Eagles' Jarrett was vital to Temple's resurgence

Monday, May 9, 2011
Posted: 12:15 p.m.

By Reuben Frank
CSNPhilly.com

To really understand how much Jaiquawn Jarrett meant to Temples football resurgence, you have to first understand just how bad Temple was before Jarrett arrived on campus.

No winning seasons since 1990. Just three since 1979. A 4-42 record the previous four years. A 31-148 record from 1991 through 2006. Thats an average of fewer than two wins a year over a 16-year span.

In the four years immediately preceding Al Goldens first recruiting class, Temple allowed 40 or more points 21 times, 50 or more nine times, 60 or more seven times and 70 or more twice.

That was the challenge facing that first group of Golden recruits.

Try to make something out of nothing.

I dont think people really understand where we were as a program, Golden said. It wasnt just as simple as lets get some players around and try to win and turn the program around. We had a whole culture. We were just trying to get back to Division I level, let alone try to be a winning program.

Golden took over at Temple in December of 2005, and his first recruiting class had only his word to go on that something special was about to happen at a program with virtually no winning tradition.

Up at Brooklyns Fort Hamilton High School, Jarretta smart, hard-hitting safety from far off the beaten recruiting pathdidnt have any scholarship offers and was planning to attend prep school in Connecticut for a year.

At the last minute, a scholarship opened up, Golden offered it to Jarrett, and one of the primary building blocks of Temples remarkable resurrection was in place.

Because he didnt have the resources or talent as the teams the Owls were competing against, Golden had to find a different way for his ragtag band of unrecruited overachievers to win football games.

His solution was an intense focus on fundamentalssomething that suited Jarrett perfectly. The Jarrett-Temple match turned out to be an ideal one. Temple became one of the biggest surprises in Division I, and Jarrett became a second-round draft pick.

We didnt have the talent to compete, and we certainly didnt have the scholarship numbers to compete early in his career, Golden said. So we wanted to be more fundamentally sound than anybody and eliminate the things that caused us to losemissed tackles, interceptions, fumbles -- things we could control as we were building that program, and Jaiquawn utilized his time better than most.

In 2007, Temple won four games, a modest total, but it matched their most in 17 years. In 2008, the Owls won five. And then in 2009 and 2010, they went 17-8, matching the most wins in a two-year span in the programs 81-year history. They recorded consecutive winning seasons for the first time in more than 30 years and even played in a bowl game for the second time in 75 years.

After a generation as the laughing stock of college football, Temple was relevant again, and Jarrett was one of the biggest reasons why.

He was critical to what we did, Golden said from Miami, where hes now preparing for his first year as the Hurricanes head coach. Jaiquawn was a leader, and he was there when it wasnt easy. He came in after we won one game (in 2006), and his first year I think we won four games, so he went through the heartaches of the 2007 team and enjoyed the success of the last two years.

We dont turn that program around without guys like Jaiquawn, because guys like Jaiquawn showed how important it was to win in the classroom, in the community, in the weight room, being leaders and ultimately being tough and disciplined on the field, and he was really the poster child for that.

The Eagles drafted Jarrett with the 54th pick in last months draft, and the more you hear Golden talk, the more you understand not only why the Eagles took him in the second round but also why they believe he has a very good chance to make as much of an impact on South Broad Street as he made on North Broad.

He came to us as a guy that would be naturally physical, but I dont think anybody worked on tackling as much as Jaiquawn did, Golden said. And as he started to get stronger and develop the skill set, he just went to a different level. He didnt really come to us with the technique or the refinement, but I dont think anybody studied it any more than he did.

We did a high school player development tape a couple years ago, and hes all over that tape, which means every high school in America saw it, because we did it for the NFL. Our tackling-teach tapes that we show down here at Miami, hes all over it. The coaches call him The Clinic just because of how great an example and how great a model he was in terms of how to tackle.

He really left a legacy. Hes the best tackler Ive been around in my 21 years as both a player and a coach. Ive never seen anybody tackle like he does in the open field, just how sound he is technically.

Eagles fans just may recall that tackling in the secondary has been a problem the last couple years.

Jarrett will do his part to make sure that changes. Golden promises.

The thing that makes him special, here he is one of our best leaders, hes got one of the best demeanors off the field, great student, does a great job in the community, runs the defense, has poise during the game, Golden said. But at the same time ... I wouldnt call it reckless, but hes fearless and hes physical -- but hes so disciplined in his technique and very few people can take the technique and bring it to the field of competition. And he does.

E-mail Reuben Frank at rfrank@comcastsportsnet.com

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