Coach Steve Addazio and defensive players, junior linebacker Blaze Caponegro, senior defensive back Justin Gildea and junior defensive back Zamel Johnson, spoke about the team’s ongoing concerns with depth at football training camp day 6, the first day of two-a-day practices.
When asked about his biggest concern with his team, Addazio didn’t hesitate to talk about the importance of keeping the offensive line healthy, which returns one starter in senior right tackle Martin Wallace.
“A couple of guys get dinged up, a couple of starters are out, and all of a sudden you’re like, ‘Oh man,'” Addazio said. “Depth up front is a huge concern with me.”
Addazio said junior left guard Jeff Whittingham and sophomore right guard Jaimen Newman, both projected starters, are out with minor injuries, adding more injury into the mix with an offensive line that struggled to stay healthy throughout last season.
“Nothing serious, but just enough to throw you some curveballs,” Addazio said. “But that’s camp. That’s going to happen. It’s nothing serious, that’s good, but it takes your execution out.”
On the defensive side of the ball, the concern isn’t so much with injury as it is with replacing six starters from last year who are no longer with the team.
Caponegro is the lone returning starter to the linebacking corps that loses the team’s leading tackler, Stephen Johnson, and defensive captain Tahir Whitehead, who was selected in the fifth round of the NFL Draft by the Detroit Lions.
“I don’t think there’s enough you can say about [Whitehead],” Caponegro said. “He was a leader on and off the field. He always had energy and was giving it to everybody else.”
Caponegro said he and fellow linebackers, redshirt freshman Nate D. Smith, junior Olaniyi Adewole and senior Ahkeem Smith, are “working together as a group to get better everyday.”
“We have a lot of young guys out here proving themselves, which is really key heading into the fall and the Big East with some tough competition,” he said.
The Owls also lose two out of their four starters in the secondary from last season in cornerback Kee-ayre Griffin and free safety Kevin Kroboth, who started a combined 25 games last year.
Johnson, who started nine games at cornerback last year, said that Addazio hasn’t given him the job of outright starter this year, and he likes it that way.
“Your spot is never set in stone, so you’re always battling, you’re always fighting and there’s always competition,” Johnson said. “Your job is just to keep getting better everyday.”
Addazio said that senior defensive back Vaughn Carraway is projected at free safety opposite Gildea, who started every game last year alongside Kroboth.
“[Carraway] looks really good,” Gildea said. “He fits really well into the position. He’s a tall guy and he’s very rangy so he can get across the field really well. If [Kroboth] wasn’t there, I could see him starting for us for a couple of years.”
“[Carraway] is looking really good out there,” Johnson said. “He’s making all kinds of plays. I’m definitely looking forward to playing with him.”
Sophomore Anthony Robey and senior Maurice Jones are also competing for spots in the secondary alongside Johnson at corner. Nate D. Smith and Adewole are projected starters at linebacker per Temple’s depth chart, last updated July 27.
