The college football season is inching closer and closer each week and Temple football is coming off their best season in program history. The Owls went 10-4 in 2015, including their first win over Penn State in 41 years and were the AAC East regular season champs. Heading into the 2016 campaign, Temple has lost many of its starters, primarily on the defensive side of the ball and this year will be a strenuous test to prove they are not one-hit wonders. In no particular order, I’m going to give the five Temple football players that I believe are essential to have another successful season.
Junior DB Sean Chandler
Sean Chandler had a breakout sophomore season, quickly becoming one of Temple’s most feared defensive backs and a much needed playmaker in the secondary. Chandler had a career-high four interceptions with two of them being pick-sixes and added 10 pass breakups. Chandler had a nose for the football, finishing up third on Temple in tackles with 66, trailing only All-American Tyler Matakevich and Jarred Alwan. The sophomore also did some damage on special teams, averaging 12.1 yards per punt return and had a long of 65 yards against UCF. Temple lost a lot of leaders in the secondary and it’s going to be up to Chandler to set the tone for the younger players because there is going to be little room for error with a young defense like this one. The way this unit develops will play a major role in dictating which way Temple’s season will go. Sean Chandler is on the 2016 Chuck Bednarik Award watch list, which is given to the best defensive collegiate player in the country. A Temple player could win the award in back-to-back years if Sean Chandler can have a stellar season like Tyler Matakevich did to end his career at Temple.
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Senior Quarterback P.J. Walker
Coming off a down sophomore season in which Walker threw more interceptions than touchdown passes, the New Jersey born quarterback came back the next year to help lead to Temple to their best season in program history with a stellar junior season. Walker threw for almost 3,000 yards in 2015 with 19 touchdown passes and cut down the interceptions by seven by taking less risks with the football. You would like to see the yards per passing attempt be a bit higher, but that is partly due to Walker managing the game better and not taking as many 50-50 chances. Walker also continued to be a dual threat quarterback, rushing for 217 yards with two touchdowns. 2016 is Walker’s final season with Temple and he will have to lead this team and be on his game because the offense and the team goes as the quarterback does. Walker lost some of his favorite targets in Robby Anderson and John Christopher, but Temple still has a slew of options to throw to, including Ventell Bryant (39 rec, 579 yds, 3 TD’s), Kip Patton (13 rec, 169 yds), Romond Deloatch (20 rec, 155 yds, 3 TD’s), and Adonis Jennings (14 rec, 146 yds, 2 TD’s).
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Sophomore Wide Receiver Ventell Bryant
Ventell Bryant turned in an impressive freshman campaign, becoming one of Temple’s most valued targets for PJ Walker. With the departures of Robby Anderson and John Christopher, it will be up to Bryant to be that playmaker when the ball is to thrown to him and see the plays through. The only knock on Bryant last year is he had too many drops and a lot of them occurred in key situations. If Bryant wants to be PJ Walker’s guy this year, he needs to be more sure-handed and expect him to have way more than three touchdown receptions in 2016. His type of size and athleticism screams big numbers to me, especially with defensive backs who’s heights probably top out at six feet. We saw glimpses of what Bryant is fully capable of last year and he is going to have to put it all out there in order for Temple to have another successful season.
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Senior Running Back Jahad Thomas
Jahad Thomas in 2015 finally received the workload he deserved, racking up 298 total touches on the offensive end with 19 total touchdowns and nearly totaled 2,000 all-purpose yards. Thomas was all over the place on the field and there were questions about his durability with his workload almost quadrupled. There were a handful of games where Thomas was nonexistent and it remains to be seen if he will receive the same workload in 2016 because Temple does have a lot depth at running back with Ryquell Armstead (51 att, 191 yds, 2 TD’s), David Hood (45 att, 180 yds, 1 TD), and Jager Gardner ( 32 att, 184 yds, 1 TD). Temple can afford not to run Thomas into the ground, but I do see him still getting the bulk of the work. Jahad Thomas and P.J. Walker are both on the 2016 Maxwell Award watch list, which is given to the best football player in the country. One Temple player has ever won the award and that was quarterback Steve Joachim in 1974, who led the nation in quarterback passer rating that year.
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Senior Linebacker Jarred Alwan
Jarred Alwan along with Avery Williams, Tyler Matakevich, and Nate D. Smith led a vicious Temple line backing unit and with Matakevich gone, there is 138 tackles missing. Alwan is my candidate to most likely pick up that slack because he was all over the field like Matakevich was, making plays. Alwan finished second on the team in tackles with 74 behind none other than Tyler Matakevich. Alwan forced four fumbles in 2015, which led the team and had seven tackles for a loss, including one and a half sacks. It’s impossible for Alwan to completely fill the shoes of Matakevich, but he won’t be alone as he will have help from fellow senior linebackers Avery Williams (49 TK, 6 TFL, 1 INT) and Stephaun Marshall (46 TK, .5 SK, 1 INT, 1 FF). The combined effort of these three players should be enough to build a solid foundation for this young Temple defense to grow and gather experience in the right environment.
Again this list is in no particular order and these are just the five Temple players that I think need to be on their for the upcoming season to make sure it’s another one to remember. Feel free to tell me your list and check back for the 2016 season preview, which will be published in the next couple of weeks.
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