Aside from putting the ball on ground several times, there’s not much Temple did wrong against Tulane, but they did find another playmaker in their offense. Due to being late to a team function, Jahad Thomas did not start against Tulane. Starting in Thomas’s place was freshman Ryquell Armstead, who turned some heads with the performance he put out.
There was a notion at the beginning of the season that it was only a matter of time before either Ryquell Armstead or the other couple of freshman running backs take Jahad Thomas’s job. It might sound crazy right now because Thomas has been tremendous this season and has scored at least one touchdown in every game. Thomas has also rushed for 100 yards in every game except for two, and is an all-purpose yards machine. However, Thomas has fumbled the ball in key situations where it has almost cost Temple the game and you simply can’t have that. Armstead did fumble on Temple’s first drive against Tulane, but Matt Rhule stuck with him and he repaid Rhule with a pair of 16-yard rushing touchdowns. The Tulane game is the first time we’ve seen what Armstead can really do and he saw his most work of the season aside from the Charlotte game where Temple was up big most of the way.
Ryquell Armstead is more of a downhill runner with a good amount of speed, and he’s 25 pounds heavier than Thomas. The probability of Jahad Thomas losing his job to Armstead is slim at this point, but it’s encouraging for Temple to know they have a capable back who can take over if Thomas is ineffective like against UMass and Tulane or if he gets hurt.
Armstead will not take the starting job away from Jahad Thomas this season unless something drastic happens, but Armstead should see an elevated role as the season goes on. Temple can use all the weapons they can get as they dive into the tougher part of their schedule and you can never have too many running backs.
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