Groundhog Day for The Gator, The Hooter and The Heater

The Gator, the Hooter and the Heater will all be at SAC Room 200 today.

... Temple commits: QB: Jalen Fitzpatrick, Clinton Granger; OL: Eric Lofton, Jake Quinn; ATH: Daquan Cooper; WR: Malcolm Eugene, Robbie Anderson, Antonio Belt, Tyron Harris, Chris Hutton; RB: Spencer Reid; LB: Praise Martin-Oquike, Raysean Richardson, Nate Smith; DB: Kenny Harper; DE: Brandon Chudnoff, Kadeem Wilson, Cory Johnson; DT: Hershey Walton. ...


Fittingly for Temple at least Signing Day is today, falling on Groundhog Day for the first time in five years.
They say if the Groundhog wakes up this morning and sees his shadow, it's going to be six more weeks of winter.
If not, it's going to be an early spring.
So it goes with Temple football today.
For the most part, after going through five Temple coaches and nearly 30 years of signing days I've devised this foolproof system for telling if today will be a good day.
If you follow the steps of this system and don't see what you'd like, it will be five more cold and icy years like the Bobby Wallace ones. If you go through the progressions and come  up with positives, it will be five more years of Al Golden.
Or better.

The first part of my "process" is forgetting about the film session after the cocktails because every one of those guys will look like five-star recruits once they get the projectors rolling. It's either the editing or the cocktails.

As Al was found of saying so many times, it's all part of the process.
The first part of my "process" is forgetting about the film session after the cocktails because every one of those guys will look like five-star recruits once they get the projectors rolling. It's either the editing or the cocktails.
Or both.
Go to the Howard Gittis Room (200) at the Student Center today (4 p.m.) and grab one of those bio books of the new recruits.
Thumb to what other schools were recruiting our new players.
If the kid's top choice other than Temple was Delaware or North Texas State, most likely things are not going to work out for him here.
If the kid picked Temple over BC (Kee-Ayre Griffin) or Pitt (Adrian Robinson) or Penn State (later, with Adam DiMichele), the kid is most likely to be an impact player here.
Or at least a solid contributor.
If you see enough of those level kids, it's a good class.
I'd advise going to the Student Center today just to meet new head coach Steve Addazio, The Hooter, and Chuck Heater.

One scholarship offer gives me agita but I won't get into it because he comes from a good and, from what I can see, very well-fed, family

The Gator with (The Hooter and) The Heater, if you will.
I think I'm more pumped about Chuck Heater being here than Addazio or even any of the recruits not named Nate Smith.
Nate Smith, a linebacker and running back from New Jersey, was the best recruit in last year's class and I'm pretty sure he will be the best recruit in this one. He had to go to Fork Union for a year and that's all good because it will mean that he's ready now.
Heater is also the best 57-year-old recruit we've ever nabbed. I thought Mark D'Onofrio was a good defensive coordinator, but this guy has credentials that Mark might never get.
No less an authority than Urban Myer called Heater a "Mother Teresa" as in miracle worker and he was that guiding the Utah defense through an unbeaten season and the Colorado defense through an 11-1 season and the Florida defense through two national championships. Everywhere he's gone, this guy has the magic touch.
If could have gone anywhere, but he chose Temple.
Back to  the scholarships.
One scholarship offer gives me agita but I won't get into it because he comes from a good and, from what I can see, very well-fed, family. Once he puts on that Owl uniform nobody will root for him harder than me.
We really needed a running back with big-time ability in this class as an insurance policy for a Bernard Pierce injury and unless Bradenton Southeast's Jared Williams faxes in his LOI in the next few hours, I don't see one in this class.
Smith might be if they give him a shot to carry the ball, but that's a coaching staff decision. We seem to have plenty of solid linebackers already on the roster, but no Bernard Pierce-like backup on the other side of the ball.
Maybe The Hooter can whisper that idea into Addazio's left ear and Heater's right ear at the same time.
After all, he looks a little like a Groundhog.

Thursday: A look at the bios of the kids who've signed on the dotted line.