Temple signs American Conference's second-ranked 2026 recruiting class
Temple announced it had signed 33 players from the 2026 class on Wednesday, the first day of the NCAA’s early signing period.
As of Wednesday evening, On3 and Rivals had the Owls’ class ranked 68th nationally and second in the American Conference, ahead of Tulane and USF and trailing only Memphis.
Temple head coach K.C. Keeler and general manager Clayton Barnes spent nearly an hour discussing the class with reporters at Edberg-Olson Hall.
Readers can listen to the entire interview here.
Twenty-eight of the 33 players who signed Wednesday are high school freshmen, while five others are coming in as junior college transfers. Additionally, 21 of the signees are expected to arrive on campus next month as early enrollees, including defensive lineman Jude Okeleke, the highest-rated recruit who signed Wednesday.
With the late addition of St. Joseph Regional state champion Lamar Best, Temple wound up signing three high school quarterbacks Wednesday. St. Thomas Aquinas’ Brady Palmer and Mooresville High School’s Brody Norman also signed Wednesday after committing to the Owls back in June.
Barnes said Temple will look to bring more quarterbacks in via the transfer portal to compete for the starting job, as starter Evan Simon and backups Gevani McCoy and Anthony Chiccitt are all out of eligibility as redshirt seniors.
“(The) three kids all understood that we’re taking three (quarterbacks) and were excited about it,” Barnes said. “We’re not shy of competition, and (they) were excited to be a part of the program.”
Five of Wednesday’s signees come from two of the region’s top programs. Wide receiver Ash Roberts and defensive back Eyan Stead signed with Temple out of Philadelphia’s Roman Catholic High School, and wide receiver Coen Logan and offensive linemen Logan King and John Watkins are teammates at Baltimore’s St. Frances Academy, the No. 2 team in MaxPreps’ latest national high school football rankings.
The last three days brough about an uptick of verbal commitments – and eventual signatures – that bolstered the class, including Best, former USF commit Karon Spencer and two junior college players who could compete right away for starting jobs in strong safety Josiah Jackson and cornerback Asa Locks.
Jackson, who collected 34 tackles and an interception in 10 games for Garden City Community College this past season as a redshirt sophomore, played his first two college seasons at West Virginia. Locks, who announced his decision Wednesday and chose Temple over Old Dominion and Central Michigan, recorded three interceptions at Iowa Western Community college this season after an FCS freshman all-American season at VMI last fall that saw him pick off two passes and tally 67 tackles and five pass breakups.
“He’s a guy that we think can really compete for a starting corner job this year,” Barnes said of Locks. “He’s 6-1, 180 (pounds). He’s got length, can run.”
Barnes, Keeler talk roster construction, contracts and fundraising
Barnes, who also served as Keeler’s general manager at Sam Houston State and came with Keeler to Temple as his first hire, talked at length Wednesday about how the staff approaches roster construction and how they plan to retain their top players.
Although they didn’t mention specific players by name, Barnes and Keeler talked about the program’s revenue share budget and how signing players to multi-year revenue-share contracts is something they must explore to retain players and fend off Power Four interest.
“Without multi-year contracts,” Keeler said, “we wouldn’t have a chance to keep our best players.”
Keeler brought up fundraising, too, and offered a bit of a glimpse at some goal-setting in that area.
“When the alums talked to me when I first got here, it was like, ‘K.C., we’ll give back when we see the university is giving back,” Keeler said. “When we see the university’s investing, we’ll invest. I can tell them and look them in the eye and say, the university is investing. Are we all the way there? No, we’re about 80% of the way there. I need to get the other 20% to feel really good that we can compete in this league.”
Barnes and Keeler both acknowledged that some of their top players might be able to get more revenue-share money at Power Four programs, but where they fall into the pecking order in that other program’s position room is something they need to consider.
“That’s a huge part of the conversation,” Barnes said. “Because the reality is, if a P4 school wants to take one of our guys and make him a starter and pay him like a starter, there’s not a whole lot we can do. That’s just a bridge too far. However, if they’re trying to offer backup money, if they’re trying to offer rotational or development-type money for our guys, that’s where we have to be able to close the gap and say, ‘Take a little bit less. You’re gonna play. You’re a made man here. You’re on track to be everything you want to be.’”
‘This is my last job’
Toward the end of Wednesday’s signing day presser, Keeler talked about the stability he feels Temple offers, pointing to the fact that several of the teams Temple is playing in 2026 will have new head coaches.
Keeler, meanwhile, said he will finish his college head coaching career at Temple. The Emmaus native, who turned 66 in July, won two FCS national championships during his previous coaching stints at Delaware and Sam Houston State prior to arriving at Temple last December.
“Almost half the teams are going to [have] new coaches,” Keeler said. “That’s different at Temple. This is my last job. My wife has made that very clear that this is my last job. And I want this to be my last job. And so, there’s stability here, and [recruits] know that I’m gonna be the head coach tomorrow and the next day and the next day and the next day. I’m not looking for that next job.”
