We kicked off our new season of The Scoop with preseason camp coverage, a full mailbag and audio from Jadan Blue and new verbal Sam Martin.

We're recording our next episode of The Scoop, OwlScoop.com's podcast, tomorrow afternoon. We'll obviously have a lot to talk about with preseason camp kicking off this week, and we'll talk recruiting as well with the recent verbal commitment from Sam Martin.

So if you have mailbag questions for @Kyle Gauss, @Dante Collinelli and I, please post them here and we'll answer them on the podcast. We'll take mailbag questions up until 3:30 p.m. tomorrow afternoon.

Thank you for listening!

Curtis High School (Staten Island) running back Sam Martin has committed to Temple. He was one of the players who attended a recruiting barbecue at Lincoln Financial Field last night. A significant pickup for the Owls.

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We're recording our next episode of The Scoop, OwlScoop.com's podcast, tomorrow afternoon. Although it will be more of a football-heavy pod, you can help drive a lot of the basketball talk with your mailbag questions, and we're happy to talk about the current roster, recruiting or even off-topic stuff.

So if you have mailbag questions for @Kyle Gauss, @Dante Collinelli and I, please post them here and we'll answer them on the podcast. We'll take mailbag questions up until 3:30 p.m. tomorrow afternoon.

Thank you for listening!

Let’s talk about it I guess. I don’t think athletics did an awful job. It was the same script as it’s always been and they did that script as well as they’ve always done it. But man was it depressing in there. Where’d all the young people go? Sometimes we’re in such a rush to be more efficient that we lose sight of the comfort all of us take in the tangible. It’s not rational but it doesn’t have to be. I legitimately felt sad when I found out I couldn’t “get my tickets.” Not hyperbole. There’s something special about carrying that package out of there. There’s just no reason to attend. I’ll never go out of my way for one of those again. It’s just like everyday, Temple athletics just fails to win. I feel it in my bones.

Fitting that one of the first 2 faces I recognized when I walked in was Mr Francis Dunphy. And that I left feeling empty. The guy is William H Macy in “The Cooler.”

There no doubt college football is moving to two super conference of 20 teams each. They will be move to a highter level and have a playoff like the nfl. The remaining teams will be in the 1a division and have their own playoff.

St. Joe's Prep wide receiver and Temple commit Reese Clark confirmed that he's at Lincoln Financial Field tonight for a Temple recruiting barbecue.

Based on various sources we've talked to, there's a chance you could see some good recruiting news for the Owls this weekend. Stay tuned.

@Dante Collinelli talked to Sam Martin tonight about his decision to commit to Temple. You can read the story here.

Temple offered Minnesota commit and St. Frances (MD) standout Ike White today.

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Richard Rodriguez, a 6'5, 315-pound OL from Iowa Central CC has committed to Temple over offers from schools like Southern Miss, Akron, Middle Tennessee and UAB.

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Rodriguez, who will have three years of eligibility left, was named to the NJCAA All American team in 2019 and to College Football America's 2020 pre-season All American team.

DeMatha Catholic cornerback Dante Lovett visited Temple on Wednesday and left Philadelphia with an offer and a positive impression of the way Temple handles things. I spoke with Lovett last night.

The best rising juniors from Archbishop Wood were at Temple today for an unofficial visit, including 4-star linebacker Semaj Bridgeman.

Archbishop Wood standouts visit Temple

Temple offered class of 2023 linebacker/defensive end Tyrese Whitaker, one of several top players from Archbishop Wood who were at Temple today. We'll have more details later.

We'll have more details on this as they become available, but we've been able to confirm through multiple sources that Temple will be spending perhaps up to the first two weeks of preseason camp at a field and facility in The Bronx. Then the team will finish up camp at Chodoff Field and Edberg-Olson Hall back at Temple prior to the start of the season.

The idea behind it, from what we can gather, is that there was so much beyond the team's control last year with COVID restrictions, the late start to camp and the season and everything else. So this year, they wanted to look at being more proactive, taking control of their situation, and getting away somewhere else to look at the tangent benefits of getting away and team bonding, and it's something that's been under consideration for quite a while.

