Temple signs 23 football players. Now it’s time to get some ‘calluses on their hands’

Temple announced the signing of 23 players Wednesday as the Owls look to turn things around after three consecutive 3-9 football seasons.

Of the new players joining the program, eight are high school recruits, eight are junior college transfers and seven are from the transfer portal. Coach Stan Drayton was asked what the pitch was to recruit players to North Broad Street.

“It’s just about the opportunity,” Drayton said.” That’s hard to find. Most kids want the house already built. Here, we’ve got to recruit guys that are going to be willing to put some calluses on their hands and that’s the thing I am excited about with this class.”

The Owls also lost a few key players heading into national signing day. Starting linebackers Jordan Magee and Yvandy Rigby declared for the NFL draft and record-breaking quarterback E.J. Warner announced that he was transferring to Rice.

To counter the loss of Warner, Temple brought in a new quarterback through the transfer portal in Evan Simon, a 6-foot-3, 205-pounder out of Rutgers who played at Manheim (Pa.) Central in high school.

» READ MORE: Temple quarterback E.J. Warner will transfer to Rice

“He’s an accurate passer,” Drayton said. “Has the ability to play with speed by extending plays. The thing I love about him right now is the intangible of him being a major chip on his shoulder because of whatever went on with him at Rutgers. He’s also going to bring some instant leadership and I’m excited to build some things around him so that he can really showcase his skill set.”

Joining Simon from the high school ranks will be Tyler Stewart, a 5-9, 170-pound wide receiver who had 59 catches for 1,265 receiving yards this season at Jones County High in Georgia.

On defense, Temple is bringing in 14 players. Drayton said it is going to be hard to replace NFL-caliber players like Magee and Rigby, but he hopes there won’t be a major drop-off heading into a tougher schedule in 2024.

“They’re finishing their career as NFL-caliber players. But when we got here, they hadn’t played a lot of football, so we needed guys that can come in and have some experience where the stage doesn’t shock them. Do you go and replace Rigby and Magee and that caliber right away? No. I mean that’s going to be tough to do for anybody ... but we just got some hungry guys that love the game of football and it’s our job to develop them and get them ready to go.”

Among the high school signees is Cameron Jones, a 6-5, 230-pounder who was an all-conference defensive lineman at St. Mary’s Ryken in Maryland. Sekou Kromah (6-3, 280) played defensive line at Monroe College in New Rochelle, N.Y., and will come in as a junior.

In the secondary, transfer Jaylen Lewis comes to the Owls form Arkansas, where he played two seasons at cornerback.

The Owls signed two international players in German tight end Daniel Evert and Swedish offensive lineman Linus Lindberg.