Temple football finally gets some scrimmaging in

Temple’s football team has finally gotten some scrimmaging during practice — not much, but it’s a start. Coach Rod Carey said that the Owls were able to have 10 contact plays in practice.

“We did our first-team reps,” Carey said Tuesday during a Zoom conference with the media. In a normal practice the team would get 100 reps of hitting, and in that practice it got 10, he said.

Carey said that he had to introduce some hitting because the opening game is Sept. 26 at Navy.

“We’re getting close to that time when we have to play, so we have to start doing it,” Carey said. “We felt like we could keep the numbers really, really, low and people safe. ...

“The city’s recommendation was not to have scrimmage plays, but our liaison to the city said, ’I don’t know how that’s unavoidable, given that you have to get ready for competition. ...”

Asked whether he plans to ramp it up and do more hitting in practice, Carey said, “Right now I am stuck there.”

Carey said the teamneeds to do more hitting but can’t because of the limitations.

Practices are restricted to groups of 50, and players in one group are not allowed to move to another group during the practice.

The coach said the city has not indicated that it might allow Temple to increase its total.

Going 10 scrimmage plays was a welcome change for the players.

“It was a great feeling,” cornerback Linwood Crump said.

A graduate student, Crump said the first play was memorable, with safety Amir Tyler taking on tight end Aaron Jarman.

“It was a great sound and great to hear the pads click again,” Crump said. “It was just a great feeling.”

Temple and Navy have an open date on Oct. 10, so it’s possible their game could be moved. Navy has games on Sept. 7 against BYU and Sept. 19 at Tulane.

Notes: One of Temple’s projects is getting everybody registered to vote. ... Carey said that redshirt junior cornerback Ty Mason has opted out of playing this year. ... Redshirt junior cornerback Christian Braswell, among the top defensive players on the team, is sidelined with a hamstring injury that he said occurred during summer workouts. ...Temple was ranked eighth among the 11 American Athletic Conference teams in the preseason media poll (This reporter had the Owls sixth): 1. Central Florida, 2. Cincinnati, 3. Memphis, 4. SMU, 5. Navy, 6. Tulane, 7. Houston, 8. Temple, 9. Tulsa, 10. East Carolina, 11. South Florida. ... The AAC has announced times and TV updates for some games. Temple’s home game against SMU will be Thursday, Nov. 5, on ESPN.