Skip to content
Link copied to clipboard

Temple football coach Rod Carey maintains a positive attitude while dealing with the coronavirus pandemic

The second-year coach says one advantage is that the Owls have had more time to catch up on recruiting.

Temple head coach Rod Carey walks away after the Military Bowl against North Carolina at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis, Md., on Dec. 27.
Temple head coach Rod Carey walks away after the Military Bowl against North Carolina at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis, Md., on Dec. 27.Read moreTIM TAI / Staff Photographer

Temple football coach Rod Carey displayed a positive attitude, basically making the best of a situation similar to the rest of the work world because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The second-year Owls coach is working at home, as are his assistants. He said all but one player is either in an off-campus apartment or has returned home. The lone exception is redshirt freshman tackle Victor Stoffel from Sweden.

In a video news conference on Thursday, Carey said one thing that the downtime has done is help the Owls catch up on recruiting.

This is a dead period, so coaches are only allowed to communicate with potential recruits electronically. Carey says the coaches are videoconferencing with those players.

“We’re looking at it as a positive, we’re getting caught up,” he said. “You know recruiting is nonstop all the time and you are never caught up, and we’re certainly not now. But I feel a lot more organized recruiting-wise now than normal because we’d be in spring ball, and actually we have talked to a bunch of recruits through this time.”

The Owls got in two practices before spring practice was halted.

“The university has canceled all activities through May 31 is what I have been told,” Carey said. “... So my target thing — this is just me, I have no backing for this — but would be June 1, kind of we’re back on campus."

That is when the Owls usually begin their summer workouts.

Temple is slated to open its season Sept. 5 in Miami. Carey was asked if he thinks the season will be delayed, or if there will be a season at all.

“That question is way above my pay grade and I don’t think anybody knows that yet,” he said.

Carey said since his players can’t work out in gyms, many have found other ways to keep in shape. He said tight end Tyler Sear, offensive lineman Wisdom Quarshie, and receiver Eric Kiewlak have been among the more creative.

“Tyler Sear and Wis [Quarshie] have been chopping logs and log tossing, and you know, push-up challenges have been going around on the team," he said. “... Eric Kiewiak had two tires on a barbell and he was cleaning them the other day in his garage, and that was pretty wild.”

Carey says that having an experienced quarterback such as redshirt senior Anthony Russo will be big bonus, especially with all the time missed. Russo is entering his third season as a starter.

“Any time you have a quarterback coming back it is a good thing, but now having our system in place — we are not a first-year staff — is a huge advantage,” Carey said.

“The guys who are a first-year staff are at a big disadvantage and I don’t know what you can do about that, I am sure they will want to do something," he said. “But we will definitely be ahead in that way, and then you throw in that Russo being there, yeah, you feel really good about yourself.”