Meet Camren Boykin, a top quarterback in Virginia who recently pledged to play at Temple

Camren Boykin has been a quarterback for nearly 10 years. He has played football since he was 4 years old, including flag football. He had an older brother play at Liberty University, and his father, Clarence, was a quarterback at Bowie State.

Boykin, who grew up in Upper Marlboro, Md. wears No. 2 on the field, as his favorite player growing up, Cam Newton, did at Westlake High School in Atlanta, then in college at Auburn. Boykin had no doubts about what position he wanted to play.

“At a young age, my dad kind of explained to me the pros and cons of playing quarterback as like, if you win, you’re going to get a lot of the praise for it, if you lose, you’re going to get a lot of blame for it. So I had to learn that,” Boykin said. “But I think the leadership role and the ability to distribute and make the other people better around me is something that I gravitated the quarterback position toward. ...

“Quarterback is not only on the field, but you see the position off the field a lot of the times as far as leadership roles throughout the school or just in the community.”

Boykin was a standout at the Potomac School in McLean, Va. over the last two years, although he is transferring to a school in Washington for his senior season. He finished with 36 touchdown passes and nearly 3,400 passing yards at the Potomac School and his outstanding play garnered scholarship offers from FBS schools such as Coastal Carolina and Buffalo and Power Five interest from Virginia Tech and Duke. But throughout the recruiting process, the relationship he built with Temple offensive coordinator Danny Langsdorf and offensive analyst Beau Walker stood out to the senior-to-be.

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So on June 24, about a week after Boykin’s official visit to North Broad Street, he announced his commitment to Temple. Boykin was the first quarterback the Owls signed in the 2025 class and Temple’s second overall commitment. Now the program has five players committed in the class, according to 247Sports.

Boykin said Walker and Langsdorf visited him at Potomac in the spring, which played a big part in the 6-foot-3 quarterback’s decision to choose the Owls. Although head coach Stan Drayton wasn’t around for his official visit (Drayton was at his daughter’s birthday party), Boykin said the two shared a FaceTime conversation while he was on campus.

It also helps that Boykin has a cousin, Cynthia Hopes, who just finished her freshman year at Temple.

”I was able to spend some time with Evan Simon, the transfer quarterback that just got there from Rutgers, and see the relationship him and Coach Langsdorf has, and it was something that definitely I would look to have in the future,” Boykin explained. “I think the [other deciding factor] is Coach Drayton’s community service, and what he has the football players doing outside of football in the community. I think it was something that was important to me.”

Dan Wolff, recently named Potomac’s head coach after spending the last nine years as an assistant in the program, has seen Boykin’s leadership grow in the three years he has known him. When Boykin arrived as a sophomore after spending his freshman year at Episcopal High School in Alexandria, Va., Wolff began working closely with the signal-caller.

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Describing Boykin as “an extremely versatile player with a strong arm [who] can run the ball as well,” Wolff said the player leads by example and his teammates feed off his energy.

“It’s been really fun to watch in terms of to see his growth, and he hasn’t hit his ceiling yet,” Wolff said by phone. “I really think Temple has found someone where he’s only going to get better each year, in a college weight room, a college scheme, and it’s going to be fun to watch him play down the road.”

Boykin credits his success to his quarterbacks coach, Kameron Bryant, an Appalachian State and Campbell QB from 2011 to 2015. But he quickly made an impression on his coaching staff in his first game with the Panthers.

On the road in 2022 against Norfolk Academy, Boykin had his first “wow” moment just before halftime with his team trailing, 18-13, according to Wolff.

“He kind of scrambled, and he made about a 60-yard throw on the run to the corner of the end zone to our receiver, who’s over at Navy, Drew Turner,” Wolff said, “and Drew caught the ball, kind of circus style, two feet in at the corner of the end zone and scored the touchdown. … He’s a new kid. He’s kind of trying to start off on the right foot, and I think he cemented his placement [with that throw].”

Boykin transferred to the Maret School in Washington this summer for his senior season, and he’s focused on adding more mass to his frame in preparation for college. The McLean native already has his eyes on Temple’s sports broadcasting program as a major. He is aware of what it would mean having a single-digit number as a leader in the Owls football program.

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“I understand the single-digit rule at Temple, so that’s something I’ve got to work toward,” he said. “I’ve got to get the [number] 2 back. But I know it’s a huge tradition, and the players vote on it, and I know the gratitude of it, so it’s something I’m definitely looking forward to trying to accomplish” at Temple.