The following players have been announced as members of the XFL Draft Pool. They have a chance to be drafted by the XFL, which starts play in February, next week.

Evan Rodriguez
Brandon Shippen
Artrel Foster
Adonis Jennings
Leon Johnson
Delvon Randall
Praise Martin-Oguike

The XFL has only announced 600 of the ~1,000 players that will be in the XFL Draft Pool so I would still expect to see some other Temple names make the list, such as Colin Thompson. 560 of those players will be selected next week.

If you haven't listened to this week's podcast, check it out here. @SamNeumann talked to new Temple recruit Justin Lynch and his older brother and Mt. Carmel High School coach, Jordan Lynch, a former Heisman Trophy finalist. The podcast includes audio of Sam's conversation with Jordan Lynch, who provides some great insight on his brother, as well as Rod Carey.

And you can check out Sam's story on Justin Lynch here.

Aaron, Eddie, Mardy, etc.'s agent was just named the president of the Knicks.

Beasley School grad. We finally have someone in the NBA again.

We're recording this week's episode of The Scoop around 1 p.m. tomorrow. If you have football-related mailbag questions for Sam Cohn, Sam Neumann and I, please post them here and we'll answer them on the podcast.

As I mentioned on the basketball board, I think you'll all really enjoy this week's episode. In addition to plenty of basketball recruiting updates, we'll have lots of football recruiting news for you, too. Temple got its first two verbal commitments of the 2021 class in Mt. Carmel (Chicago) High School quarterback Justin Lynch and St. Joe's Prep wideout Malik Cooper. Sam Neumann talked to Lynch and his older brother and former Northern Illinois standout QB Jordan Lynch, who's now his head coach at Mt. Carmel.

The staff has also extended plenty of offers to several other players in the 2021 class, and Sam Neumann caught up with Henderson High School defensive end Jordan Laudato for a story you can read on the site now. Sam will talk about his conversation with Laudato, and we should have something for you by tomorrow from Sam on Manny Walker, who's transferring to Temple from Wake Forest.

If you haven't already, please subscribe, rate and review on Apple Podcasts. We appreciate it!

Sam Cohn, Sam Neumann and I will be recording this week's episode of The Scoop tomorrow afternoon at 1 p.m. so we can get the podcast out in advance of tomorrow night's game at Memphis.

If you have basketball-related mailbag questions for us, send them here and we'll answer them on the show.

I think you'll all really enjoy this week's episode. We'll play a couple of clips from our recent interview with Mike Vreeswyk, who's being inducted into Temple's Basketball Ring of Honor Saturday - and you can listen to the first part of that interview on the site now.

Beyond that, Graham Foley just talked to Quincy Ademokoya for an update on his senior season, and Sam Cohn just talked to Jahlil White and his Wildwood Catholic head coach Dave DeWeese, so we'll likely have some audio from Ademokoya and probably DeWeese as well.

Thank you all, as always for listening, and please subscribe, rate and review on Apple Podcasts if you haven't already. We appreciate it!

This week's episode of The Scoop is up on the site now to get you ready for tonight's game. We also have audio from Quincy Ademokoya, an update on Temple recruit Jahlil White's season and plenty of football stuff, too.

You can listen to it here.

Per a source, Temple is expected to host a transfer defensive end this weekend.

Manny Walker from Wake Forest will take an official to Temple starting on Friday. Walker was originally a 3-star recruit from South Carolina that had offers from Georgia, Penn State, UNC and Tennessee when he chose Wake Forest in 2016.

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Walker redshirted in 2016 and then missed the entire 2017 season with an injury. In 2018, Walker served as Wake's third DE and finished the season with 12 tackles, 4 tackles for a loss and two sacks. in 2019, Walker was again Wake's primary backup DE but finished with just seven tackles and an interception.

Walker participated in Senior Day with Wake last month so, assuming he's graduated, he would be be immediately eligible next season.

Maybe I missed this but why is Simon Abedimungu not on the roster anymore? I checked the official Temple football website and he's not on there anymore. Roster attrition?

For those of you who subscribe to the Athletic, they re-ranked the 2016 recruiting classes. Temple came in at #25.

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Per a source, Temple is expected to host Elijah Turner for an official visit this weekend. Turner, a 3-star running back from Buford HS in Georgia, has offers from a number of Power 5 schools like Michigan State, Maryland, Louisville, UNC, Pitt, Wake Forest and Virginia Tech. Gabe Infante has been the lead recruiter for Turner, who averaged more than seven yards a carry this season.

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Following the departure of Fran Brown to Rutgers, Temple coach Rod Carey moved Brett Diersen, formerly the DL coach at SMU, onto the field. In order to replace Diersen's off-the-field position, Temple has hired New York Jets scout Salim Powell, OwlScoop.com has learned. Powell previously spent seven years at FCS Southeast Missouri, where he coached the defensive backs for a year, the wide receivers for three seasons and the defensive line for two seasons. He was also the DFO for a year.

