Temple 2012 Recruiting

Temple Owls 2012 ... Head Coach: Steve Addazio

Temple Owls

2011 Record: 9-4

Sep. 1 Villanova W 42-7
Sep. 10 at Akron W 41-3
Sep. 17 Penn State L 14-10
Sep. 24 at Maryland W 38-7
Oct. 1 Toledo L 36-13
Oct. 8 at Ball State W 42-0
Oct. 15 Buffalo W 34-0
Oct. 22 at Bowling Green L 13-10
Oct. 29 OPEN DATE
Nov. 2 at Ohio L 35-31
Nov. 9 Miami Univ. W 24-21
Nov. 19 Army W 42-14
Nov. 25 Kent State W 34-16
NEW MEXICO BOWL
Dec. 17 Wyoming W 37-15

2010 CFN Prediction: 8-4
2010 Record: 8-4

Sept. 3 Villanova W 31-24
Sept. 9 Central Mich W 13-10 OT
Sept. 18 Connecticut W 30-16
Sept. 25 at Penn St L 22-13
Oct. 2 at Army W 42-35
Oct. 9 at No Illinois L 31-17
Oct. 16 Bowling Green W 28-27
Oct. 23 at Buffalo W 42-0
Oct. 30 Akron W 30-0
Nov. 6 at Kent St W 28-10
Nov. 16 Ohio L 31-23
Nov. 23 at Miami Univ. L 28-4
Nov. 27 OPEN DATE
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The Entire 2012 Recruiting Class

Top 5 Temple Recruits To Care About
Player writeups by Scout.com

1. RB Montrell Dobbs
5-9, 185, Scout.com four-star back. As a senior at Ansonia, Dobbs led the state of Connecticut in rushing with 3,445 yards and 40 touchdowns.

2. RB Brandon Peoples
5-8, 180, Scout.com 85th ranked back

3. FB Rob Dvoracek
6-2, 220, Scout.com 10th ranked fullback. Dvoracek has a max bench press of 275 pounds and a max squat of 505 pounds.

4. S Sam Benjamin
6-0, 190, Scout.com 103rd ranked safety

5. OLB Raysean Richardson
6-2, 190, Scout.com three-star linebacker 

The 2012 Class Was Heavy On... Receivers. Steve Addazio wants a passing game, and it’s going to come from a loaded receiving corps helped by a third straight class of prospects. It’s a huge haul of targets coming in, but the running game isn’t being ignored with Montrell Dobbs a terrific talent who could fill in for the departed Bernard Pierce right away. Defensively, the secondary gets a ton of talent with safeties Sam Benjamin and Stephaun Marshall the best tandem recruited by anyone in the MAC.

Team Concerns For 2012: The offense has to be more consistent, and it has to do it with Pierce off to the NFL a year early. The Owls have talent, but the experience is lacking with four starters gone off the line and top receiver Rod Streater. The defense has a ton of work to do with Adrian Robinson and Morkeith Brown gone on the ends and linebacker Tahir Whitehead and four starters gone in the back seven.

Looking Ahead To The 2012 Season: Head coach Steve Addazio was able to come up with one of the best years in school history, but he has work to do in 2012 with four starters gone from the offensive line and star running back Bernard Pierce taking off early for the NFL. It’ll be up to the smallish Matt Brown to carry the rushing load, while QB Chris Coyer has to build off his strong bowl performance and be a steady leader. The defensive interior is back, but ends Adrian Robinson and Morkeith Brown are gone. Tahir Whitehead and four starters from the back seven are done.

The 2011 Class Was Heavy On … Receivers. After loading up on skill players last year, the offense should be far better in a hurry. Apparently, new head man Steve Addazio wants bodies to throw to. The passing game got an instant infusion with 6-4 JUCO bomber Clinton Grainger coming in to chuck it around, and five wide receivers, highlighted by a fantastic get in Daquan Cooper and JUCO transfers Malcolm Eugene and Tyron Eugene to make plays.

