Preparing Owls for Flight

While the COVID-19 pandemic has wreaked havoc on proper football training for the 2020 college football season, Temple University has found alternative ways to educate their student-athletes to prepare for a better future.

Head coach Rod Carey tasked Kiera Miller, the football team's director of player development, to find creative ways for the team to stay together and grow, if not on the field, then off the field.

One way has been to hold career roundtable discussions featuring former Temple Football players for fourth and fifth year student-athletes.

"Our job, first and foremost, is to educate our players and help them grow as people," said Carey. "Through this pandemic we have found alternative ways to prepare them as students, and athletes, and outstanding young men with bright futures. This is a perfect example of that."

Under the direction of Alyssa Drachslin, Temple Athletics' coordinator for leadership and professional development, a series of Zoom calls have been arranged every Thursday during June. There, all current junior and senior football players are paired with a handful of former Owls' football players to discuss what they are doing now and how the transition from student-athlete to college graduate has gone for them.

Drachslin, a former Temple student-athlete herself, has been working on alumni initiatives for some time and with the COVID-19 pandemic and transition to online learning, this seemed the right time to launch this project.

"Engaging with our student-athlete alumni has been an initiative at the Resnick Center," said Drachslin of the academic arm of Temple Athletics. "We've connected our alumni in various ways in our career development programs, whether it be inviting alumni to speak on panels or inviting them to attend career events. We have been using the relationships that our advisors have with our alumni. As we started to look at our career planning for the summer we had to pivot a bit to the online world."

Drachslin works under Justin Miller, the senior associate AD for academic and career services. She insists that this program would not exist without his leadership and support. In addition, as a mainstay of the athletic department, it is his personal relationships with the student-athlete alumni that powers this initiative.

"Over the years, Justin not only created relationships with student-athletes during their time at Temple, but he has maintained those relationships as well," Drachslin added. "He is our alumni student-athlete database and this program does not get off the ground without him. There have been changes with the teams and the athletic department, and athletes can go through ups and downs in their playing career and the Resnick Center, Justin and many of the advisors, have been a constant. I can speak for my own personal career, Justin's been the glue that ~~has~~ helped hold it all together."

The sessions are designed for the alums to re-introduce themselves to the current student-athletes and then create dialog for free flowing conversations. Some current players have been taking these calls from their childhood bedrooms complete with posters and jerseys of their favorite players decorating the walls.

"We tried to make it an intimate group, as opposed to a panel discussion, to create more interaction," insisted Drachslin.

The June 18th call featured former Owls' receiver Tom Bradway (2013-16), who is a scout for the Las Vegas Raiders; fullback Wyatt Benson (2010-13), who is studying for the bar exam after graduating from George Washington Law school; quarterback, Chris Coyer (2010-13), who is now a construction superintendent; defensive end Avery Ellis (2012-16), who plays for the Ottawa RedBlacks in the CFL; safety Dominique Harris (2005-09), who is a detective in the New Jersey prosecutor's office; and safety Keith Holt (2005-07), who works for Temple Athletics in compliance.

Bradway detailed how he worked two or three jobs before finding the right lane for himself. He had a nice career going in medical sales before returning to work at Temple Football as a graduate assistant under Geoff Collins' staff. In 2019, he landed with the Oakland Raiders and found the job he "expects to have for the next 30-40 years."

Redshirt junior Andrew Eisenson expressed a concern that many others shared. In a few interviews that he had the recruiter asked about his work experience. "That's something that we, as football players, do not have since football takes up a lot of our time. During interviews they ask about sales experience and other work experience, and all I have so far is football."

"I see a lot of kids in the Fox School of Business that are in business groups and business fraternities and it seems like something I'd like to do, but when do we have the time to pursue that," said redshirt junior offensive lineman Griffin Sestili. "I worry about that holding me back."

