After ‘wild’ two months on the job, Temple’s Rod Carey looks forward to first spring practice

It’s been a blur for Rod Carey since he was hired as Temple’s football coach on Jan. 11, and now two months later he will preside over his first spring practice with the Owls, which begins on Tuesday. Spring practice will conclude with the April 13 spring game.

Between getting to know his players, recruiting, and hiring his staff, Carey has one word for what the past two months have been like.

“Wild,” he said during a recent interview in his office. “It’s been good and it has just been a lot.”

Then Carey, who was the head coach of Northern Illinois University the previous six seasons, made a candid admission.

“If anybody says they’ve got it all down through the transition period, they are lying to you,” he said. “…There is only one thing that makes it happen and that is time because you can sit and talk to somebody as much as you want, but until you have been through it with somebody, you really don’t know him.”

And conversely, the players really won’t know their coach until then.

Most of his coaching and administrative staff worked with Carey at Northern Illinois, so there is familiarity there. Now the focus is on getting to know his personnel.

He said this Temple team will do many things like the previous one. A former three-year starting center at Indiana University, Carey says he will operate on three main principles:

Carey will have the benefit of an experienced group returning from an 8-5 team that lost to Duke, 56-27, in the Independence Bowl. It was the Owls’ fourth consecutive bowl appearance and eighth in school history.

The Owls likely won’t be the favorite in the American Athletic Conference East Division, where two-time AAC champ Central Florida will probably be the team to beat once again.

Still, Temple should have high expectations and Carey isn’t shying away from them.

“Expectations are a good thing,” he said. “It means you are doing something right, it means you are successful at what you are doing.”

How experienced are the Owls?

According to information provided by the Temple sports information department, the Owls will return seven starters on offense and seven on defense. Players who had started at least six games were considered.

Here are the returners and how many games they started:

2018 Starters Returning - Offense (7)

LG Jovahn Fair (13), C Matt Hennessy (11), RT Adam Klein (10), WR Branden Mack (13), OL Vincent Picozzi (13), QB Anthony Russo (11), WR Isaiah Wright (8).

2018 Starters Returning - Defense (7)

DT Dan Archibong (12), LB Shaun Bradley (13), CB Linwood Crump (10), DL Dana Levine (6), LB Sam Franklin (10), LB Chapelle Russell (13), S Benny Walls (9).

Unsurprisingly, Carey said that linebacker looks like one of the stronger positions based on what he has seen on film. Three starters return, led by first-team all-AAC choice Shaun Bradley, with Chapelle Russell and Sam Franklin also there. The trio combined for 36 starts.

With Carey’s emphasis on the running game, a key this spring will be finding a replacement for Ryquell Armstead, who rushed for 1,098 yards (5.2 avg.) and 13 touchdowns and recently participated in the NFL Combine.

Redshirt senior Jager Gardner would appear to be the frontrunner, although with Armstead gone, the carries may be more spread out.

The Owls should be set at the most important position with redshirt junior Anthony Russo returning at quarterback after throwing for 2,563 yards and 14 touchdowns in 12 games, including 11 starts.

However, Carey said that no job is guaranteed.

“Everybody has a clean slate,” Carey said. “Everything is open and you have to go ahead and earn it.”

That might be the case, but the players who were major factors last season should continue in that role.

The biggest challenge will be for the new coach and staff to learn the best aspects of each player over the month-long spring practice.