Temple Head Coach K.C. Keeler Talks Team Identity, Previews Toledo

Temple Football head coach K.C. Keeler held his weekly press conference on Monday, Sept. 14, breaking down what he saw upon reviewing film of the Owls’ 27-9 loss to Penn State over the weekend and previewing their upcoming road duel with Toledo.

Keeler emphasized the Owls’ injuries at running back, where he expects prospective starter Sam Brown V to make his season debut as part of a 1-2 punch with sophomore Keveun Mason; Temple is also a week closer to health along the offensive line, where they’ve had to juggle and substitute a series of starters. He expects to rely on Mason for a majority of the snaps as Brown gets back to game speed. 

Despite all the injuries up front, Temple has relied on their rushing offense through the first two weeks of the season, a thread of continuity as quarterbacks Jaxon Smolik and Ajani Sheppard continue to split snaps. The Owls ran for 227 yards on 45 carries against Rhode Island and still managed to pick up 176 yards on 33 totes against the Nittany Lions’ vaunted defense.

“We were conscious to help them [backups-turned-starters on the offensive line] with some chips, we were conscious to try to get the ball out of our hand, but we also were conscious that we were gonna run the football,” Keeler said. “We wanted to shorten the game down a little bit and run the ball at them.”

Going to the Ground Game

Mason, who has 234 rushing yards and a pair of touchdowns this season, averaging 6.9 yards per carry, gave his perspective from the trenches. Praising his offensive line and the team performance as a whole, Mason said that on the rare occasions where they aren’t able to pick up positive yardage, it’s because he overran the gaps his linemen created rather than because of defensive success.

A return to health should give the offense a jolt, but Keeler also said he thinks that leaning on the ground game will open up opportunities for Smolik or Sheppard to succeed.

“We think that that run game’s gonna open up our throwing game. We feel like if we had some success running the ball against Penn State, we should have success with the people on our schedule,” Keeler said. “We’ll see if it works that way, but that’s the hope that we could be able to run the ball at people, and that opens up a whole new opportunity for the tight ends and the wideouts.”

Keeler also cited defense as one of the Owls’ cornerstones.

“We’re gonna lean on the defense. I thought [defensive coordinator and safeties coach] Brian Smith did a great job with calling the defense. They’ve improved so much from a year ago, it’s dramatic,” Keeler said. “Part of it is I think we’re putting our kids in a little bit better position to be successful, and the other thing is we’re more talented. There’s no question.”

Ready for the Rockets

Previewing Toledo, Keeler praised junior quarterback John Alan Richter for his strong arm and athleticism in his first full year as a starter. Keeler said the Rockets are dangerous when making plays off schedule, noting the tandem of Richter’s mobility and talented receivers like 6-foot-1 sophomore Rico Bond. 

Toledo has a new head coach, Mike Jacobs, at the helm: longtime head man John Candle departed for UConn last December. Jacobs spent the last two seasons in the FCS with Mercer, and Keeler noted the roster continuity as Jacobs moved his players and staff to Ohio, describing it as a testament to the trust they have in their head coach to succeed.

Lastly, Keeler circled Toledo’s athletic defense as another factor to keep an eye on.