Way-Too-Early Look at Temple Football’s 2026 Offensive Depth Chart

Tagged under: Pennsylvania Colleges

Mike Livingston | March 13, 2026

The Temple Athletics website shows 175 days until the Owls battle Rhode Island at Lincoln Financial Field on September 5 to open their 2026 season. The season will feature a Temple offense that lost very few notable names and replenished its ranks with a strong crop of talent.

And while many questions need to be answered, and jobs need to be won over the next five months, it’s never too early to hypothesize what the Owls’ Week 1 lineup may end up looking like.

This two-part series offers way-too-early offensive and defensive depth chart projections as spring practice gets underway. The series will be revisited before fall camp and again just before the season to track how players progress throughout the offseason and settle into their eventual roles.

Quarterback
QB1 – Jaxon Smolik
QB2 – Ajani Sheppard
QB3 – Camren Boykin
Others: Brady Palmer, Brody Norman, Patrick Keller

Perhaps the position with the most talk around it heading into the spring, and for good reason, is quarterback.
Following the departure of Evan Simon this offseason, the pairing of Jaxon Smolik and Ajani Sheppard was brought in to compete for the starting job. Both Smolik and Sheppard have similar collegiate backgrounds, with neither ever getting much meaningful playing time at their former schools.

The pair will likely embark on a competition that will take the Owls late into fall camp and possibly into Week 1’s matchup with Rhode Island if a decision can’t be made by then.

However, as of now, Smolik does feel like the slight favorite over the elder Sheppard. The redshirt sophomore Penn State transfer was a star coming out of Dowling Catholic in Van Meter, Iowa, when he got to Happy Valley back in 2023. But as many do, he got caught up in a logjam behind center with Drew Allar and Beau Pribula ahead of him.

After missing his 2024 season with an injury and redshirting, Smolik’s chances of ever securing the starting job in State College seemed to flounder. So after a 2025 campaign with minimal game action, he finds himself on North Broad Street, finally with an open chance at a starting job.

And while Sheppard still stands as a strong candidate for the job, the fact that he did not touch the field for Wazzou last season while being fully healthy should stand as a bit of a deterrent in his way.

As for Boykin and the rest of the lot, none of the four should serve too much of a chance at the starting job, with two of the four being freshmen in Norman and Palmer who could certainly compete for the job as soon as next year. Boykin has the best chance of the bunch but also feels like he’s a year away from the competition, coming off a redshirt year as a true freshman.

Running Back
RB1: Hunter Smith
RB2: Sam Brown
RB3: Keveun Mason
Others: Johnny Martin, De’Carlos Young, Jordan Miller, Ameir Morrow, RJ Blount

After losing top offensive weapon Jay Ducker to graduation this offseason, the hole at running back will be wide open this offseason.

The Owls’ second-leading rusher from a year ago, Hunter Smith, is the obvious early pick to take the starting job. Smith recorded 403 yards and two scores last year and scored both of his touchdowns on 50-plus-yard runs last season, proving his explosive ability. It feels like Smith’s job to lose right now, but there will certainly be guys chomping at the bit if he slips up.

Sam Brown is likely the most prominent of those players, a transfer from Rutgers coming into his redshirt senior year. Brown racked up 829 yards and eight touchdowns through four seasons as a Scarlet Knight. However, coming off a year where he carried the ball just 16 times for 38 yards, questions will need to be raised before Brown makes any splashes.

Another returner who may make an impact for Temple is Keveun Mason, the true sophomore who recorded 167 yards and a score last year for the Owls. While the touchdown did come in a blowout loss to East Carolina, it showed the young Mason has the chops to compete early in his career. He’ll hold out as a name to watch through camp if Brown and/or Smith falter.

Stony Brook transfer Johnny Martin leads the pack at the bottom of the depth chart along with De’Carlos Young, Jordan Miller, Ameir Morrow and RJ Blount.

Martin recorded 249 yards and three scores last season for the Seawolves. He’ll have an outside chance at the starting job and likely more of a shot at situational roles throughout the season.