2010 CFN Recruiting Ranking: 76. That Class Was Heavy On ... Skill players. For a program that has struggled so much to put points on the board, and has had so many issues getting things moving through the air, the passing game got some special attention. Al Golden has gone big on skill guys in the past, and last year was supposed to be about the offensive line and RB Bernard Pierce turned into something special. This year, RB Myron Ross is a big thumper who should make a difference while WRs Antonio Belt and Deon Miller might be better than anyone currently on the roster. This is an instant impact class of receivers.

2009 CFN Recruiting Ranking: 90. That Class Was Heavy On ... Guards. Temple has gone heavy on skill players over the last few years, loading up on receivers and running backs last year, and it also brought in the guards. The Owls did it again with several very good prospects for the interior of the offensive line with Cody Bohler and Darryl Pringle ready-made blockers who could make an impact right away. The best prospect for the front is Kadeem Custis, a tackle.

 Gildan New Mexico Bowl
Dec. 17 Temple 37 … Wyoming 15
- CFN Thoughts on the Game

Temple: QB Chris Coyer completed 8-of-12 passes for 169 yards and a score and ran 12 times for 71 yards. … Joe Jones led the Owls with three catches for 26 yards … Bernard Pierce ran 25 times for 100 yards and two scores. … Temple converted 8-of-13 third down chances … LB Tamir Whitehead made 11 tackles with 1.5 tackles for loss. 

(AP) ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- Temple came out swinging against Wyoming, jumping to a 21-0 lead in the first half of the Gildan New Mexico Bowl on Saturday. But when Wyoming freshman Brett Smith threw a 21-yard touchdown pass to Josh Doctson with 37 seconds remaining in the first half, Temple quarterback Chris Coyer feared that Wyoming found a spark.

"We knew they had swung the momentum their way. It was a big touchdown for them," Coyer said.

Then, moments later, Coyer responded with 61-yarder to Rod Streater to give the Owls a 28-7 lead.

It was never close again.

Bernard Pierce ran for two early touchdowns and Coyer threw for 169 yards and the touchdown to help Temple overwhelm Wyoming 37-15 in the New Mexico Bowl -- the first bowl game of the season.

The Owls (9-4) had three interceptions -- tying a New Mexico Bowl record -- en route to the second bowl victory in school history. The first interception came at the start of the second quarter when Temple's Kee-arye Griffin picked off Smith's pass to setting up Matt Brown's 1-yard touchdown run that gave the Owls a 21-0 lead.

The last one came late in the game to Temple's Kevin Kroboth, resulting in a field goal.

"Our starting point is playing great defense," first-year Temple coach Steve Addazio said. "That's what our program's built around. We lead a lot of statistical categories in the country, and we have a lot of pride in playing great defense."

The New Mexico Bowl was Temple's second bowl game in three years, but that 2009 game -- a 30-21 loss to UCLA in the EagleBank Bowl in Washington -- was the Owls' first bowl in 30 years. The Mid-American Conference East runner-up did not get a bowl invite last year despite going 8-4.

Coyer, who also rushed for 71 yards, was selected the game's offensive MVP.

"Getting on top early, of course, was going to be a big deal in this game," Coyer said. "We knew that they had a very explosive offense, and throughout the year that's been big for us -- to get ahead early."

Meanwhile, Smith was held to just 127 yards by a greedy Owls defensive line that prevented the Cowboys from getting anything started.

"Not his best day," Cowboys coach Dave Christensen said. "But the great news is he's got three more years and he'll work extremely hard in the offseason. He'll bounce back. He always does."

The loss dropped the Cowboys (8-5) to 6-7 in bowl games. It was a disappointed effort by Wyoming after the Cowboys won the 2009 New Mexico Bowl in double overtime, beating Fresno State 35-28.

"They just played physically better than us," Christensen said. "My hat's off to them. They're a good running team. They're a good football team."

