Temple University Athletics
Photo by: Joseph V. Labolito/Temple University
Owls Work Through First Half of Two-A-Day Practice
8.18.14 | Football
The Owls held their finaltwo-a-day of camp on Monday, August 18. After the first practice of the day, head coach Matt Rhule spoke with the attending media. Selected quotes are below. For the full video of Coach Rhule's post-practice press conference, click here.
The Owls are gearing up to take on the Vanderbilt Commodores on a nationally-televised stage on August 28. The game will kick off in Nashville, TN, at 9:15 pm ET on SEC Network.
On the depth of defensive players: "Particularly in the defensive backfield, I think the great thing we have going is we have a lot of depth. The one thing we've said as a staff is we don't know what we have going until we get into a game situation. Sean Chandler, Khiry Lucas, Alex Wells, they haven't gotten down and played in the game yet. We're pleased with what we've seen so far in practice…we have about five safeties we think could go in the game for us and about six corners we think could go in the game for us. In this league, you need those guys. We're going to face four-wides, five-wides, we need to have guys ready. As much as it is about building the ones, it's also about building depth and having guys that can finish the season out…I couldn't tell you who's going to start right now because it kind of changes day-by-day, which I think is a good thing."
On the tight ends corps: "I think Wanemi Omuso returning as a starter from last year proved to us that he can be the on-the-line tight end that we've been looking for, and still be athletic enough to be in the passing game. Once we lost him last year in the Cincinnati game, it really hurt us as the year went on. He can block power, he can block counter; he's a true blocking tight end. I think added to that mix is [Saledeem] Major who sat out last year, he's got two years left with us. And Sal gives us a tight end that can also be on the line, but can be a fullback, can motion out and be a wide receiver. We want to have tight ends with versatility and both of those tight ends can do that. After that, Cole Boozer is a young guy, we're trying to develop him, Kip Patton as a freshmen, Chris Myarick is a freshmen. So those two guys, we're hoping, maybe we don't have to play them, Part of that is Colin Thompson as he gets healthy, I think we'll have three tight ends that allow us to combine with Marc Tyson and Eric Neffe at fullback, that can be versatile, they can block on the line of scrimmage, run routes, but can also play fullback or split out. We're looking for that versatility and I think they're going to do a nice job by committee."
On health of the team: "It's amazing as you get to that Wednesday when camp's over, guys start to get healthy as you get into game week. We have a bunch of guys that worked really hard to get healthy. Will Hayes was out there practicing today because he said 'Coach, I'm practicing. I'm ready, doctor's said I'm cleared. I'm practicing.' Matt Eaton was out there today, Kyle Friend was out there today. Those guys are really pushing themselves, with the day off yesterday, they've really pushed themselves to get themselves healthy, to get themselves back out there. We have knicks, we have bruises; we practice pretty physically, we believe in that, I think our team believes in that now. Guys, they come back and they play through it, I'm pleased with our guys. If a guy gets hurt and we know we have enough depth, the next guy can step in and do the job."
The Owls are gearing up to take on the Vanderbilt Commodores on a nationally-televised stage on August 28. The game will kick off in Nashville, TN, at 9:15 pm ET on SEC Network.
On the depth of defensive players: "Particularly in the defensive backfield, I think the great thing we have going is we have a lot of depth. The one thing we've said as a staff is we don't know what we have going until we get into a game situation. Sean Chandler, Khiry Lucas, Alex Wells, they haven't gotten down and played in the game yet. We're pleased with what we've seen so far in practice…we have about five safeties we think could go in the game for us and about six corners we think could go in the game for us. In this league, you need those guys. We're going to face four-wides, five-wides, we need to have guys ready. As much as it is about building the ones, it's also about building depth and having guys that can finish the season out…I couldn't tell you who's going to start right now because it kind of changes day-by-day, which I think is a good thing."
On the tight ends corps: "I think Wanemi Omuso returning as a starter from last year proved to us that he can be the on-the-line tight end that we've been looking for, and still be athletic enough to be in the passing game. Once we lost him last year in the Cincinnati game, it really hurt us as the year went on. He can block power, he can block counter; he's a true blocking tight end. I think added to that mix is [Saledeem] Major who sat out last year, he's got two years left with us. And Sal gives us a tight end that can also be on the line, but can be a fullback, can motion out and be a wide receiver. We want to have tight ends with versatility and both of those tight ends can do that. After that, Cole Boozer is a young guy, we're trying to develop him, Kip Patton as a freshmen, Chris Myarick is a freshmen. So those two guys, we're hoping, maybe we don't have to play them, Part of that is Colin Thompson as he gets healthy, I think we'll have three tight ends that allow us to combine with Marc Tyson and Eric Neffe at fullback, that can be versatile, they can block on the line of scrimmage, run routes, but can also play fullback or split out. We're looking for that versatility and I think they're going to do a nice job by committee."
On health of the team: "It's amazing as you get to that Wednesday when camp's over, guys start to get healthy as you get into game week. We have a bunch of guys that worked really hard to get healthy. Will Hayes was out there practicing today because he said 'Coach, I'm practicing. I'm ready, doctor's said I'm cleared. I'm practicing.' Matt Eaton was out there today, Kyle Friend was out there today. Those guys are really pushing themselves, with the day off yesterday, they've really pushed themselves to get themselves healthy, to get themselves back out there. We have knicks, we have bruises; we practice pretty physically, we believe in that, I think our team believes in that now. Guys, they come back and they play through it, I'm pleased with our guys. If a guy gets hurt and we know we have enough depth, the next guy can step in and do the job."
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