracuse in New York and going after some kids that would
normally look at other places is the next step," he said.
So far, Temple is doing just that with the class of 2013."
Outside linebacker Buddy Brown chose Temple over offers from all over
the country. The 6-foot-3, 205-pound three-star from Williamstown (N.J.) High
took unofficial visits to
Penn State, Rutgers,
and Maryland before choosing the North Philadelphia school.
Offensive center Matt Barone of McKees Rocks (Pa.) Montour switched his
verbal commitment from Big East member Connecticut to Temple in June.
Barone is another three-star player and is ranked No. 17 overall at
his position.
Temple's third major recruiting victory on the year is inside linebacker
Jarred Alwan who chose the Owls over Boston College and West
Virginia. Alwan is the No. 23 player in the state of New Jersey playing
out of Cherry Hill (N.J.) Camden Catholic and, at 6 feet and 212 pounds, will
fill a position of need at Temple.
Addazio believes his roots in the area and the product on the field will
continue to lead to more success on the recruiting trail.
"I have been a Northeast guy my whole life," he said. "Every place I have been,
this has been my territory so I know the area, I know the coaches and I know
what life is like up here.
"Philadelphia is in a great spot to attract talent. First of all it is a
passionate football city that is undergoing a major renaissance in the
community. Second, within a four-hour radius there are major hotbeds for
players. You can get kids here quickly on a plane, on a train, or in their car."
Coinciding with the perceived rise of Temple is the potential for collapse at
Penn State and turmoil at Pitt.
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Penn State has had just two recruiting classes finish outside of the Top 50
since 2002. One was last season, amid the Jerry Sandusky sexual abuse
scandal, when it finished No. 51. The other was in 2003, when the program
finished No. 93 for the simple reason that it signed just 11 players.
Pitt, like Penn State, has had just two seasons outside the Top 50 since 2002
but, since Dave Wannstedt was fired in December of 2010, the program has called
Phil Bennett, Michael Haywood, Todd Graham and now
Paul Chryst its head coach.
Farrell said that combination makes for an awkward opportunity for
Temple.
"We do not know what is going to come of Penn State but it hasn't looked too
good," he said. "Pittsburgh certainly has not been a blueprint for hiring
practices and the constant change, historically, has not been a good thing. If
Addazio stays at Temple, and that is a big if, the school has a real chance."
Addazio feels it is the right mix for the program to make a serious move with
its perception.
"We are going to have some more growing pains but that is good and that is to be
expected considering the circumstances," he said. "But I believe that this is
the right time, at the right place, and we have the right substance to really do
something here."
OTHER TEAMS THAT COULD MAKE A SIGNIFICANT MOVE IN RECRUITING
COLORADO STATE
Top
Commits: DE
Austin Berk, RB
Kapri Bibbs, OL
Buzz: When a program is starting at the bottom of the
barrel, it is easy to argue that a move up should be expected.
Colorado State ended the 2012 recruiting cycle with the No. 120 class.
Much of that can be attributed to only having 12 signees, but the low point
needs to be noted.
The Rams have had three other, full-pledge classes finish No. 101 or worse,
and so the program has clearly not been doing well on the recruiting front.
With in-state competition from Colorado sliding, the Rams could make a move
forward. Colorado had its high-water mark in recruiting during the Ccass of
2002, when it ended the evaluation period No. 10, but it has seen its
on-field product slide since. That has obviously affected CU in
recruiting, and the Buffs fell to a program-worst No. 74 rank with the class
of 2011.
Colorado is off to an 0-3 start this season, including a loss to Colorado
State, and with a brutal schedule remaining, Jon Embree's team
could end with a winless season. Former Colorado player Matt McChesney made
waves earlier this week by telling the Boulder Daily Camera that Colorado is
the worst program in the nation.
If Colorado State can make a move within the Colorado high school football
landscape it can improve its place on the national landscape. The Rams'
current class is ranked No. 84 with eight commitments.
OHIO
Top
Commits: OL
Tate Leavitt, OL
Zachary Murdock, QB
Buzz: The Bobcats already have a major perception victory
over Penn State on their resume, and Ohio quarterback Tyler Tettleton made
news earlier this month when he said the program can be an East
version of Boise State. The team won 10 games last year, its first
10-win season since 1968, and it is likely to repeat that feat again this
year.
Obviously, Ohio is not going to recruit on the same level as Ohio State
regardless of NCAA sanctions in Columbus, but the team can use its rise to
spur recruiting to the level of Cincinnati. Over the last three
recruiting classes, the Bobcats have improved 20 spots moving up from the
No. 119 class in 2010 to No. 79 in 2012. The trend is coinciding with a
leveling off of recruiting at Cincinnati, which has held steady between No.
60 to No. 49 over the last five years.
Coach Frank Solich has rehabbed the Bobcat program since his arrival after being pushed out at Nebraska and
the impact is starting to be felt in recruiting. So long as the team is
trending in the right direction - receiving 20 votes for the AP Top 25 poll
will help perception - then this could be a program poised to break through
in recruiting.
RUTGERS
Top
Commits: ATH
Nadir Barnwell, DB
ATH Myles Nash
Buzz: It may be hard to sell Rutgers as a team
that is poised to improve in recruiting as it has had numerous Top 40
finishes recently and has progressed from the No. 64 class in 2010 to the
No. 24 class last season. Still, there may be no team that stands to
gain more from the sanctions against USC and Penn State than the
Scarlet Knights.
New Jersey has long been a fertile recruiting ground, but it has often been
raided by Notre Dame, Penn State, USC and others; with two of those
three being limited in the number of players they can recruit, it could make it
easier for first-year coach
Kyle Flood to continue the work of Greg
Schiano in building a wall around the state.
Rutgers was making very strong in-roads in South Florida and that pipeline
figures to continue, but with Notre Dame focusing more efforts on South
Carolina and the South it may open the chance to keep the top-tier New
Jersey players at home. The perception of the program has been elevated to
the point that it is a serious destination for recruits from points beyond
the Garden State - and that is certainly not a negative - but the bread
and butter for any quality program is keeping its best at home.
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