Monday notebook: Another dynamic dual-threat QB awaits Temple at No. 18 Georgia Tech
Temple head coach K.C. Keeler, wide receiver JoJo Bermudez and safety Avery Powell spoke with reporters during the team’s weekly media availability Monday morning at Edberg-Olson Hall.
As players, Bermudez and Powell were more focused and conditioned to move forward and concentrate on this Saturday’s opponent in Georgia Tech, which jumped to its No. 18 national ranking after a 24-21 upset win over then-No. 12 Clemson.
As the head coach charged with the whole operation, Keeler was more talkative and reflective in terms of assessing what went wrong in Temple’s 42-3 loss to No. 13 Oklahoma as he helped his team move forward into another matchup against a nationally-ranked opponent.
Bermudez, Powell and especially Keeler believe there are things to take from the rout that are indeed fixable.
Asked how much can be corrected from Saturday’s loss and how much should be just chalked up to tipping their cap to Oklahoma as the better team, Keeler said, “I think it was a combination of both.”
“I realized how good they are now seeing them in person and playing against them,” Keeler added. “But again, some self-inflicted wounds early on really hurt us, and I think we could have kept that to more of a 24-10 game. And then, if it’s that, and then you make a play, and all of a sudden they start tightening up a little bit, because this was not what they expected, that’s how you win those games. We just never got ourselves in that situation, which was disappointing.”
The scenario Keeler set out there is the roadmap Temple will likely have to follow if it wants to upset Georgia Tech Thursday down in Atlanta, with the game set for a 4:30 p.m. kickoff on The CW. The 3-0 Yellow Jackets, much like Oklahoma with John Mateer, have one of the nation’s better dual-threat quarterbacks in Haynes King, who rushed for 103 yards and a touchdown on 25 carries while also completing 20 of his 28 passes for 211 yards in the win over Clemson.
King missed Georgia Tech’s rout of Gardner-Webb the week prior with a lower-body injury, but he was the straw that stirred the drink in the Yellow Jackets’ 27-20, season-opening win at Colorado in which he racked up 156 yards and three touchdowns on 19 carries.
A sixth-year senior who spent his first three seasons at Texas A&M, King transferred to Georgia Tech prior to the 2023 season and threw for a combined 4,956 yards, 41 touchdowns and 18 interceptions while completing 66.3% of his throws over the past two years.
“He’s more of a big man, now,” Keeler said when asked for a comparison between King and Mateer. “I remember him when he was at A&M, when I was at Sam Houston (as the head coach), and he’s a big, big individual. He’s going to run downhill at you.”
In Texas A&M’s 31-0, season-opening win over Sam Houston State in 2022, King completed 20 of his 31 passes for 364 yards, three touchdowns and two interceptions while adding 35 yards on six carries.
Keeler said Georgia Tech’s offense will likely feature less tempo than Oklahoma’s and more shifts, motions and unbalanced formations.
“And a lot of that is trying to get some gap schemes,” Keeler explained, “where they’re going to run the ball right downhill. The difference between the two of us is we’re more zone-oriented in our run game. They’re definitely more gap-oriented, and it’s again going to be another great test for our defensive line.”
The injury front
Starting free safety Javier Morton was in a boot Monday and did not practice. Morton, who has 11 tackles through the Owls’ first three games, is working through a low-ankle and not a high-ankle sprain, Keeler said.
“He’ll probably be in a boot until Wednesday or so,” Keeler said, “and then we’ll probably have more information on him. But he’s played really well, and it’d be a shame not to have him for Georgia Tech.”
On offense, running back Jay Ducker wore a gray jersey at Monday’s practice, meaning he was working in a limited capacity. He hurt his shoulder in the Oklahoma loss, but Keeler said the team expects to have him Saturday at Georgia Tech.
Monday audio
Listen to Monday’s interviews with Keeler, Bermudez and Powell here.
