For much of the 2024 season, Temple’s defense struggled immensely, a recurring theme under former head coach Stan Drayton. The team finished last in the American Athletic Conference in rushing defense, giving up 227 yards per game.
While the Owls’ pass defense fared better, the unit wasn’t able to atone for its rushing faults. Temple finished fifth in the AAC in passing defense and recorded six interceptions in a four game span. However, the secondary still had a fair share of issues toward the end of the season and Drayton was fired with just two games remaining.
Former Sam Houston State head coach K.C. Keeler was hired to replace Drayton and he brought in former Rice defensive coordinator Brian Smith to run a unit in desperate need of improvement. While spring ball has only just started, the Owls are hoping to turn what has long been an Achilles heel into a strength this season.
The pair had never coached together before, but Smith spent seven seasons in Houston cultivating a premier defense at Rice. Smith became so highly regarded that he was originally supposed to be retained by newly hired Rice head coach Scott Abell. But that’s when Keeler swooped in.
“The opportunity here, just at Temple, there’s so much history and talent in the area,” Smith said. “It’s a dream job for me. It’s always a place that I kind of pinpointed as, if I ever had an opportunity to go work there and coach there and be close to home, I wanted a chance to be here because the area has so much talent, a lot of untapped and undeveloped talent.”
Temple is now preparing for the 2025 season with its fourth defensive coordinator in five seasons. Keeler has emphasized a physical brand of football and the defense will be at the forefront of making sure that happens.
“There’s some talent out there on defense,” Keeler said. “I’ll be really disappointed if we can’t be a top third in the league sort of defense. That’s what we’re going to have to hang our hat on. We’re gonna have to hang our hat on playing great defense, being able to run the football.”
Temple’s expectation heading into this year is to have a versatile defense. While Smith is best known for running a 3-4 defense, Temple will throw flurries of everything during the year depending on the personnel of the roster. Smith has three seasons coaching in the NFL and two at Michigan, and wants to implement a more NFL-based scheme on North Broad.
That scheme will emphasize the importance of getting to the quarterback — something Temple has recently lacked. The team was at the bottom of the conference in sacks last season and its pressure from the defensive line was unable to affect opposing quarterbacks. Smith will hope to change that, as his Rice defense ranked third in the AAC in sacks in 2024 and seventh in 2023.
The Owls lost their top two sack leaders from last season as well as its top tacklers, so the spring practice will determine who is going to step up. While the line has a chance to retain its edge due to the returns of defensive tackles Demerick Morris, Allen Haye and Sekou Kromah, the same can’t be said about the rest of the front seven.
That just means the bread and butter of the defense will have to be the secondary.
“From a competitive standpoint, I think we have a really good group of guys that want to go out and compete at a really high level,” said cornerbacks coach Henry Baker. “There’s some competition out there within the room and guys are sitting there vying for their spot in depth chart, but one thing I think that they’re doing is they’re finding a way to be able to build chemistry within the room.”
The Owls lost starters from their secondary but revamped the room in the winter. Smith led a defense that was the top pass defense in the AAC last season at Rice and he’s looking to find a way to continue that at Temple in 2025.
Expect the secondary to use a man coverage look throughout next season, barring any changes. Cornerback Ben Osueke has become a leader heading into his third season at Temple and will be an important part of the group. Temple brought two FCS transfers in Omar Ibrahim from Hampton and Jaylen Castleberry from Youngstown State who will be plugged in as well.
Temple will also move players around, plugging them in wherever the defense needs them. Safety Avery Powell joined the roster as a cornerback but will be moving between strong safety and nickel cornerback. Linebacker Willy Love, a transfer from Monmouth, will also be moved around in Temple’s ‘Owl’ position, something cornerback Jaylen Lewis and safety Elijah Deravil thrived in during 2024.
“We’ve got [Powell] at our strong safety position,” Smith said. “We’ll have him in the slot covering. He’s also got the ability to go outside if we need him to. Just getting guys that can cover, we’ve been a big man-to-man team in the past. The more the guys that we can get in the defense that have coverage ability, whether that is outside or inside will help us do what we want to do.”
Temple’s defense is subject to change before it opens the season against UMass on Aug. 30. However, the team is still trying to cultivate its new culture and system before the season kicks into full gear and that comes from competition.
“I believe in breeding a culture of competition,” Baker said. “Iron sharpens iron right now I don’t want anybody to feel too comfortable. Everybody should feel like, every time they step out there, they have a chip on their shoulder and they have something to prove. So you always want to be able to add talented guys to the room anytime you can.”
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