K.C. Keeler addressed Temple’s needs in the transfer portal. First he recruited his locker room.
Temple landed 22 players in the portal, two being quarterbacks who will battle for the starting role. Keeler also retained the bulk of his own players.
After Temple signed the top-ranked high school class in the American Conference last month, coach K.C. Keeler said the football program was just beginning its recruiting process.
The Owls started their second phase on Jan. 2 when the transfer portal opened. Temple landed 22 transfers while also retaining most of its core pieces from this season.
“There’s really three phases to this whole recruiting process,” Keeler said. “The first phase is recruiting your locker room. I thought we did a phenomenal job. We’re probably one of the only [non-Power Four] schools in the country that didn’t lose a single starter. … Then the third phase is the portal. The portal’s unique in that it’s not just like who you get in terms of what their ratings are and those things. It’s a lot [of] what your needs are and are you meeting your needs. We graduated a bunch of starters, especially on defense. I thought we did a great job of filling those needs.”
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The number one priority for Keeler was finding a quarterback for next season. Owls starter Evan Simon and backup Gevani McCoy will graduate this spring and third-stringer Tyler Douglas entered the transfer portal.
Temple landed two quarterbacks from the transfer portal in Jaxon Smolik from Penn State and Ajani Sheppard from Washington State. They will compete for the starting role. Sheppard spent two seasons at Rutgers before transferring to the Cougars last year and was recruited by the Owls when he was in the portal last season.
Smolik visited Temple in early January and became friends with tight end Peter Clarke, who hosted him. General manager Clayton Barnes said Smolik has a similar personality to Simon’s.
“So [Smolik is] a guy that things didn’t time up. He was behind a three-year starter the whole time he was there” at Penn State, Barnes said. “[He] really just needed that opportunity. So when we checked the box from a skill set, personality, all that kind of stuff, he’s a guy that we felt would be a great fit for us and was one of those first few guys we got on campus. And by the time he was there, it was like, ‘Hey, this is our guy.’”
Smolik was one of four players to join Temple from Penn State during the offseason. Since the programs have the same recruiting pool, Temple often uses Penn State coaches to get intel on the recruits who transfer. Two of the transfers include defensive tackle Kaleb Artis and safety Kolin Dinkins. They are among 11 defensive players the Owls brought in.
Five of the transfers, like Artis, were used to bolster the defensive line after Temple lost Sekou Kromah, K.J. Miles, Cam’Ron Stewart, and Charles Calhoun to graduation or the portal.
“So you look at what we graduated from the rush spot this past year,” Barnes said. “We had two seniors that played and another guy that sought other opportunities. We knew we needed to bring in guys to play that position.”
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Keeler also wanted to keep the offensive line intact after losing starting right tackle Diego Barajas to graduation. Left tackle Giakoby Hills and left guard Eric King stayed with the program on multiyear deals.
The Owls also brought in offensive linemen to add depth. Former Rutgers lineman John Stone will compete for the starting center role with Grayson Mains.
“How do we bring in guys to compete for that right tackle spot? We don’t want to just rest on our laurels,” Barnes said. “We want to get better. So we brought in a couple other guys that have multiple years that not only can push those current starters, but also give us guys that can play for us next year if they don’t end up being the guy.”