Temple’s Sam Franklin, Branden Mack and Isaiah Wright earn single-digit jerseys on first day of practice

The highlight of Friday’s first day of Temple football practice was the awarding of single-digit numbers to senior linebacker Sam Franklin, redshirt junior receiver Branden Mack, and senior receiver Isaiah Wright.

New Temple coach Rod Carey has continued the Temple tradition of awarding single-digit jerseys to the toughest members of the team and those displaying the highest character and leadership on and off the field. On the eve of the presentation, Owls players voted to determine who was single-digit worthy. (There was no media availability for Friday’s practice.)

This gives Temple six players with single-digit jerseys. The holdovers are senior linebacker Shaun Bradley, graduate-student linebacker Chapelle Russell, and redshirt junior center Matt Hennessy. Of these three, Hennessy can’t wear a single digit in games because that is prohibited for offensive linemen, so he’ll still wear No. 58.

Friday, Russell, Hennessy, and Bradley presented the three single-digit jerseys to the new members of the fraternity.

Last season, Franklin had 63 tackles, seven tackles for loss, three sacks, an interception, a forced fumble, and a fumble recovery.

Mack, a Cheltenham grad, had 44 receptions for 601 yards and five touchdowns last season.

Wright is the reigning American Athletic Conference special teams player of the year. He was also named a first-team all-American by the Sporting News as a special teams player.

Wright had 33 receptions for 368 yards and three TDs. He also had three return touchdowns and finished first in the AAC and second in the nation with 1,122 combined kick-return yards.

There remain as many as four single-digit numbers to be awarded before camp ends. The jerseys will be assigned to the new single-digit players next week.