Temple University Athletics
Q & A with the Temple Football Linebackers
3.15.19 | Football
PHILADELPHIA- From their freshman year to today, the Temple linebacker corps have had a complete transformation. When the now upperclassmen first arrived on campus, the linebacker group lacked collegiate experience and depth. Some guys had transitioned from other positions to play linebacker, and others had gotten injured along the way. Now, just four seasons later, the Owls' linebackers are the most seasoned veterans on defense and are one of the fiercest groups in the American Athletic Conference, if not all of college football. Chapelle Russell, Shaun Bradley, Isaiah Graham-Mobley, William Kwenkeu, and Sam Franklin have come a long way over four seasons and are playing their best football heading into spring practices. They hope to take what they learned over the last four seasons and save the best for last in their final season as a unit.
Were there any Temple players you really learned from when you got here freshman year? Are there any things in particular that they taught you?
Chapelle Russell: "Yea, absolutely, especially Tyler Matakevich. He's one of the leading tacklers in NCAA history, so learning about him, his techniques, his habits, and all the things he did helped me and the way I prepare today."
Sam Franklin: "When I came in, I played a lot of DB, so guys I really learned from were Sean Chandler and Delvon Randall. They helped with just understanding football and adjusting to the speed of the game. The same with Stephaun Marshall and Avery Williams. Those guys ahead of us just taught us so much coming in freshman year and really put in advance."
William Kwenkeu: "They were all big brothers to us… they instilled that tough culture in us, and now, as we are maturing, we're the older guys so we have to instill that tough culture into the new guys."
What was it like having to contribute when you were all sophomores and grow into the group you are now? What were those growing pains like?
Shaun Bradley: "When that time came, we were just like 'we're here, we're young, how can we get a step up on everything else.' We just put the time in in the film room, at practice, at extra workouts and stuff like that to become better."
Chapelle Russell: "You have to make mistakes to learn from them. If we hadn't been thrown into that fire as early as we did we wouldn't have been able to grow up as fast as we did. Going out there, making those mistakes, losing early on, made us better players in the end."
Isaiah Graham-Mobley: "It's fun, learning on the fly playing sophomore and junior year. You've gotta just learn to adapt and think on your toes all the time."
You guys have had three different coaches throughout your time here. Are there benefits from learning from different people in that situation? What has it been like having the same group of guys throughout a time of change like that?
William Kwenkeu: "I feel like with having the same group, you get that bond. We've had struggles in the past but that adversity brought us together stronger. Now we are able to guide the younger guys in the right direction."
Sam Franklin: "That actually helped us a lot. We're a group that likes to meet a lot and talk to each other so we're on the same page, because you might not pick up something that someone else sees. It's always been like that from us, we know we can learn from each other and are always learning from each other."
Shaun Bradley: "At the end of the day the coaches changed, but the linebackers stayed the same. It made the changes more comfortable and easier."
You guys all contributed last year, and your group especially accounted for most of the total tackles on defense. Is that scheming, or do you guys all feel like whenever one of you is in the game, you are gonna fly to the ball to make the tackle?
Chapelle Russell: "It's a little bit of both. The scheme plays a role by putting us into position to make the play, but once you're there you have to make the play. Us being used to flying around, we feed off each other's energy. Say Shaun Bradley makes a play, I'm gonna make the next play, and we rotate. Isaiah, Will, and Sam are all guys that are gonna come in and make an impact. That's something we're used to doing, being fast guys and taking advantage of our speed."
Shaun Bradley: "We're competitive, so it's also the scheme but at the same time, I'm in the middle of the play saying 'I'm going to make that tackle, I'm going to get there before you bro', or 'Chapelle meet me at the ball', or 'I made that tackle'. It's just we're competing every play, going back and forth all game with who made tackles, because at the end of the day we're family."
Sam Franklin: "It's friendly competition, and it's been like that since freshman year. It makes us better, because you know you can't take a play off."
Isaiah Graham-Mobely: "It's fun but serious at the same time. You know you can have fun, but at the same time whenever you have to flip that switch and be serious you can do that."
What is it like having such a deep linebacking corps? Do you guys feel you can contribute all over the defense not just at linebacker?
Chapelle Russell: "It's competitive. It just allows us to keep working and competing with each other day in and day out, because you never know you could miss a step, have a couple bad days, and the next guy could catch up and take your spot."
Sam Franklin: ""You can't take a play off… we take it very seriously."
Isaiah Graham-Mobely: "We always just try to compete with each other. We all have the potential to start, but you know we're all going to rotate so we always just try to compete with each other to get better."
If you guys could make the ultimate linebacker, meaning the best player combining all your skills, what part of each of your games would you include?
Shaun Bradley:"I would take Chappelle's strength, Will's aggressiveness, Isaiah's jumping ability, Sam's athleticism, and my speed."
Chapelle Russell: "Sam's mentality. Sam has that dominant mentality all the time and is non-stop, high-energy kind of guy. For Shaun, probably his speed and sideline to sideline ability plus my physicality and Isaiah's athleticism. I think Will is also a combination of all of us already, just being able to put his head down and work. As far as work-ethic I would take that from Will."
William Kwenkeu: "I'd take all their traits. We're very well balanced players."
Sam Franklin: ""I would take Isaiah's craziness, my body frame, chappelle's athleticism, Shaun's speed, and Will's aggressiveness to the ball. That'd be the best linebacker in the country."
