Higher profile improves Temple's recruiting success

FOR THE LONGEST TIME, Temple was mostly the place that got guys who were maybe an inch or so too small, a split-second too slow or 25 pounds too light. That didn't stop the Owls from getting guys such as Bernard Pierce, Muhammad Wilkerson, Jaiquawn Jarrett or Tahir Whitehead. All of them helped them win a lot of games. All are in the NFL. Three were high draft picks. One is among the best players on his team.

Matt Rhule knows. The Owls' head coach was there as an assistant when they were recruited.

"Muhammad had [other scholarship offers from] Kent State and Marshall," Rhule said. "Jaiquawn, it was us and nobody. Didn't even sign on signing day. Bernard, it was us and James Madison. Tahir Whitehead got dropped by Monmouth, and we took him. I always want to err first on the side of evaluation. I'm not worried about what everyone else thinks. But I want to fight for anybody."

Yesterday Rhule, who's going into his third season at the helm, signed 20 players to national letters of intent. The reality is that a lot of them will redshirt next season. So it could take a while to find out just how good this group is. Nonetheless, there's no getting around the fact a decent number of them had decent offers. Hey, nobody gets everyone they wanted. You can only hope you got enough good ones to make a difference.

Kareem Ali Jr., who originally was headed to Maryland, is considered a four-star prospect. Ditto T.J. Simmons, who decommitted from UCLA. Rated as one of the top running backs in the class, he might just be the best recruit ever to come to North Broad Street, according to some observers. Last season, Aaron Ruff was also a four-star guy. So things are, well, trending up.

"I think the biggest thing is we're more national now, because of the [American] conference," Rhule explained. "They recognize us. The games are on ESPN. The kids in Florida know we're going to play at South Florida or UCF every single year. Next year, we've got Notre Dame and Penn State [both at home] on the schedule. Plus the Navys, teams like that.

"I think, like anything else, when you're trying to start a movement, you have to get those first couple of guys. That will get more and more kids to do it. They'll take a look at us, see what's here. That's all we want, is a chance. After that it's on us.

"We'll still find the diamonds in the rough. But a lot of the time, we can stand up and fight with the so-called power conferences."

It's hardly an exact science. Yet, for what it's worth, 247sports.com ranked Temple's class fifth out of 11 in the 3-year-old conference, which, as Rhule said, is adding Navy for football only this season. We'll see. But we might not see until 2017. That's the way this stuff mostly works.

"You hope the kids aren't helping you too much as freshmen," Rhule cautioned. "We're going to try and play them. We'll give them an opportunity, because we want to upgrade at every single position. But usually you're investing 2, 3, even 4 years on a kid. You're hoping anybody who does play [right away] means they're really that good that they can have an impact."

The Owls went 6-6 last year, but didn't go to a bowl. They were 2-10 in 2013. That didn't stop a sizable portion of this class from committing early.

"That's really showing faith," Rhule acknowledged. "At the end of the day, a lot of the kids we've been on for a while start getting other people coming in late trying to steal them away. But they stayed true.

"Our approach is sometimes different than other people. Some kids like it, some don't. We don't want to bring people here that aren't going to be happy here. We want to make sure we evaluate everybody. When we see someone we like, we trust our eyes. We don't worry about how many stars you have.

"Our whole program is geared toward development. Muhammad committed at 240 and left at 310. We try to build them. You can't ever forget the first part, which is finding the right people. Then we're going to sell ourselves until they tell us no."

Then he summed up this exercise best: "We feel really good about everyone, as everyone does."

And if you end up with more hits than misses, you're probably ahead of the curve.