Powell is a South Jersey native, having starred at Willingboro High School in the early 2000's, and would later play at SEMO.

Here's Powell's bio from the New York Jets media guide.

Looking to add some much-needed depth to its offensive line, Temple is slated to host Dayton grad transfer OG Michael Niese this weekend for an official visit OwlScoop.com has learned.

Niese, who was a 3-year starter at Dayton and a First team All-Pioneer League selection at RG last year, is originally from Missouri. The 6-foot-5, 275-pound Niese helped anchor the offensive line for a Flyers team that led the FCS at 42.6 points per game in 2019. Dayton rushed for 219.4 yards per game in 2019 and Niese's offensive line gave up just 11 sacks.

In addition to replacing Matt Hennessy, who left for the NFL draft, Temple also has an open starting guard spot due to Jovahn Fair's graduation. Tackles Adam Klein and Isaac Moore return, as does guard Vince Picozzi who missed the last four games with a lower body injury and is not expected to be a full participant in spring practice.

Niese would be immediately eligible this season with one year of eligibility left.

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If this doesn't exist, does it mean it doesn't happen?


Watching our squad against another zone, this time from the worst defensive team in the conference. Once again out on their feet.

There MUST be something going on behind the scenes because this is unexplainable otherwise.

Two of Temple's recruiting targets - Wildwood Catholic's Taj Thweatt and IMG Academy's Mikeal Brown-Jones, are taking upcoming official visits to West Virginia and VCU, respectively.

Thweatt announced his Sept. 2 official to West Virginia on Twitter, and Brown-Jones announced his VCU offical on Twitter as well.

I continue to hear from a source familiar with Brown-Jones' recruitment that VCU is in the lead for him. If he were to commit this weekend, then that could potentially help Temple with Obinna Anochili-Killen, a player they like a lot. If you had asked me a few months ago if the Owls would have been involved with Brown-Jones' recruitment, I wouldn't have seen it, but here we are. So keep an eye on what happens there.

With Thweatt, I think it's really down to Temple, West Virginia and Penn State. Although Florida is in his final four, I don't see it happening based upon what I've been told. West Virginia, which only got into the mix recently with Thweatt with an Aug. 11 offer, is very much a factor in his recruitment. My educated guess would be that they might try to press for a commitment from Thweatt on his visit since they're waiting on a trio of 4-star players like Demarr Langford, Jordan Geronimo and Jalen Bridges, and they also offered Trenton Catholic forward Jamir Watkins earlier this month. Watkins, a player Temple was recruiting at one point, has really seen his recruitment blow up a bit over the last month.

At one point a couple of weeks ago, I didn't love Temple's chances with Thweatt. When I asked a source I trust today if Temple was on the outside looking in with Thweatt, that source said, "Not necessarily."

So, as always, stay tuned.

Woof

Great Guy! Best of Luck to Ed.

In looking at the remainder of the schedule I’m having difficulty identifying winnable games. Maybe East Carolina. Any other thoughts?

Everyone here knows it. A Good game coach can elevate talent to the round of 64 or 32 in the tourney every third year. Like Dunphy or Martelli. Until guys like the Moore’s and Moorman and Parks and Hamilton aren’t on the roster it doesn’t matter who’s coaching.

I'm interviewing Mike Vreeswyk tomorrow for next week's episode of The Scoop. Mike is being added to Temple's Basketball Ring of Honor at halftime of next Saturday's game.

If you have mailbag questions for him, please post them here and I'll get in as many as I can tomorrow. We're scheduled to talk around 10 a.m.

Thank you all for listening!

https://owlsports.com/sports/football/roster/nasir-bowen/14048

lol

Maybe Kenny Yeboah could transfer to Carolina?

Take the under if you have a chance

Here’s why I’m so disappointed in Mckie in order

1- Win or lose, I expected a different brand of basketball - up and down offense, a match-up zone or inspired type of D. Instead this team looks much more like a Dunphy run offense, (or Chaney) and they still by in large play man to man. It’s much of the same. Go ten deep. Do something to make me enjoy the team again. Nothing.

2- I expected toughness - they’re as soft as any of Dunphy’s softest teams.

3- A recruiting injection - it’s only been a year but there’s been none. It’s the same story as with Dunphy- “Dunn has that elite talent”. “Monty is scorer”, “White is like Mardy Collins.” Next years class has two kids coming in who are not in anyway elite. They’re developmental guys at best.

4- I hated on Dunphy as a coach, and I stand by it, but Mckie looks like more of the same or potentially worse.