What motivates all of you going into this year after the season you guys had last year?
Sam Franklin:"The motivation is to get a conference championship, but also bring up the younger guys because if we don't bring up the younger guys, we won't be as strong as we want to be."
Chapelle Russell: "Having our backs up against the wall again. We might be looked down upon just because we have a new system or because of a coaching change, but we know we want to win off the rip."
Were there any Temple players you really learned from when you got here freshman year? Are there any things in particular that they taught you?
Chapelle Russell: "Yea, absolutely, especially Tyler Matakevich. He's one of the leading tacklers in NCAA history, so learning about him, his techniques, his habits, and all the things he did helped me and the way I prepare today."
Sam Franklin: "When I came in, I played a lot of DB, so guys I really learned from were Sean Chandler and Delvon Randall. They helped with just understanding football and adjusting to the speed of the game. The same with Stephaun Marshall and Avery Williams. Those guys ahead of us just taught us so much coming in freshman year and really put in advance."
William Kwenkeu: "They were all big brothers to us… they instilled that tough culture in us, and now, as we are maturing, we're the older guys so we have to instill that tough culture into the new guys."
What was it like having to contribute when you were all sophomores and grow into the group you are now? What were those growing pains like?
Shaun Bradley: "When that time came, we were just like 'we're here, we're young, how can we get a step up on everything else.' We just put the time in in the film room, at practice, at extra workouts and stuff like that to become better."
Chapelle Russell: "You have to make mistakes to learn from them. If we hadn't been thrown into that fire as early as we did we wouldn't have been able to grow up as fast as we did. Going out there, making those mistakes, losing early on, made us better players in the end."
Isaiah Graham-Mobley: "It's fun, learning on the fly playing sophomore and junior year. You've gotta just learn to adapt and think on your toes all the time."
You guys have had three different coaches throughout your time here. Are there benefits from learning from different people in that situation? What has it been like having the same group of guys throughout a time of change like that?
William Kwenkeu: "I feel like with having the same group, you get that bond. We've had struggles in the past but that adversity brought us together stronger. Now we are able to guide the younger guys in the right direction."
Sam Franklin: "That actually helped us a lot. We're a group that likes to meet a lot and talk to each other so we're on the same page, because you might not pick up something that someone else sees. It's always been like that from us, we know we can learn from each other and are always learning from each other."
Shaun Bradley: "At the end of the day the coaches changed, but the linebackers stayed the same. It made the changes more comfortable and easier."
You guys all contributed last year, and your group especially accounted for most of the total tackles on defense. Is that scheming, or do you guys all feel like whenever one of you is in the game, you are gonna fly to the ball to make the tackle?
Chapelle Russell: "It's a little bit of both. The scheme plays a role by putting us into position to make the play, but once you're there you have to make the play. Us being used to flying around, we feed off each other's energy. Say Shaun Bradley makes a play, I'm gonna make the next play, and we rotate. Isaiah, Will, and Sam are all guys that are gonna come in and make an impact. That's something we're used to doing, being fast guys and taking advantage of our speed."
Shaun Bradley: "We're competitive, so it's also the scheme but at the same time, I'm in the middle of the play saying 'I'm going to make that tackle, I'm going to get there before you bro', or 'Chapelle meet me at the ball', or 'I made that tackle'. It's just we're competing every play, going back and forth all game with who made tackles, because at the end of the day we're family."
Sam Franklin: "It's friendly competition, and it's been like that since freshman year. It makes us better, because you know you can't take a play off."
Isaiah Graham-Mobely: "It's fun but serious at the same time. You know you can have fun, but at the same time whenever you have to flip that switch and be serious you can do that."
What is it like having such a deep linebacking corps? Do you guys feel you can contribute all over the defense not just at linebacker?
Chapelle Russell: "It's competitive. It just allows us to keep working and competing with each other day in and day out, because you never know you could miss a step, have a couple bad days, and the next guy could catch up and take your spot."
Sam Franklin: ""You can't take a play off… we take it very seriously."
Isaiah Graham-Mobely: "We always just try to compete with each other. We all have the potential to start, but you know we're all going to rotate so we always just try to compete with each other to get better."
If you guys could make the ultimate linebacker, meaning the best player combining all your skills, what part of each of your games would you include?
Shaun Bradley:"I would take Chappelle's strength, Will's aggressiveness, Isaiah's jumping ability, Sam's athleticism, and my speed."
Chapelle Russell: "Sam's mentality. Sam has that dominant mentality all the time and is non-stop, high-energy kind of guy. For Shaun, probably his speed and sideline to sideline ability plus my physicality and Isaiah's athleticism. I think Will is also a combination of all of us already, just being able to put his head down and work. As far as work-ethic I would take that from Will."
William Kwenkeu: "I'd take all their traits. We're very well balanced players."
Sam Franklin: ""I would take Isaiah's craziness, my body frame, chappelle's athleticism, Shaun's speed, and Will's aggressiveness to the ball. That'd be the best linebacker in the country."
What motivates all of you going into this year after the season you guys had last year?
Sam Franklin:"The motivation is to get a conference championship, but also bring up the younger guys because if we don't bring up the younger guys, we won't be as strong as we want to be."
Chapelle Russell: "Having our backs up against the wall again. We might be looked down upon just because we have a new system or because of a coaching change, but we know we want to win off the rip."
Players Mentioned
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