Temple coach Stan Drayton sticking with Forrest Brock at quarterback after struggles: ‘Forrest is our guy’

After a less than impressive showing against Oklahoma on Friday night, Temple quarterback Forrest Brock will remain the Owls’ starter for the foreseeable future, coach Stan Drayton said at his weekly news conference Monday afternoon.

Brock, who won the starting job over Rutgers transfer Evan Simon and redshirt freshman Tyler Douglas in training camp, did not complete a pass until the final minutes of the first quarter against the Sooners. He did not complete one for positive yardage until the second quarter.

Brock’s struggles against a nationally ranked football powerhouse weren’t the biggest surprise — it was that Drayton didn’t turn to Simon or Douglas even when the game was out of reach.

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But Drayton is sticking to his guns and firmly declared Brock his starting quarterback ahead of the Owls’ conference opener against Navy on Saturday.

“Forrest is our guy,” Drayton said. “When you have a guy that hasn’t played a lot of football, you want him to get experience. There was never a time when I looked him in the eyes that I thought he wasn’t ready.”

Brock finished the season opener with 128 yards, no touchdowns, and two interceptions on 12-of-25 passing. He also fumbled the football after a shifty run for a good chunk of yards to pick up a first down.

Drayton thinks the more snaps Brock takes, the more the junior will settle into the role and the offense.

“[Brock’s] first-game jitters were real,” Drayton said. “You see six sacks and you want to blame the line, but the truth is in the details. They were all fixable issues.”

The last time Brock started a college football game before Friday in Norman, Okla., was at Santa Monica Community College in front of 110 fans on Nov. 12, 2022. On Friday night it was in front of more than 80,000 fans at Memorial Stadium.

Simon appeared in 15 games over three seasons for Rutgers and played against Power 5 opponents, including games on the road against Ohio State, Wisconsin, and Northwestern. Drayton said Douglas was also in the quarterback mix for all of training camp.

Drayton did not officially name Brock as starting quarterback until moments before kickoff on Friday. Brock was listed as the starter on an unofficial depth chart handed to the media at a news conference earlier in the week, but Drayton made it clear that wasn’t a sign that Brock had won the job.

But now Drayton is firmly committed to Brock as the team’s signal caller, and said his leash against Navy this weekend will be no shorter than it was in the Owls’ 51-3 loss to Oklahoma.

“[Brock’s] got to stay within his job description,” Drayton said. “[Navy] plays a lot of zone defense, they don’t want the ball over their heads. We’re going to have to be really good underneath.”

Offensive coordinator Danny Langsdorf, who ran the offense from the booth last season, was on the sideline with Drayton in the opener. That change will continue in the coming weeks to make sure Brock is comfortable with the playbook and his role, Drayton said.

A big reason Drayton is willing to ride it out with Brock is because of the QB’s response to Friday’s disaster. While the team has gone back to the drawing board ahead of its Week 2 matchup, Brock has been a leader and shown a willingness to improve, Drayton said.

“It’s been phenomenal,” Drayton said about Brock’s response. “He self-reflects and thinks about what he could do better. There was no loss in self confidence in the game. [Defensive linemen] Latrell Jean and Demerick Morris told him they believed in him. He’s taken that seriously.”

Wide receiver Zae Baines, who caught 36 passes for 442 yards and a touchdown last season, will be out “a while” with an injury, Drayton said. Drayton also said offensive lineman Luke Watson has a “significant knee injury” and tight end Peter Clarke is “day-to-day.”

Defensive end Diwun Black, one of the Owls’ best defensive players last season, did not make the trip to Norman and will not suit up against Navy either, Drayton said.