Temple University Athletics
Temple Sets Depth Chart For Season Opener
8.23.07 | Football
Aug. 23, 2007
2007 Temple Football Depth Chart 
PHILADELPHIA - Temple University head football coach Al Golden named red-shirt junior Adam DiMichele the team's starting quarterback for the Owls' 2007 season opener against Navy on August 31 (7:30 p.m./ESPNU) at Lincoln Financial Field. The second-year head coach also announced his entire two-deep depth chart for the first contest.
"It is so close. It is a hard call and something I have struggled with for a long time," Golden said on the decision between DiMichele and sophomore Vaughn Charlton. "Obviously (offensive coordinator) Coach (George) DeLeone and (quarterbacks) Coach (Matt) Rhule have had a lot of input as well. Ultimately it comes down to an intuitive feeling and a gut reaction. At this point Adam has played slightly better in the scrimmages.
Both are tremendous people, excellent students and some of the hardest workers on the team. They are both leaders and I don't feel we can go wrong with either. They are both championship level quarterbacks and that is a nice problem to have."
Sixteen true freshmen have earned places on the team's depth chart with six (OG Lloyd Codada, OLB Amara Kamara, WR Mike Campbell, PR Marquise Liverpool, P Jeff Wathne, LS Matt Balasavage) listed as probable starters.
"It was a good haul for us last year recruiting-wise," Golden said. "These guys have made an impact and they have really competed well with the upperclassmen."
Golden also was pleased with the team's overall depth and the competition not just quarterback, but at every position.
"We are light years away from where we were a year ago in terms of our talent pool," he said. "It was difficult (to develop a two-deep chart) for a lot of reasons. For one we have so much buy-in on the team that you hate to see kids relegated to the scout team or have kids who played a lot of football for us last year who are second team now, but that is the kind of organization that we want to have. So there is a lot more competition."
Golden also announced the selection of DiMichele, junior center Alex Derenthal, red-shirt junior defensive end Leyon Azubuike, sophomore cornerback Anthony Ferla and red-shirt senior defensive back Abioye Oyeyemi as team captains for the 2007 season.
"We thought long and hard as a staff to decide if we were going to select captains because we are so young, but we decided to take a (team) vote and I was very pleased with the wide range of players that received a vote or multiple votes to be captain," Golden said. "On the defense, Leyon Azubuike and Anthony Ferla garnered the most votes On the offensive side it was Alex Derenthal and Adam DiMichele, and everyone has a lot of respect for Abioye Oyeyemi on special teams."
Three of the five team captains will serve as game captains for each contest with a fourth, selected from the pool of players that also received votes to be captain, chosen each game.
Season tickets are available now for as low as $96 and partial season tickets for a low $72, which includes the Penn State game and two other MAC games of your choice. Call 215-204-8499 or visit www.owlstix.com for details. Individual game tickets can be purchased through Ticketmaster at 215-336-2000 or www.ticketmaster.com.
