Temple the best ever in KC

Junior to Watch: Tony Temple

School: Kansas City (Mo.) Rockhurst

Position: Running back

Size and speed: Temple is 5-foot-10 and 192 pounds. He has been timed in the 40-yard dash at 4.4 seconds. He has a 3.0 grade-point average, a 35-inch vertical leap, 300-pound bench press.

Honors: Temple has earned first-team all-state honors as both a junior and sophomore. He earned all-metro honors as a junior for the third time in his career.

Statistics: Temple had 2,034 yards and 35 touchdowns for the undefeated Missouri Class 6A champions. He has already rushed for 4,334 yards in his career.

Favorite Schools: Temple lists Notre Dame, Texas, Miami, Kansas State, Oklahoma, Ohio State and Oregon as his top teams with scholarship offers from all but Miami, Texas and Ohio State. He also mentioned that Kansas and Missouri have also offered and are heavily interested.

Skinny: There has been a buzz humming throughout Kansas City for the past three seasons. From the day that Tony Temple at Kansas City (Mo.) Rockhurst stepped on the field, fans have been awaiting his senior season and his recruitment. Now that both are on the horizon things are about to get fun.

Simply put, some college coaches think Temple might be the best high school football player in Kansas City history and his stats definitely back up that claim.

Along with all the yards he’s racked up along the way, Temple is first and foremost a winner. In his time at Rockhurst, he’s helped the team win two state titles and win 36 of its 38 games. He also carried the ball 253 times from scrimmage and racked up 2,034 yards and 35 touchdowns – that’s especially impressive when you look at the teams Rockhurst has played.

“He was every bit as good as I thought he could be,” Rockhurst coach Tony Severino said. “We see him every day and he still amazes us. Every time we think we’ve seen the best, he shows us something better.”

And that’s why teams from across the nation are going to be knocking on Temple’s door this recruiting season, but with Severino helping Temple along the way look for him to take a cautious, honest and educated approach to the recruiting process.

“There is no rushing this,” Temple said.

“I’m not in a big hurry at all and I’m going to take my time and look at all of my options.”