Temple general manager Clayton Barnes talks Owls' roster, post-spring outlook

When K.C. Keeler got the Temple job back in December of 2024, he knew he would be bringing his general manager Clayton Barnes with him to North Philadelphia from Sam Houston State. Barnes, in fact, was Keeler’s first hire and attended his boss’ introductory press conference.

While there’s plenty more work to be done after a 5-7 season last year, Keeler’s decision to retain Barnes looks like a smart decision.

Barnes, the assistant coaches and Temple’s scouting department assembled a 2026 recruiting class of 33 players ranked No. 1 in the American Conference. Transfer portal additions like safety Kolin Dinkins (Penn State) and edge rushers JaMair Diaz (Sam Houston) and Jaylon Joseph (Lafayette) made a discernible impact on defense during Temple’s 15 spring practices, and Rutgers transfer Sam Brown V looked like a smart addition to the offense who could change the tenor of the running back room.

Meanwhile, several midyear freshman enrollees like wide receiver Coen Logan, left tackle John Watkins and linebacker Josh Nengite flashed during spring ball and looked more like they belonged and less like deer caught in headlights.

OwlScoop was among the media outlets on hand to talk to Barnes during his post-spring media availability Tuesday in which he talked about how the staff structures revenue share contracts, builds its roster and feels about the team now that spring ball is in the books.

You can listen to the full interview here and read excerpts from it below.

Barnes on what to make of the offensive line’s perceived struggles with pressure from the defensive front:

“There were definitely parts of the spring ball where you saw the offensive line really get some good movement and go open up creases in the run game. But probably more often than that, you saw the defensive line being really disruptive. I think our defense tackles inside, particularly, have been really difficult to block. That’s really disrupted the interior run game. Now the offense has to get on the perimeter. I think in pass protection, that’s when the rushes have really made an impact. With Jaylon and JaMair, those two guys have really been dynamic. Another thing is, when you bring in guys like that that are true rush-type outside linebackers, it’s a bit more of a scheme fit than we had last year. Now you can do more things up front with sim (simulated) pressures and dropping those guys out and doing line stunts and that kind of stuff, just because you have more versatile players that can kind of stand up, play off the ball and that kind of thing. So I think the offensive line was a mixture of they had really good edge rushers they were going against, but also we’re able to throw lots of different blitz looks at them as well, just because we’re much more versatile up front. So I think it’s really been an iron-sharpens-iron mentality with both sides. Both sides have played really physical, and so that’s a chance for those guys to continue to get better going to fall. They feel like they’ve faced good competition that’s going to be adequate to above average to really good at our level.”

Barnes on Rutgers transfer Sam Brown V and if he exceeded the staff’s expectations this spring:

“First and foremost, I trust (running backs coach) Andrew Pierce’s evaluation when it comes running backs as much as any coach with any of their positions. He’s proven that he knows what he’s looking for. He knows what it looks like, and so I trust his evals strongly. And obviously he’s a guy that he knows from his time at Rutgers, and so we had an idea what we’d be getting with him, and we thought he was to be an impact guy, and we recruited him to be that. Obviously losing Duck (Jay Ducker) from last year, we were losing a guy that was a bit of a workhorse for us. We’re really excited with what Keveun (Mason) is going to do in year two. We know we have with Hunter (Smith) for that big-play ability, and obviously we like our young running backs. But we knew we need an older guy that was going to come in to play, whether that was an impact starter, or whether that was a guy that was going to be rotational. We would see how the cards fall when they get here, but he’s a guy we expected to come in and make an impact. I’d be lying if I told you he hasn’t exceeded expectations for what I personally have. I thought he had a lot of ability, but I think he shows even more dynamically than expected. Like, he looks the part. He’s physical, he’s big. You don’t even realize how explosive that he is, and some of the stuff he can do to make you miss in space. Like you saw in the spring game, when he’s able to put (safety) Kolin Dinkins on skates by sticking his foot in the ground and redirecting back inside … and for a bigger back, that’s pretty impressive to be able to make guys miss in space like that. So definitely glad we won that (recruiting) battle. If he found himself in Ypsilanti (at Eastern Michigan), he might be MAC player the year over there, so we’re really excited to have him on our team and get him back home to Philly.”