Brian Smith spoke to reporters following Saturday morning’s practice session
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Temple defensive coordinator Brian Smith (Photo: Shawn Pastor)
PHILADELPHIA – It might look like a 4-3 sometimes. It might look like a 3-4. Temple's new defensive coordinator Brian Smith says the best way to describe his scheme is that it looks like an NFL system – ultimately very similar to the stuff he learned in six years on head coach Rex Ryan's staff with the New York Jets.
"We're multiple," Smith summarized in a conversation with reporters after Temple's third spring practice session on Saturday morning. "It really depends on the personnel that we have. Most of the years we're more four down than we are three down. But we will mix in some three-down concepts. But it's kind of an NFL-style system.
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Temple’s new offensive coordinator Tyler Walker wants to run
The man who guided Montana State’s record-setting offense spoke to reporters after Thursday’s practice
Bill EvansMar 14th, 10:49 AM
Temple Coach K.C. Keeler and offensive coordinator Tyler Walker (Photo: Shawn Pastor)
New Temple offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Tyler Walker, who joined first-year head coach K.C. Keeler's staff after leading record-breaking offenses at Montana State, hopes to turn around the running game this season, mentioning it as the first philosophy when asked about his offense.
The running game had not been a strength under the previous regime.
"We're going to run the football," Walker told reporters following the team's second spring practice session on Thursday. "We're going to be a multiple offense. We're going to find different ways, through motions, shifts, to create an advantage in the run game first and foremost.
"We're going to throw the football down the field. We're going to be a modern-day option-based football team. The complexity will be in the presentations. We're going to have a lot of movement and try to get players in space to create big plays. What we've seen so far is there's a lot of talent on this football team. We're trying to figure out what kind of football team we're going to be. Are we going to be outside zone, inside zone, throw the ball? We're figuring that out."
Walker coached Tommy Mellott, who won the Walter Payton Award as the most outstanding player in FCS football last season after throwing for 2,759 yards and 31 touchdowns and rushing for 1,128 yards and 15 scores in leading Montana State to the national championship game.
Temple's incumbent QB Evan Simon doesn't have the same skillset as he's more of a drop-back passer – he threw for 2,032 yards and 15 touchdowns last year while rushing for 20 with three scores. But Walker said Simon can still be productive in his offense.
"Evan has the ability to do some things," Walker said. "Our offense has the flexibility to figure out what our players do best. Is it sound? Can we teach it? Can we execute it? He has the ability to extend plays. Can he extend them to the ability of previous QBs in this system? Maybe not, but he doesn't have to do that.
"He wants to be really good. He has the eagerness to learn, eagerness to be a master of the offense and eagerness to ask questions. He's been great. He can run the football, but it's not always about the skillset he has. There's 11 guys and a scheme. ... Our offense is a giant ecosystem. There was a play in practice, he kept the football for 20-25 yards. He's not going to run a 4.4, but he keeps the defense honest. I don't buy he can't be a mobile guy."
While the offense might have to adapt to Simon's skillset, it seems well-suited for sophomore Tyler Douglas, a mobile QB who saw some time last season and figures to be in the mix this year, or at the least projects as a quarterback option for the future.
"Tyler is extremely athletic and can do a lot of things we ask the quarterback to do in our system," Walker said. "He types in 2024 Montana State and Tommy Mollett, Walter Payton Award winner, and says 'Whoa, I can do a lot of things that guy can do.' Naturally, you say this guy is perfect and does do the things we're looking for. ... He's mobile, has moxie, throws well, extends plays, is smart."
The third scholarship quarterback in the system is Robert Morris transfer Anthony Chiccitt, who threw for over 2,200 yards with 14 touchdowns last season.
"He's done similar things to what we've done, and there's some ability there, we wouldn't have brought him in if there wasn't," Walker said.
Walker said the staff would be looking to add to the room in the portal this summer as having only three scholarship quarterbacks – two of whom are seniors – on the roster could be tenuous, especially if there's an injury.
While it's early in the process and he didn't single out any players for praise, Walker said he liked the overall commitment to the program by the offensive players and is hoping by the end of 15 spring practices he has a good feel for what this team will look like in the fall.
"After 15 practices, I'd like to say offensively the guys can say what our offensive identity is, they've gained confidence and we can put them in situations where they are successful and accountable," Walker said. "This is an audition. They're running around for the first time, we're coaching them for the first time. Who can we count on? Who gets seats on the bus? If we have holes, how can we fix them?
"The groups as a whole, the offense as a whole, every test we've thrown at them they've passed. They are eager to learn, they want to be good and they want to develop. They killed winter workouts, they're excited to get on the field and are executing on a high level. I think back to when we put this offense in for the first time in 2021, Montana State, what did it look like that year? Very similar. There's a learning adjustment, but they've expedited it with their eagerness to learn it, eagerness to take coaching and eagerness to get better.
"Ask me April 15 (after the spring game), I'll know a little bit more. But everything we need to be successful on offense we have."