The 2016 Temple Owls football team represented Temple University in the 2016 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The Owls were led by fourth-year head coach Matt Rhule and played their home games at Lincoln Financial Field. They were members of the East Division of the American Athletic Conference.
On December 6, Rhule resigned to become the head coach at Baylor. Special teams coordinator and tight ends coach Ed Foley led the Owls in the Military Bowl.
Schedule
Roster
Game summaries
Army
Stony Brook
At Penn State
Charlotte
SMU
At Memphis
At UCF
South Florida
Cincinnati
At UConn
At Tulane
East Carolina
At Navy–American Athletic Championship Game
The Owls dominated a Navy Midshipmen football offense that was ranked in the top 20 in the country, coming off a 75-point offensive outburst the week before to win the first major conference title in Temple history. Temple sent one of its largest away crowds ever, with nearly half the fans in attendance supporting the Owls. Temple was ranked in all three major polls following the game and were invited to the Military Bowl vs Wake Forest Demon Deacons football on December 27, 2016.
Wake Forest–Military Bowl
Awards and honors
American Athletic Conference All-Conference Team
First Team Dion Dawkins, OT Haason Reddick, DL
Second Team Jahad Thomas, RB Praise Martin-Oguike, DL Avery Williams, LB Sean Chandler, S Aaron Boumerhi, K
Honorable Mention Colin Thompson, TE Stephaun Marshall, LB
Rankings
NFL players NFL Draft Combine Four Temple players were invited to participate in the 2017 NFL Scouting Combine.
# Name POS HT WT Arms Hands 40 Bench Press Vert Jump Broad Jump 3 Cone Drill 20-yd Shuttle Ref#5 Jahad Thomas RB 5-10 190 lbs 30 1/8 9 4.62 11 32.0 in 116.0 #7 Haason Reddick LB 6-1 237 lbs 32 3/4 10 1/8 4.52† 24 36.5 in† 133.0 in† 7.01 4.37 #15 Nate Hairston CB 6-0 196 lbs 31 9 1/2 4.52 14 35.5 in 118.0 in #66 Dion Dawkins OL 6-4 314 lbs 35 9 7/8 5.11 26 26.0 in 106.0 in 7.30† 4.78 † Top performer
2017 NFL draft
Following the season, the following members of the Temple football team were selected in the 2017 NFL draft.
# Player Round Pick Position NFL Club#7 Haason Reddick 1 13 Linebacker Arizona Cardinals#66 Dion Dawkins 2 63 Offensive lineman Buffalo Bills#15 Nate Hairston 5 158 Cornerback Indianapolis Colts
Undrafted free agents
In addition to the draft selections above, the following Temple players signed NFL contracts after the draft.
# Name POS HT WT NFL Club Ref#2Avery Williams LB5-10 224 lbs Houston Texans #5Jahad ThomasRB 5-10 188 lbs Dallas Cowboys #8Phillip WalkerQB5-11205 lbsIndianapolis Colts#11Romond DeloatchTE6-4245 lbsNew York Giants#50Praise Martin-OguikeDL 6-1 255 lbs Miami Dolphins #86Colin ThompsonTE 6-4255 lbsNew York Giants
References