Spring football practices are used as a time to build a new foundation for the fall after players come and go from a team.
Due to COVID-19, the Temple football team didn’t have much of a chance to form these new relationships before their unpredictable season last fall.
Following the team’s COVID outbreak at the end of last season, head coach Rod Carey said, “We dealt with COVID and quite frankly guys, COVID won.”
After losing about a dozen veterans to the transfer portal at the end of last season, Temple picked up some players of its own. The program grabbed nine incoming transfers who are nearly all from power five schools.
The addition of new faces on the team is simply another reason why having a spring season has been crucial in order to make those off-season relationships and connections.
Offensive line coach, Joe Tripodi says that he is pleased with the progress that the team has made so far this spring. “I think that obviously we’re ahead of the curve from where we were at last year cause we didn’t get one padded practice.”
Under Coach Carey’s plan, the team has been able to preview the fall season by practicing two days with one day off repeatedly until completing all fifteen NCAA alloted practices.
Graduate cornerback, Freddie Johnson says that spring ball has brought out a new mentality in his teammates. “I have a preview because that’s all spring ball is. It’s a preview so I just see like I see the mentality. I see the energy everybody’s bringing out there now.”
On top of it all, spring football allows the players an opportunity to hone in on the skills they’ve been working on all winter.
Defensive End, Evan Boozer emphasizes the fact that the ability to play spring football allows the team to take the foundation building process to a new level. “Now we’re at a point where we can take a breath, kinda like see what we’re seeing where we need to be and really make good strides for the upcoming future.”
Fans will be able to watch a virtual spring game event that showcases footage from practices, performances from the band and spirit squads, as well as hearing from some Temple coaches and players. The event will air on Thursday, April 29th at seven o’clock in the afternoon.
The fall season will kick off on Saturday, September 4th at Rutgers University.
Be the first to comment