Temple University Athletics

American Athletic Conference

American Athletic Conference Media Day and Preseason Poll

7.28.22 | Football

DALLAS – The American Athletic Conference is holding its annual Media Day on Thursday, July 28. All 11 teams will be featured throughout the day beginning with an address from Commissioner Mike Aresco at 10 a.m. ET. Live coverage of the event will be broadcast ­on ESPN+.
 
 
10:05 a.m. Commissioner Mike Aresco
10:30 a.m. East Carolina Head Coach Mike Houston, QB Holton Ahlers, LB Myles Berry
11 a.m. Cincinnati Head Coach Luke Fickell, WR Tre Tucker, DL Jabari Taylor
11:30 a.m. Memphis Head Coach Ryan Silverfield, DB Quindell Johnson, LB Zay Cullens
Noon SMU Head Coach Rhett Lashlee, DL Elijah Chatman, QB Tanner Mordecai, WR Rashee Rice
12:30 p.m. Tulsa Head Coach Philip Montgomery, QB Davis Brin, LB Justin Wright
2 p.m. Navy Head Coach Ken Niumatalolo, S John Marshall, K Bijan Nichols
2:30 p.m. Houston Head Coach Dana Holgorsen, WR Nathaniel Dell, DB Hasaan Hypolite
3 p.m. Temple Head Coach Stan Drayton, OL Adam Klein, DT Xach Gill
3:30 p.m. UCF Head Coach Gus Malzahn, RB Isaiah Bowser, LB Jeremiah Jean-Baptiste
4 p.m. Tulane Head Coach Willie Fritz, QB Michael Pratt, LB Nick Anderson
4:30 p.m. South Florida Head Coach Jeff Scott, LB Antonio Grier, WR Xavier Weaver
 
Temple's portion of the show can be viewed here. The show also featured Temple's Wisdom Quarshie interviewed on issues surrounding SAAC (video).

Aside from the show participation, several Owls took art in media day with the Philadelphia/Temple media. Here are interviews with Stan Drayton (video), Xach Gill (video), Adam Klein (video), David Martin-Robinson (video), Jordan Magee (video), and Darian Varner (video).

In addition, the conference has released its Preseason Media Poll. Houston (7 first place votes), Cincinnati (10), and UCF (7) anchor the first three positions, followed by SMU, Memphis, East Carolina, Tulane, Tulsa, South Florida, Navy, and Temple.
 
Temple begins fall practice on Wednesday, August 3, and opens the season on Friday, September 2, with a non-conference road game at Duke. That will mark the debut of head coach Stan Drayton. Drayton has made 32 player additions (28.8%) since his hire to create competition throughout the roster.
 
Interestingly, 47 players are either true or redshirt freshmen (42.3%). So, although the transfer portal was used to fill holes in the roster, nearly half of the current players have four seasons of eligibility remaining. In total, there are 44 returning letterwinners and another 11 who lettered last year at other schools. So, despite a young team, 50% of the roster has college football playing experience.
 
 

Players Mentioned

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