Temple’s Adonicas Sanders has quickly become E.J. Warner’s go-to receiver

After three seasons at Georgia Tech, Adonicas Sanders is making an instant impact at Temple as one of the best wide receivers in the American Athletic Conference.

Through four games, Sanders is up to 255 total yards overall, including 191 receiving yards and a touchdown in the two games that freshman quarterback E.J. Warner has started. In Saturday’s win over UMass, Temple’s offense was stagnant until Warner and Sanders connected on a 34-yard fade. Warner and Sanders hooked up for another big play later in the game, a 50-yard touchdown up the seam that Warner threw over the defense and right into Sanders’ hands.

Sanders’ time at Georgia Tech wasn’t extraordinary as his best season came last year when he posted 362 yards and three touchdowns for a Yellow Jackets team that went 10-28 during Geoff Collins’ tenure. Collins was fired on Monday.

» READ MORE: Georgia Tech fires former Temple coach Geoff Collins in 4th season

At Temple though, Sanders has earned a bigger role and become a leader of the locker room, becoming the first transfer to earn one of Temple’s single-digit jerseys since current Las Vegas Raiders cornerback Rock Ya-Sin in 2018.

“When I first came here, I just said I’m going to come in and work as hard as possible,” said Sanders, a redshirt senior. “I’m going to make the starting lineup and I’m going get me a single digit. I did everything I needed to do to prove to the coaches that I’m Temple TUFF.”

Temple TUFF has been a slogan that first-year head coach Stan Drayton and his staff have emphasized since arriving at 10th and Diamond, and they made sure that this season’s single-digit jerseys would be awarded to guys who represent the moniker the best. (Temple TUFF and single-digit jerseys are Owls traditions.)

» READ MORE: Temple football shuts out UMass thanks to a second-half momentum shift

There are 10 single-digit jerseys available, and Drayton’s staff awarded only six of them. Sanders is the only offensive skill player to earn the honor. After Jadan Blue, Temple’s record holder for receptions in a season, transferred to Virginia Tech, Sanders has been a welcome addition to the Temple roster.

“He continues to add some consistency to that position,” Drayton said. “[He’s] a good target for E.J. at this point in time.”

Sanders is constantly in the film room with Warner, watching film and figuring out different ways to impact games, becoming a safety blanket for the first-year starter.

“Me and [Sanders] came in around the same time,” Warner said. “We were in the film room watching film, getting better, just talking football. Just kind of building that relationship over the summer, over fall camp and through practices. He’s an awesome receiver to have out there and I trust him to go up and get the ball.”

Sanders was a football and basketball all-state selection in South Carolina at Fort Dorchester High School. Following his brother Sidney’s footsteps, Sanders graduated as his high school’s all-time leading receiver despite being there for only two seasons.

Sidney, a fellow two-sport star who went on to average 19.1 points per game for Fairleigh Dickinson’s basketball team in 2013-14, was Sanders’ biggest football inspiration in grade school.

“I grew up watching him play football and I wanted to do everything he does,” Sanders said. “[I would be] in the back of the end zone just watching him, waiting for him to come score a touchdown. I said to myself, ‘When I get older, I’m going to do the same thing as my big brother.’”

Following that blueprint led to a 15-0 record and South Carolina’s 4A state championship as a high school junior. After his team was eliminated in the state semifinals as a senior, Sanders took his talents to Georgia Tech under Collins, the former coach at Temple.

With Georgia Tech in the past and a current role as Temple’s top pass-catching target, Sanders is looking to end his college football career on a high note and help the Owls take the right steps to becoming a contender in the American Athletic Conference.