Temple and Villanova ink a few more recruits on college football’s second national signing day
Owls head coach K.C. Keeler signed four additional players, bringing his total to 21 new players in his first season.
Villanova and Temple brought in new talent to close out their respective recruiting classes on Wednesday, which served as the final national signing day for college football’s 2024-25 offseason.
Temple head coach K.C. Keeler, who was hired on Dec. 1 after the firing of Stan Drayton, signed four players to complete his first recruiting class with the Owls. Villanova, which ended its season 12th in the Stats Perform FCS Top 25 after a 13-6 loss to Incarnate Word in the second round of the FCS Playoffs, brought in three recruits to bring its number of incoming freshmen to 12.
Here’s a look at the players the Owls and the ‘Cats inked on the final national signing day:
Temple
Temple brought in 21 players in its class of 2025, 14 of which have already started working out with the team. Of the 11 freshmen and 10 transfers Keeler brought in, 14 are expected to line up on defense, including three of the four recruits Temple secured on Wednesday.
Cornerback Zavien Bryant of Evans High School (Orlando, Fla.) is ranked as a three-star recruit by 247sports. Bryant was teammates with Owls early-enrolee cornerback Devontae Ward-Grant at Evans.
Two in-state recruits, defensive tackle Troy Cunningham of South Park High School (South Park, Pa.) and defensive end Adriano McLean of Penn Wood High School (Lansdowne, Pa.), join the Owls as unranked recruits.
Cunningham played offensive and defensive tackle at South Park, which won the Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic League Class AA championship in 2024. Cunningham recorded a school-record six sacks in South Park’s semifinal win.
McLean played defensive end and tight end at Penn Wood. He recorded nine tackles for loss and three-and-a-half sacks over 10 games in his senior season. McLean was named all-Delaware Valley first team after his junior season.
Temple’s lone signee expected to suit up for the offense is athlete Kaegan Chambers, a three-star who played quarterback at Monroe High School (Monroe, N.C.). Chambers threw for 16 touchdowns and ran for nine in his junior year, while also playing basketball and running track.
Keeler’s class has numerous local ties, with eight players out of the 2025 group hailing from either Pennsylvania or New Jersey.
Villanova
Villanova head coach Mark Ferrante secured the signings of three players Wednesday morning. Linebacker Walker Murray of Pennsbury High School (Fairless Hills, Pa.), defensive back Samir Wilkins of Malcolm X Shabazz High School (Newark, N.J.), and running back Tyler Womack of Annapolis High School (Annapolis, Md.) join the nine freshmen the ‘Cats signed on Dec. 4.
Murray was second team all-state after posting 25 tackles for loss and four sacks last season at Pennsbury. Wilkins, another defensive signee, was an all-county player at Malcolm X Shabazz. He finished his season with two interceptions, and verbally committed to Villanova on Jan. 21. Five of Villanova’s 12 signees are defensive players.
Womack earned all-state honors at Annapolis after finishing his season with 31 touchdowns from scrimmage and four on kickoff returns. He is the only running back in the ‘Cats incoming recruiting class.
Ferrante’s class, like Keeler’s, is heavily rooted in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Eight of Villanova’s recruits are from the two states. The group also features two players from Massachusetts, one from Connecticut and one from Maryland.
So what’s next?
The next major date on college football’s offseason schedule is the opening of the spring transfer window. It is scheduled to kickoff on April 16, and close on April 25, following the final hearing on the settlement of House v. NCAA, scheduled for April 7.
The hearing’s decision could impact the resources and potentially the future roster sizes of many programs whose conferences have opted in.