‘It felt like home’: Temple transfer QB Gevani McCoy on his fresh start with the Owls

In his final season, the former FCS Freshman of the Year is all-in on helping the Owls get back to winning ways. For now, McCoy is having fun trying to win the starting job.

Temple quarterback Gevani McCoy runs with the ball as linebacker Eric Stuart closes in during practice on July 30. Read moreIsaiah Vazquez / For The Inquirer

by Ryan Mack

Published Aug. 12, 2025, 12:14 p.m. ET

At the end of spring practices, Gevani McCoy knew it was time for a change of scenery.

Well, another one.

McCoy spent three seasons at Idaho, an FCS program, where he became one of the better quarterbacks in the Big Sky Conference. He transferred to Oregon State after the 2023 season for a chance to be a starter. He won the job but struggled and threw just three touchdown passes in nine games as a starter.

After his lone season for the Beavers, McCoy transferred to Texas State, but he never took the field for the Bobcats. Instead, he stepped back into the transfer portal, looking to capitalize on his final season of eligibility.

“It’s my last year, so it’s my most important year,” McCoy said. “I felt that I had to be on the field for my last year and just put myself in the best situation possible. I felt like the best situation was to go ahead and put my name back into the transfer portal.”

While McCoy was looking for a new home, his future school was looking for competition. Temple made it clear when coach K.C. Keeler was hired on Dec. 1, 2024, that the Owls would look for a quarterback. Evan Simon was returning, but Temple lost Forrest Brock in the offseason and was looking for somebody to battle with Simon.

That person became McCoy, who shares a connection with offensive coordinator Tyler Walker.

During McCoy’s time at Idaho, where he won the Jerry Rice Award for the FCS’s best freshman in 2022, Walker was coaching at conference foe Montana State. Walker’s Bobcats offense became one of the best in the nation in 2024 as the team finished 15-1. Walker was hired by Keeler in January, and McCoy felt at home when he spoke with Temple in the transfer portal. Now, he has a chance at a starting job.

“It just seemed like a really good fit for me with the staff that we have here,” McCoy said. “I liked the staff a lot, and then I came out here, and it felt like home.”

The quarterbacks have traded places, with both playing roughly the same number of snaps in training camp. While Simon has been the leading player with the presumptive starters, McCoy also will be in with them.

So, how has it gone for him?

“It’s been great,” McCoy said. “I feel super comfortable in the system, I’ve been here for some time now, and so we worked all offseason and put in that work. So it feels really good, and I feel very comfortable here. So I’m excited for this season.”

Temple’s system is an area in which Simon has an advantage, having been with the team before Keeler was hired. However, McCoy looks comfortable during practices, notably during Saturday’s practice, when the Owls scrimmaged.

During the session, McCoy led the Owls offense down the field and found wide receiver Tyler Stewart on a slant that took the offense from the 40-yard line to the 3 and capped the drive with a touchdown on the next play.

McCoy continued that trend toward the end of practice with back-to-back touchdown drives. Wide receiver Bryson Goodwin was on the receiving end of a touchdown pass from McCoy, and then Stewart got open to give McCoy his second touchdown pass in as many drives.

Even with McCoy’s play, there still is a long way to go before a starter is named.

“The strength of that quarterback room just can’t be one player,” Walker said. “They’re better because they’re both in there, and they know that this job is not going to be one day, it’s not going to be one rep, it’s not going to be one week. They’re going to have to earn it. I think they have. They both know that. We want to take care of the football, and that quarterback’s got to make the other 10 guys in the room a little better, and they’re doing that.”

But that’s something McCoy already knows, and he and Simon have grown during the offseason. Simon helped McCoy during summer workouts and each has helped the other improve — regardless of the looming decision on a starter.

“It’s their show,” McCoy said. “If Coach wants to have two guys back there, that’s on him, and I’m sure that he’ll draw something up, and it’ll work. But it’s their show, and all I can do is just try to improve each day.”