Here's a full transcript of yesterday's conversation with Preston Brown, Temple's new director of player personnel. Some good anecdotes and details here.

I'll be there and am expecting to be able to talk to new Director of Player Personnel Preston Brown and a few players. I'll have coverage later this afternoon, and I'll post what I can on Twitter @jdicarlo or @OwlScoop_com.

Hope you're all having an enjoyable weekend!

Just curious if anyone has met him or talked to him about college athletics yet? Being an athlete at Stanford you have to think he has a finger on the pulse with this kind of stuff. I know from the University standpoint people will say he has more important things to deal with, but I really think he will need to be aggressive with conference realignment. Especially having a retired head basketball coach pretending to be an athletic director.

He has to understand that clamoring to get into a conference like the ACC will increase applications, TV revenue, branding, etc. Correct me if i’m wrong but I feel like temple probably has a better relationship with the ACC than any of the other big conferences.

My guess is the ACC wishlist is something more along the lines of; Notre Dame, West Virginia, Oklahoma State, TCU, or UCF. I still think Notre Dame stays independent, UCF will probably get blocked by Florida state and Miami. Then I’ve heard of other rumors where the Big10 could add a team like Clemson but who knows.

Who knows. All of this sucks. Back to the title of the thread, I was just curious if anyone knows any of his feelings towards athletics other than just speculation.

Temple is 10 out of 11 teams

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Adam DiMichele has resigned from the football staff.

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DiMichele isn’t leaving for another coaching staff, he’s most likely headed back to Pittsburgh.

Temple updated its official roster today to include the incoming freshman class and transfers. As always, another offseason in the weight room has led to some considerable weight changes. You can see the official roster here: https://owlsports.com/sports/football/roster but here are some of my knee-jerk takeaways/observations:

Returning Players

DL Demerick Morris is down to 300 pounds after showing up to Temple at 320.
DT Nick Bags is up from 260 pounds to 295 pounds.
TE James Della Pesca is up to 250 after playing at 230 pounds in 2020.
OL Bryce Thoman is up to 280 from 270
OL Jermaine Donaldson is up to 300 from 285
OL Chevy Trask is up to 270 from 260
DE Travon King, who opted out last season, is now up to 225 pounds after being 210 in 2019.

Newcomers

DT Jalen Satchell has gained 15 pounds since he showed up in January and is now up to 270.
OL Jimto Obidegwu is listed at 295 pounds as a true freshman.
OL transfer Luke Foster is listed at 285 after playing at 270 at Presbyterian.
DE Jordan Laudato is listed at 255 pounds after playing at 240 pounds at West Chester Henderson.
Balansama Kamara is listed as a 235-pound DE. Kamara played a lot of OLB at Central at 220 pounds so it'll be interesting to see if he ends up fully on the line or in sort of a hybrid role.

Notes

All scholarship newcomers are listed on the roster with the exception of JUCO OL Richard Rodriguez, who I've confirmed is enrolled and will be added to the roster prior to preseason camp.

I think you can see why Rod Carey and his staff felt the need to bring in some established OL transfers, as that next generation of linemen are still growing into their collegiate bodies. The additions of Foster and Rodriguez, who will both have eligibility next year as well, will help bridge the gap to the group of guys like Thoman, Donaldson, Trask and Sam Davis.

The staff was high on Bags when he was 260 pounds so the extra 35 pounds could help him carve out a role in the DT rotation. With Xach Gill being out for at least the first half of the season, there will be plenty of snaps to go around.

@Sam Cohn wrote a follow-up story with quotes from Thilo Kunkel from our latest podcast. Again, if you're catching up on what NIL means and how it could impact Temple, this should be a good resource for you.

As we all know, at Temple you have to earn a single-digit jersey. Well, new Vanderbilt coach Clark Lea has gone one step further. Apparently, you have to earn ANY number.

Temple professor and NIL expert Thilo Kunkel joined us for an exclusive interview on this week's podcast. He answered all of your mailbag questions and provided a lot of context about NIL and how it could affect and benefit Temple.

The Scoop: Season 6, Episode 39