Temple doesn’t have a lock yet at starting quarterback. Here’s why that’s a good thing.

Temple football fans are going to have to wait just a little bit longer to find out who will be the Owls’ starting quarterback. In fact, that decision might not arrive until a week before Temple’s season opener against Duke on Sept. 2.

“Obviously, you’d like to go into the game week with that position solidified,” coach Stan Drayton said. “We need these next couple of weeks to really hone in on who that’s going to be.

“Again, the competition has been great. Some guys are doing things better than others, [but] where there are strengths [in some], there are weaknesses in others and they’re kind of bouncing each other off that way. But by game day, we need to have that solidified.”

The Owls will have their first scrimmage during Saturday’s practice. Drayton said he’ll use it to evaluate consistency across the team, particularly at quarterback.

D’Wan Mathis, who finished with 1,223 passing yards in seven games last season, and Quincy Patterson, a transfer from North Dakota State, have been the two most-discussed candidates for the starting job.

According to Temple’s practice blog, Mathis and former Georgia Tech receiver Adonicas Sanders connected on several plays over the last three days of practice, including a 45-yard pass before Mathis then found Sanders again in the red zone for a touchdown.

“They’re starting to get a little bit of camaraderie amongst each other,” Drayton said. “They’re starting to get each other timed up. One thing about [Sanders] is that he will catch the contested throw. He’s tough; he knows how to get on and off tough coverage. He’s smart, so that helps a quarterback that’s still developing.”

Another area Drayton said needs development is the position he coached at Texas — running backs.

Former Illinois running back Jakari Norwood, a transfer who had 27 carries for 120 rushing yards last season, officially joined the Owls in Wednesday’s practice. Over his first three days, Norwood has shown he’s a speedy player.

“He’s got the talent that we thought he had,” Drayton said. “He’s got some great ability. He’s got really good upside. But he’s also shown that he needs to get into game shape.”

Running backs Edward Saydee, a veteran who played in 11 games and had three touchdowns last season, and Texas A&M transfer Darvon Hubbard, who joined the Owls in the winter, have been the most consistent backs thus far. Trey Blair and Onasis Neely, who were limited by injuries in the spring, have trailed behind those two.

» READ MORE: Competition ‘wide-open’ at Temple after three days of football training camp

“We keep a mindset of competition,” Drayton said. “We don’t ever want anybody thinking that they have a spot on the depth chart. We don’t want them to be satisfied if they’re a starter. These are things that we’re not talking about with [the backs], [so] ... that doesn’t necessarily mean that [Hubbard and Saydee] are going to be the top two.”

Drayton said he plans to uphold the single-digit tradition, a concept introduced by former Temple coach Al Golden in 2009 that awards players who are the toughest and most dedicated with a single-digit jersey number.

Even after four head coaching changes — Matt Rhule, Geoff Collins, Rod Carey, and Drayton — in the last six years, the tradition has lasted.

“We’re getting closer to making some decisions,” Drayton said after the team’s 10th practice of training camp. “It’s going to come down all the way to decision day. We’ve got guys who are close. That’s something that we’re going to talk about as a staff; we’re going to really evaluate that hard.”

In the spring, Drayton noted that he felt that the foundation of what it meant to be a single-digit player has been lost. That’s why he brought in former players, like the Eagles’ Haason Reddick, the Atlanta Falcons’ Matt Hennessy, and, most recently, the New York Jets’ Jacob Martin to speak on those values.

» READ MORE: Jets defensive end Jacob Martin falls back on his Temple roots in the NFL

However, he’s changing the voting process. In past years, players were awarded a single digit in a vote by the coaches and the leadership council, a group of players nominated to act as intermediaries between players and the coaching staff. Although he has elected 13 players to his council, Drayton said only his staff will make single-digit selections this year.