Nov. 25 at Temple 34 … Kent State 16  

Nov. 19 at Temple 42 … Army 14

Nov. 9 at Temple 24 … Miami University 21

Nov. 2 at Ohio 35 … Temple 31

Oct. 22 at Bowling Green 13 … Temple 10  

Nov. 5 at Ohio 35 … Temple 31

Oct. 15 at Temple 34 … Buffalo 0
CFN Analysis: Temple is playing at a whole other level. That’s a very, very good Buffalo defense that Temple ran for 400 yards on, with Bernard Pierce taking off for 152 yards and two scores and Matt Brown running for 120 yards and a score. Meanwhile, the defense came up with one of the best games of the season failing to allow much of anything. Buffalo wasn’t in the game from the start as the Temple O line took the life out of the defense with hard run after hard run, holding on to the ball for over 39 minutes. If the offense and defense weren’t playing well enough, the punting game was also terrific with Brandon McManus averaging over 59 yards per kick putting two inside the 20.  

Oct. 8 Temple 42 … at Ball State 0
CFN Analysis: That’s the Temple that’s supposed to be in the mix for the MAC title. Toledo is good, but that was an aberration; the Owls didn’t play well. This was a stomping against a surprising Ball State team with just enough talent and just enough of a passing game to be dangerous. Bernard Pierce and Matt Brown combined for 235 yards and four scores, and Chester Stewart was flawless completing 10-of-13 passes for 160 yards and a score. The defense shut down the Ball State air show, but this was all about the offense; it was razor sharp. There won’t be any problems the rest of the way in MAC play of the Owls play like this. 

Oct. 1 Toledo 36 … at Temple 13
CFN Analysis: Just when it seemed like Temple was going to be something special, it picked the wrong time to come up with a clunker. The offense screwed up with four turnovers, the line couldn’t get enough of a push against the Rocket front line and the running game didn’t do enough to take control of the game. The worst part of the loss was the play of a pass defense that shut down Danny O’Brien and Maryland last week and couldn’t get off the field this week. The nation’s top scoring defense got picked apart, and the focus has to get back in a hurry against a decent Ball State team on the road next week. Three of the next four games are on the road. 

Sept. 24 Temple 38 ... at Maryland 7
CFN Analysis: It’s almost as if Temple decided to play the game against Maryland it wanted to play against Penn State. The Owls came out with an attitude and were fully focuses from the start, and by the time the Terps blinked, it was 21-0 in the first quarter and 31-0 at halftime. The story will be Bernard Pierce and the brilliant day from the O line, leading the way to a 149-yard, school-record five touchdown day, but it also helped that Chester Stewart made the Terps pay time and again connecting on all nine of his passes for a solid 140 yards. The defense did its part, too, keeping the high-powered Maryland passing game to just 195 yards. Now it’s on to the MAC season and a home game against Toledo, and the Owls are intimidating.    

Sept. 17 Penn State 14 … at Temple 10
CFN Analysis: Temple had Penn State beaten. After decades of futility, this was the chance to finally pull off a win, but a bad interception thrown by Mike Gerardi late, and the inability to get Bernard Pierce and the running game going, proved to be too much to overcome. The Temple defense was tremendous, especially against the run, and it showed off just as much production up front as Penn State did on its defensive line. As disappointing as this was, it also showed that the team really can play with just about everyone. Beating Maryland next week would all but erase this disappointment.  

Sept. 10 Temple 41 ... at Akron 3

Sept. 1 at Temple 42 … Villanova 7
CFN Analysis: That’s exactly how the Steve Addazio era needed to get started. Villanova is a good, dangerous FCS team and Temple ripped it up without a problem Bernard Pierce was fantastic with 20 carries for 147 yards and three scores, and the passing game worked with Mike Gerardi coming up with a solid, efficient performance completing 14-of-20 passes for 235 yards and two scores. The defense was stifling with Kevin Kroboth coming up with two picks helping hold the Wildcats to just 275 yards.