Bradway relayed that he experienced similar difficulties. He stressed to the group that if it's important to you, talk about it with your coaches, maybe they would be understanding. He also said that, "I went on a few sales interviews right out of college and you'd be surprised what we talked about. We talked about football, we talked about Temple. They wanted to see if I was a good fit for them and their environment."

Bradway went on to explain that you can turn that negative into a positive. "A lot of company recruiters are looking for people with a strong work ethic, are dependable, and can work well in a team setting. Football provides all those things."

In another breakout session, Ellis talked about the transition from high school to college and college to the real world. He came to Temple from Montclair, N.J., which wasn't much of a change. However, when he left Philadelphia, he moved to another country to play for the Ottawa RedBlacks in the Canadian Football League.

"Sometimes there is a language barrier, but I think it's a good learning experience," said Ellis of some of his French speaking neighbors. "I have always been in a multi-cultural environment so in that way it's not new to me."

All the alums encouraged the current players to call and text regularly. The clear message was to take advantage of the networking capabilities provided by being a football player at Temple. Never be afraid to ask for help with introductions and guidance.

Bradway reminded them, "The Temple brand is strong and it's all over the country. Take advantage of it."

Right now that brand is as strong as ever in the National Football League. Currently there are 29 former Owls in the NFL. The final installment of this series on June 25^th featured nine of those alums. Michael Dogbe and Haason Reddick (Arizona), Colin Thompson and P.J. Walker (Carolina), Ryquell Armstead (Jacksonville), Matt Ioannidis (Washington), Tyler Matakevich (Buffalo), Jullian Taylor (San Francisco), and Rock Ya-Sin (Indianapolis) – who officially received his diploma from Temple earlier that day – all took part in the call.

That group was asked some specific questions about how to make it to the NFL, how Temple helped to get them there, as well as how they functioned as leaders while at Temple.

"I think one of the cool things that happen at Temple," said Ioannidis, "is that they take young adults and teach you discipline, respect, how to hold a conversation, how to work hard, how to be on time. Those are life skills that carry for the rest of your life; everyday applications. Things that you'd be surprised a lot of people don't learn."

"I was immature," he added, "and Temple whipped me into shape and gave me direction and guided me to this path I'm on now."

The goals of the program initially was to help the current student-athletes prepare for the next chapter of their lives. An added result was the engagement of the alums and how they have strengthened their bond with Temple.

"It didn't start as the goal but even in the first session, you could see how the alumni were excited to reconnect with each other," said Drachslin. "They all seemed so appreciative of the opportunity to take part in this series."

"For some alums of the football program," she added, "there have been multiple coaching changes and I think it can help them re-identify as Temple alumni regardless of who took them through the program."

Previous calls included numerous former players who have thrived in private business: Colin Clancy (QB, 2005-08), Artrel Foster (CB, 2013-17), Nick Holland (K, 2011), Frank Nutile (QB, 2014-18), Brandon Shippen (WR, 2013-16), Nate L. Smith (DB, 2013-16), and Jeff Whittingham (OL, 2009-13).

The list also includes a few others who have made a living in football: current CFL players Leon Johnson (OL, 2013-16) and Avery Williams (LB, 2012-16); NFL executives Matt Falcone (LB, 2009-13) and Dan Van Norton (LB, 2010-13); and Jarred Alwan (LB, 2013-16) who began a coaching career at Baylor on Matt Rhule's staff.

Temple University Athletics

Preparing Owls for Flight

Players Mentioned

Jarred Alwan

Ryquell Armstead

Tom Bradway

Chris Coyer

Michael Dogbe

Andrew Eisenson

Avery Ellis

Matt Falcone

Artrel Foster

Dominique Harris

Matt Ioannidis

Leon Johnson

Tyler Matakevich

Frank Nutile

Haason Reddick

Griffin Sestili

Brandon Shippen

Nate L. Smith

Jullian Taylor

Colin Thompson

Jeff Whittingham

Avery Williams

Rock Ya-Sin

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