South Florida's Charlie Strong a big fan of Temple's tenacity

NEWPORT, R.I. — It didn't take South Florida football coach Charlie Strong long to figure out the persona of Temple. New Owls coach Geoff Collins and his predecessor, Matt Rhule, refer to it as Temple tough.

Strong is taking over USF after being fired by Texas after last season.

He inherits a USF team that was the unanimous choice to win the East Division of the American Athletic Conference and the overwhelming preseason selection to win the overall AAC title.

Of course,  last year USF was the East favorite, but it lost the title to Temple,  thanks to a 46-30 defeat at Lincoln Financial Field. Strong said  he has viewed that game several times.

"You know how talented they are because they won the league last year, and the thing about Temple is they take on an attitude that they will come right at you," Strong said during AAC football media day Tuesday. "It is really an outstanding program."

Temple and USF have emerged as AAC powers at the same time. In 2015, Temple won the East Division at 7-1 and USF was 6-2 but beat the Owls, 44-23.

Last year both teams were 7-1 in in the AAC, but Temple earned the crown with its win over the Bulls.

Double duty could be in the offing for  Leon Johnson if he has his way.

The  redshirt senior offensive tackle has gotten the itch to try his skills on the other side of the ball.

"Leon has the last few days been [bugging me] about being a third-down pass rusher," Collins said Tuesday. "I am not opposed to anything and everything."

Collins has said he would like to have as much position flexibility with his players as possible. During the spring, receiver Keith Kirkwood gained notice for his time at defensive end.

As for Johnson, he said  he was healthy after sitting out spring practice following surgeries to repair his hip, shoulder, and groin.

Despite the ailments, he started all 14 games at right tackle and has made 22 career starts.

"I am still doing rehab to keep healthy, but I am pretty much back," Johnson said.

Now the 6-foot-5, 320-pound product of New Jersey's Bound Brook High feels so good that he wants to also contribute on the defensive line.

"If things go the right way, I may be able to dabble in that," Johnson said. "I'm athletic enough to do pretty much what they ask."

AAC coaching moves

Strong, who replaced current Oregon coach Willie Taggart, is one of five new coaches in the 12-team AAC.

Collins has the difficult task of replacing Rhule, who guided the Owls to consecutive 10-4 seasons, tying a single-season school record for wins.

Luke Fickell, previously the defensive coordinator at Ohio State, is Cincinnati's new head coach. Randy Edsall is returning for his second tour of duty at Connecticut. Major Applewhite moves up from offensive coordinator to head coach at Houston, replacing Tom Herman, who replaced Strong at Texas.

No regrets

Connecticut is coming off a 3-9 season, with Edsall now replacing the fired Bob Diaco. These have been difficult times at UConn, but senior defensive end Luke Carrezola has no regrets about his decision to sign with the Huskies.

A product of Neshaminy where he was part of a District I  4A championship his senior year, Carrezola is entering his third season as a starter. Last year he had a team-high 11 tackles for losses.

"It's been the best decision of my life to play at UConn," Carrezola said. "I don't regret any single day."

Carrezola admitted that game day against Temple, especially when it is in Philadelphia, is special. This year the Huskies will visit Lincoln Financial Field on Oct. 14.

"I treat every game the same way but the game-day experience against Temple is definitely different," he said. "My whole family is there and it's nice to have that support, along with friends from high school and coaches. So it's a big deal."