February 04, 2015
On Wednesday, Temple University added 17 new football recruits to the three others that have already enrolled in classes. Of the 17 that signed letters of intent on National Signing Day, however, one has to make Owls coach Matt Rhule slightly more excited than the rest.
His name is T.J. Simmons, and according to Matt Breen of the Inquirer, he's the highest-rated prospect in program history. Rivals.com has him ranked as the nation's 17th-best running back and ranked No. 166 overall.
The running back from Lakeland Christian School (Lakeland, Fla.) was also strongly considering Marshall. He also visited UCLA in the fall before decommitting, and had offers from Auburn, Clemson, Florida, Louisville, Miami, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Ole Miss, Penn State, among several others.
Last month, Rhule tweeted the following, seemingly in reference to Simmons:
Just got news so good it makes me want to put a Jet Pack on and take off! #OOU
— Matt Rhule (@CoachMattRhule) January 19, 2015
Simmons is 6-1, 205 and runs the 40-yard dash in 4.42 seconds. He missed most of his senior season with a broken leg, but here's a look at some highlights from his junior year:
Yes, he did pop someone's helmet off in that first run.
Here's a look at rest of Temple's newest recruits:
Temple's other top recruit is Kareem Ali, Jr., a mid-year transfer from Timber Creek.
The four-star defensive back enrolled last month after originally committing to Maryland. Both his parents attended Temple -- Ali's father played at Temple in the mid-1990s -- and he cited family as reason for his sudden change of heart.
“It’s family, you know. Everybody, from my little brother to my mom, everybody. It’s family,” Ali, who played in the U.S. Army All-American gam, told NJ.com last month. “I’m just trying to be with my family. It’s not far and I wanted to be close, so why not do it here? Why not start something here? That’s the message to everybody around. It’s like home.”
Temple's other early signees were Logan Marchi, a 6-1 quarterback out of St. Paul Catholic (Bristol, Conn.) and William Updegrove, a 6-1 linebacker from Berwick Area High School in Berwick, Pa.
But like Simmons, Ali stands out among the other recruits.
Here's a look at some of Ali's highlights:
Here's a look at what other local and national media outlets are saying about Temple's recruiting class.
From a sheer potential standpoint, Simmons could be the best, and that’s why the Owls had to be the big winner on National Signing Day among AAC schools. The team went 6-6 last year but returns 20 starters and as many as three of the current class — Simmons, defensive tackle Greg Webb and cornerback Kareem Ali Jr. — could work their way into the starting lineup. In Simmons and Ali, the Owls have the only multiple four-star recruits in the league this signing class.
Simmons, though, could be the guy who moves the Owls from mediocre to great, because they finished 118th (out of 126 FBS schools) in rushing yards per game in 2014 with 107.8 yards a game. What’s worse, the Owls were 125th in third-down percentage (23.8).
From Muhammad Wilkerson (Linden) and Tahir Whitehead (Newark West Side), to P.J. Walker (Elizabeth) and Ali Jr., Temple has found some of its greatest success by unearthing gems from New Jersey. The emphasis has been no different this year, as the Owls are expected to welcome a class of eight players from the Garden State on Wednesday during National Signing Day — even more than Rutgers' class of seven in-state players.
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Last season, 12 of Temple's 22 starters hailed from New Jersey, helping the Owls to a 6-6 record in their second season under Rhule. This year's recruiting class is led by Ali Jr., but also features former top recruit Greg Webb of Timber Creek (now a junior college transfer), Ryquell Armstead of Millville, Jeremiah Atoki of Vineland and Chapelle Cook of Lakewood.
Rhule said several decisions lingered into Tuesday night and then Wednesday morning. Like many other major college programs, the Owls had to wait until the last minute to find out if some players would choose to join their program.
But that’s just a sign of how far the program has come.
“You win some of those, you lose some of those but that’s big-time college football and that’s where we are,” Rhule said. “At the end of the day, whether we get a kid that had no other offers or we get a kid that had 20 other offers, it comes down to: A, Is he the right kid, did we evaluate him the right way? And, B, is he a fit for us? And I think we got the right guys.”
Rhule and his assistants traveled down to Asheville, N.C. while recruiting Owen High running back Jager Gardner, who ran for over 2,500 yards and 36 touchdowns last season. Apparently that went a long way towards them landing Gardner.
Owen assistant coach Jack Slaughter, who helped Gardner in the recruiting process while Ford was going through back surgery last week, said Temple coaches with local ties helped in the process.
Temple coach Matt Rhule was an assistant at Western Carolina for four seasons (2002-05), and Owls’ offensive coordinator Marcus Satterfield spent one season in Cullowhee (’05) as an assistant.
“They know us, and we know them, and they liked Jager a lot from the first time they saw him,” Slaughter said.
“Coach Rhule and coach Satterfield came to visit me (at Owen), and that meant a lot to me,” Gardner said.
