Temple signs its largest recruiting class in program history in K.C. Keeler’s first full offseason
The Owls signed 33 players on Wednesday, with 21 planning to join the team in January. Keeler focused on recruiting locally and brought in 22 players from Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware.
Wednesday’s early national signing day kicked off Temple coach K.C. Keeler’s first full offseason with the Owls. Keeler was hired on Dec. 1, 2024, but this will be his first recruiting class.
Temple announced the signing of 33 players on Wednesday. The program’s recruiting class is ranked No. 62 in the country and No. 1 in the American Conference, according to 247 Sports. Of the signed players, 21 will join the team in January, when the spring semester begins. This is the largest recruiting class in program history.
“The recruiting really started as soon as the season was over, in terms of this building, that’s where you start your recruiting,” Keeler said. “That’s our philosophy, is recruit the locker room. We’ve been recruiting the locker room since the first day we got here, because it’s about culture and trying to keep your guys here, and them believing that you know they’re better off staying here than going someplace else.”
» READ MORE: Gift Share National signing day: Local high school football stars join Notre Dame, Missouri, Syracuse and more
Keeler has emphasized the importance of local recruiting. Temple signed 22 players from Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware, with five playing high school football in the Philadelphia area.
“The recruiting staff has a lot of regional ties, so we’re able to connect with a lot of people that [we] probably wouldn’t have been able to if we weren’t structured that way,” Keeler said. “I think we’ve made a lot of strides very quickly and I think we can even make more strides. For a first year, from Day 1 to Day 365, I think it’s a pretty darn good class.”
Two notable players from the area are the Roman Catholic tandem of Eyan Stead Jr. and Ash Roberts. Stead played defensive back and wide receiver for the Cahillites, but Keeler and general manager Clayton Barnes expect him to be a safety for the Owls. Roberts will play receiver. He earned first-team All-Catholic League honors after posting 745 yards and 10 touchdowns on 53 receptions.
Chester High’s Daron Harris is another local signee who likely will play safety for the Owls. He had 1,818 yards and 25 touchdowns as a wide receiver, while also producing 36 tackles and four interceptions at safety this season.
Harris intends to join the team in January. The Owls had just four freshmen join the team early last season. The extra depth will allow players to get a head start in the offseason.
“The fact that you have [21] early enrollees is going to make a big difference,” Barnes said. “Because getting that full offseason is going to get them more physically ready to be able to play as true freshmen.”
» READ MORE: Penn State’s recruiting class takes a hit as its search for a head coach continues
One position of need that the Owls looked at was quarterback after losing starter Evan Simon and backups Gevani McCoy and Anthony Chiccitt to graduation. Temple added three quarterbacks in Brady Palmer of Bloomingdale, Ill., Brody Norman of Mooresville, N.C., and Lamar Best.
Palmer and Norman committed in June, while Best backed out of a commitment to Delaware. Best, a Willingboro native, played two seasons at St. Joseph Regional in Bergen County, where he amassed 76 passing touchdowns. He suffered an injury toward the end of this season but led the team to a state championship appearance, where it defeated Don Bosco Prep.
Temple plans to add at least two quarterbacks through the portal. Then the Owls will have a competition to decide who will succeed Simon.
Temple also brought in five junior college players.
Cornerbacks Asa Locks, a transfer from Iowa Western who had three interceptions this season, and Nakeel Lawrence, an all-conference player out of Butte College in California, will look to make an immediate impact.
“In the defensive backfield, we have a mixed bag of high school kids and older kids, junior college kids, because we graduate quite a few in the secondary, [at] both safety and corner,” Barnes said. “So we had to bring a lot of guys from the high school ranks and we had a couple of older kids.”
Temple will use the rest of the winter to add transfers and JUCO players, as the transfer portal opens Jan. 2.
“That’s kind of the next phase in our recruiting,” Keeler said.