Matt Brown has had an outstanding Spring according to head coach Steve Addazio

Temple’s Cherry & White Scrimmage did not reveal much about the football team’s chances this fall when the Owls make their return to the Big East and a shot at playing in a BCS Bowl game.

That doesn’t mean the Owls won’t be good, in fact there are several reasons for Philadelphia college football fans to be optimistic.

One of those reasons is senior all-purpose back Matt Brown, who led the Owls with 1,808 yards including 916 yards rushing, 703 yards from kick returns and182 from put returns will be back and will be counted on for even more production in 2012.

Brown and quarterback Chris Coyer, just a junior this coming season, are locks as stars at their positions.

Coyle came in midseason due ineffective play by Chester Stewart and Mike Gerardi to lead the Owls to the success they enjoyed going 30 of 50 for 463 yards, six touchdowns and no interceptions. Coyer ended up third on the team in rushing with 608 yards on 69 carries and three touchdowns.

The exhibition was held for the first time at Lincoln Financial Field, on a field that never has looked this good for the Eagles, Temple’s landlord.

Temple is coming off a solid 9-4 season that included a 35-14 win over Wyoming in the Gildan New Mexico Bowl, a game that kicked off the 2011 Major College Bowl season.

After some dropped passes and missed tackles, the Owls settled down and started making plays.

The first touchdown of the game came at the 11:47 mark of the second quarter when Coyer connected with Ryan Alderman for a 43-yard strike and a 10-3 Cherry lead.

Alderman put on a nice juke on a defender at the ten-yard line to get into the end zone.

With just over two minutes left in the half, Coyer struck again with a 45-yard bomb to C.J. Hammond that set up the Cherry Owls inside the Red Zone.

Kenny Harper finished off the drive with a hard-fought one-yard run to make the score Cherry 17, White 3. 
Robby Anderson caught 28-yard receptions to set up White inside the five-yard line. Harper, now wearing white, scored on another one-yard play.

That was it for the day as the coaches subbed liberally, players switched teams and it became a down-and-distance affair.

Senior offensive Martin Wallace will among the leaders on offense and a line that will be called on to open holes for Brown, Harper and freshman Spencer Reid.

Wallace said he was more than willing to assume a major leadership role with his unit – a new starter at every position but Wallace’s – and also for the whole team. Three of last year’s regular linemen were redshirt seniors.

All had at least three years under their belt as starters. Wallace led the team on to the field to start the scrimmage.

“It’s a huge challenge…you can never replace those guys,” Wallace said referring his very senior linemates that included Pat Boyle, Derek Dennis, John Palumbo, Wayne Tribue and sixth man Jeremy Schonbrunner. “These guys who are coming up have really picked up the system. They are really going. It is just a matter of how fast they can pick it up and how quickly they can apply (that knowledge) in a fast mode.”

Head coach Steve Addazio, in his second year, knows the challenge or replacing a unit that allowed zero sacks in four games last year including its Bowl game.

Addazio has penciled in his first five that include Wallace and Zach Hooks at tackle, Jeff Wittingham and Jaimen Newman at the guard position with Sean Boyle at center. Hooks is a redshirt freshman, Wittinham is a junior, Newman a sophomore with Boyle and Wallace as the only seniors.

“We’ll put up five guys that I think will be very good,” Addazio said. “We won’t miss a beat. Our problem is depth. I’ve said that all along and I’m just telling you like it is. Coming up with six, seven and eight is where the real challenge is.” 

Defensively, standout linebacker Stephen Johnson (123 total tackles) is gone to graduation as is safety Kevin Kroboth (76) and linebacker Tahir Whitehead (70).

Those are a lot of tackles to replace, and a lot of experience.

Senior linebacker Ahkeem Smith said not to worry; the Owls have many players who have seen significant playing time.

“We don’t lack experience at certain positions, but we’re young at certain positions,” senior linebacker Ahkeem Smith said. “We need to learn from that. Together we have rally each other and [seniors] have to become leaders.”

The Owls entered the 2011 season having lost 10 players who signed NFL contracts and won nine games including a Bowl game.

Star running back Bernard Pierce plus many key players have left again this year. Temple has accomplished many things over the last five or six years, the most importan and most elusive in sports is the winning attitude it now has a firm grip on.

That alone is cause for optimism.