Owls postpone season opener again

Juche Jackson
OwlSports Update Staff Reporter

Temple head football coach Rod Carey knew it was coming. He’s known for the last three to four weeks. On Tuesday morning, he made it official. Temple is postponing its season opener vs. Navy from September 26th to October 10th.

“I want to play and the team wants to play as soon as we can, but with limitations early on in camp from the city, it was necessary (to postpone) in order for the team to be better prepared for the upcoming season,” Carey said in his Tuesday news conference.

The biggest issue so far this pre-season has been Temple’s lack of live-contact practices. The Owls are restricted by the city due to the same Covid-19 concerns that also prematurely ended their spring season in March.

“The bottom line is the rules and regulations we currently have will not have us prepared the way we need to be prepared,” said Carey. He also went on to say there have been discussions to increase full-contact regulations at practices while also respecting the safety guidelines set in place. 

Much like Carey, the players have also responded well to the irregular off-season. Several players such as M.J. Griffin and Jalen Ware said the secondary has grown to be a tight-knit group, led by one person in particular: senior safety Amir Tyler. Tyler was recently honored with a single-digit jersey this off-season, which is given to the players who are most considered Temple TUFF.

“Maturity is the best word,” said Carey. “He’s matured on and off the field. It is fun to be around that.”

Safeties coach Tyler Yelk added, “he embodies what a single digit is.

Amir himself exemplified his leadership when he spoke on the postponement.

​"You can’t lose sight of the mission. Everyone wants to play football. We have to know what we want to accomplish and do whatever it takes to accomplish that, whether it be staying in the house all year, just staying with our team, etc. We fought for the ability to come back to campus and play football so we will make sure we are ready no matter how long we have to wait.” 

As the schedule now stands, the Owls are still set to play eight games. Temple will play one game per week starting with Navy and running through Thanksgiving with the final regular season game at home versus Cincinnati on November 28th. ​