Young comes in as the only other guy with experience, though extremely limited at that. He’ll headline the bottom of the depth chart with the freshman duo of Morrow and Blount — a Pennsauken graduate — two guys who should expect to see heightened roles down the road for the Owls.

Wide Receiver
WR1: JoJo Bermudez
WR2: Jayce Freeman
WR3: Colin Chase
Others: Demonte Green, Coen Logan, Kenedy Uzoma, Ramier Hardy, Hunter Watson, Darius Pope, Keagan Chambers, JoJo Huntley, Reis Stocksdale, Tylik Mitchell, Zander Baptiste, Gavan Loriston

Wide receiver is a unique situation for the Owls right now, as it’s one of the few positions with a somewhat clear starting group but then a lot of question marks beneath that.

2025 leading receiver JoJo Bermudez will be back for the Owls and is seemingly the clear No. 1 option for Temple right now. Meanwhile, another Stony Brook transfer, Jayce Freeman, will likely compete alongside Colin Chase for the WR2 role.

Freeman, a junior, recorded 774 yards and eight touchdowns for the FCS Seawolves last year with nearly 1,700 career yards. While the transition to FBS football won’t be easy, if Freeman can settle in with the Owls, he could be a real diamond in the rough for Keeler in the transfer portal.

As for Chase, one of the Owls’ biggest leaders and a strong contributor all around, he’ll be expected to make a big jump this coming season to compete once again as a top receiver in the offense. It simply comes down to whether he’s able to make that leap in production from just 400 yards in 2025 to something greater.

Below the top three, however, things get murky. Demonte Green, a transfer from D-II Midwestern State, could be an option if he performs well in camp after putting up impressive numbers last year, totaling 780 yards and seven touchdowns.

Other names to watch include Darius Pope, Keagan Chambers, Reis Stocksdale, St. Joseph’s Prep graduate Ramier Hardy, UNC transfer Kenedy Uzoma, JoJo Huntley, and the freshman pairing of Coen Logan and Hunter Watson.

Tight End
TE1: Peter Clarke
TE2: Ryder Kusch
TE3: Daniel Evert
Others: Joey Schlaffer, David Wise

Tight end is another position for the Owls where Keeler and offensive coordinator Tyler Walker shouldn’t need to worry too much.

Peter Clarke, the London, England, product, was one of the top aerial scoring options for Temple last season and should project to be again after a year where he racked up 483 yards and six touchdowns.
Ryder Kusch also supplied a strong dose of offense as just a freshman hailing from British Columbia, as he pulled in three touchdowns on just 60 yards. With another season under his belt, there shouldn’t be much room to doubt that Kusch can be a great complement to Clarke on the front line.

Daniel Evert is yet another experienced option in the tight end room who should serve well down the depth chart. While he only recorded 15 yards in the air last year, he did have a stronger freshman campaign with 143 yards and two scores.

Under Evert, Penn State transfer Joey Schlaffer will need to prove himself throughout camp if he wants attention in this Owl offense as a redshirt junior.

Offensive Line
LT: Giakoby Hill
LG: Eric King
C: Greyson Mains
RG: Jackson Pruitt
RT: Luke Watson
Backups: Kevin Terry, CJ Van Buren, Billy Brown, John Stone, Mausa Palu, Davray Venu, Logan King, Zach Aamland, Ransom McDermott, Aiden Zikler, John Watkins

Looking across Temple’s offensive line, it becomes one of the most difficult positions to judge this far out, with numerous guys spending time on the injured list and others seeing limited time at one position or another.

Nonetheless, the two things that should be set in stone are Eric King and Greyson Mains manning the center of the line. Both have now established themselves as rocks on this line and have been uber impressive over the past few years.

On the left end, Giakoby Hill should stand as the frontrunner for the job ahead of Kevin Terry after taking the job last season — though if Terry can stay healthy, it could prove to be a fun competition to watch down the stretch.

On the right side, things are a bit more iffy with Jackson Pruitt at guard and Luke Watson at tackle. Guys like Logan King, Zach Aamland, Ransom McDermott, John Stone and Aiden Zikler could all compete for spots on this end of the line, leading to what may just be one of the most fun competitions to watch unfold this spring.

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