Temple coach Stan Drayton says ‘a lot of question marks’ were answered this offseason

Stan Drayton isn’t the new coach on the block anymore, but anticipate loads of change as he enters his second year of leading Temple’s football program — one still considered to be in the midst of a rebuild.

Outside of the Owls’ program looking different with the addition of close to 50 new players, the American Athletic Conference welcomed five new schools that will begin play this season in Charlotte, Florida Atlantic, North Texas, Rice, UAB, and UTSA.

The conference realignment comes with the departure of Cincinnati, Houston, and Central Florida to the Big 12. Those three teams combined to win five of the conference’s eight titles since it began holding a conference championship game in 2015. Four schools also have first-year coaches — Brian Newberry (Navy), Trent Dilfer (UAB), Alex Golesh (USF), and Biff Poggi (Charlotte) — of the AAC’s 14 football-playing teams.

“This is going to be a phenomenal conference,” Drayton said Tuesday at AAC media day. “We got great coaches, great head football coaches that have been places, some that have won national championships at other places, and some guys who have developed programs.”

Temple was projected to finish 10th in the conference, according to AAC preseason media polls. The Owls finished 3-9 last season, going 1-7 in the conference.

During the offseason, a few of Temple’s key contributors graduated or entered the transfer portal. Former wide receiver Jose Barbon signed with the Dallas Cowboys while linebacker Kobe Wilson transferred to SMU.

Besides new recruits and transfer portal pickups, there’s been a few coaching changes. Larry Knight, who served as an assistant in the Owls’ program under former head coach Geoff Collins in 2017-18, was hired to lead the defensive line. Everett Withers also rejoined the staff as defensive coordinator after D.J. Eliot joined the Eagles as linebackers coach.

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“I feel as though we got longer, we got more athletic,” Drayton said. “We actually answered a lot of question marks that we had on our roster. [Last season], we played with a lot of players that didn’t have a whole lot of college experience.

“We’re going to be a little young in that respect this year, with some of our best talent being some of our younger talents, but that does not change the expectations and the standards to which we hold our program to.”

Sophomore quarterback E.J. Warner, son of Pro Football Hall of Famer Kurt Warner, is one of those young talents who will lead the offense. He proved his starting role last season after having a record-breaking season that earned him AAC Rookie of the Year honors.

Warner finished with 268 completions, 3,028 yards, and 18 touchdowns. His completions were the most in a season in program history and he became the second player to break the 3,000-yard mark, which former QB P.J. Walker achieved first in 2016.

“I‘ve tried to grow where these guys know that they can look at me in certain situations,” Warner said. “They can lean on me, and I can carry this team and carry this offense to greater things — That’s a big thing I’m trying to work on to show these guys that I can be a leader for this team.”

With preseason for the Owls starting in August, Drayton said finding chemistry among players is his first priority after a month off.

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“They bought into the philosophy of what we were preaching,” Drayton said about his first year. “That player-led thought process is starting to come more and more. We’re asking kids to lead each other, and that’s something that is very hard for them to do. ... I’m starting to see more of that, but that’s what it’s going to take for us to win ballgames.”