Temple's young linebackers prepare to take over
Jared Folks and Chapelle Russell are the most experienced of the group.
No unit has a newer look this spring for Temple than the linebackers. All three starters from last season - Avery Williams, Stephaun Marshall and Jared Alwan - must be replaced, and Williams was among the team leaders on and off the field.
It doesn't help that the two most experienced returning linebackers, redshirt junior Jared Folks and redshirt sophomore Chapelle Russell, have not participated this spring due to injury.
Folks and Russell are expected back for fall camp, but in their absence plenty of young players have gotten to show their stuff.
This group lacks experience but not ability. The linebackers have much more speed than the players they're replacing, and among the two fastest are sophomores Shaun Bradley and Sam Franklin.
Bradley (6-foot-1, 220 pounds) is a former running back at Rancocas Valley High School who has been manning the middle and earning extra reps with Folks out.
Franklin (6-3, 200) has spent time at cornerback, safety and receiver but is concentrating on linebacker this spring.
Bradley and Franklin saw their time mainly on special teams last year.
Even when Folks and Russell return, this is a unit that will likely have six players seeing action in each game.
"We don't want one group of linebackers playing 85 reps against Tulsa, which led the country in total plays last year," Temple linebacker coach Andrew Thacker said. "We want to have the chance to divvy those reps and keep people fresh."
And because so much playing time is at stake, it has led to spirited competition this spring.
"We have a lot of people who can play," Folks said.
The sophomore class has several top linebackers. William Kwenkeu has impressed the coaches this spring and will seriously challenge for an outside linebacker position.
Redshirt sophomore Jeremiah Atoki (6-2, 214) and redshirt freshman Isaiah Graham-Mobley, like Franklin, were recruited as defensive backs. They fit the profile of many of the Owls linebackers who run like backs.
"If you talk about running a straight line, they can do that," Thacker said of the linebackers. "It is my job to get them to play fast on the field."
Folks has been a mentor to the young linebackers. He has the most experience, having started five games last year and appearing in 13.
"It is small things with scheme they have to learn. But when it comes to effort and physicality they are after it every day," Folks said. "Everybody is out there making each other better."
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