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Temple's 2018 football recruiting class headlined by quarterback Trad Beatty

The 6-foot-5, 224-pound quarterback from South Carolina said he had 22 offers, and chose Temple over Mississippi State.

Trad Beatty, a quarterback from South Carolina, is the Temple Owls’ top 2018 football recruit.
Trad Beatty, a quarterback from South Carolina, is the Temple Owls’ top 2018 football recruit.Read moreHandout photo

Update: Here's our latest story on Temple's recruiting class as commitments have become official.

Click here for our live coverage of the early signing period at colleges and high schools across the Philadelphia region.

Trad Beatty isn't into predicting, just competing. The 6-foot-5, 224-pound quarterback from South Carolina's Ben Lippen High is considered by many to be the centerpiece of Temple's recruiting class.

He said he had 22 offers and chose Temple over Mississippi State. Beatty intends to sign Wednesday, the first day of a three-day window in which high school players can commit during a new early signing period.

He will enroll in school in January and participate in spring practice, but the last thing he wants to do is predict when he will see the field.

"I will show everything I have, and everything will work out the way it should," he said in a recent phone interview. "I don't want to say one way or another."

In short, he will let his play do the talking, which has others talking him up.

"I think one day you will see him in the NFL," Ben Lippen head coach Derek White said in a phone interview.

That is some billing to live up to.

"I would be shocked if he isn't an impact quarterback," White said.

Beatty transferred from Chapin High in South Carolina in January of his junior year.

In his one season at Ben Lippen, he guided the Falcons to an 8-3 record and a berth in the state playoffs.

This season, he completed 143 of 194 passes for 2,892 yards, 29 touchdowns and just four interceptions.

He is considered a dual threat, but didn't do much running his senior season by design.

"He runs a 4.6 [40-yard dash] but we didn't want to run him much because we didn't want him to get banged up, but he can really move," White said.

One of the attractions for Beatty was his relationship with Owls first-year offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach Dave Patenaude, who held the same position the previous five years at Coastal Carolina.

"Being close to home, I have known coach Patenaude and we developed a good relationship," Beatty said.

NCAA rules prohibit college coaches from commenting on a recruit until he signs a national letter of intent, but it doesn't take much imagination to understand how excited the Temple coaching staff is to have Beatty.

According to Beatty and White, several colleges continued to recruit him after he committed to Temple on June 20. Beatty says after committing to Temple, he never considered anywhere else.

"The biggest deciding factor for me was the combination of great academics and great football," said Beatty, who says he is leaning toward being a business major. "I love the way coach [Geoff] Collins runs the team, the character of the players and the culture of the team."

A lefthander, Beatty had been a baseball player but has given up the game to enroll early at Temple. Not surprisingly, he is a pitcher. He said his fastball was in the 80s.

"It was hard giving up baseball, but to do what is best for football, I wanted to take classes and enroll early," he said.

White says that Beatty has been dutifully studying the Temple playbook in the mornings before school.

"Nobody is going to outwork him at Temple," White said.

Beatty also takes his role as a leader seriously. He has set up a group text with the other players who have committed.

He says he can't wait to get started, and his time is approaching. Beatty will move in on Jan. 13. From that day on, the expectations will be high.

He'll let others worry about that. Right now, Beatty is too busy learning his new playbook.

Temple football’s 2018 recruiting class

These players signed letters of intent on Wednesday morning. Each player is listed with his height, weight, position and home town and/or high school.

Oskar Andersson 6-6, 298 OL Celsiusskolan, Sweden

Khris Banks 6-4, 294 DT DePaul Catholic, N.J.

Jose Barbon 6-0, 177 WR, Conestoga Valley, Pa.

Trad Beatty 6-5, 222 QB Ben Lippen, S.C.

Evan Boozer 6-4, 231 DL Loyola Blakefield, Md.

Dante Burke 6-4, 253 DE Bishop Sullivan, Va.

Elijah Clark 6-3, 168 CB Sayreville, N.J.

Antonio Colclough 6-3, 221, DL Cardinal Hayes, N.Y.

Kyle Dobbins 5-11, 186 RB Timber Creek, N.J.

Amir Gillis 5-11, 187 S Simon Gratz, Pa.

Aaron Jarman 6-6, 254 TE North Lenoir N.C.

Layton Jordan 6-2, 207 LB McKeesport, Pa.

Adam Klein 6-5, 264 Episcopal Academy, Pa.

David Martin Robinson 6-4, 228 Hempfield, Pa.

Chauncey Moore 6-0, 175 Friendship Collegiate Academy, D.C.

Isaac Moore 6-7, 311 OL Thoren Business, Sweden

Kadas Reams 6-2, 169 WR Milford Academy, N.Y.

Jean Paul Rodriguez 6-4, 283 Lakewood, N.J.

Jordan Smith 6-4, 210 WR Western, Fla

Ronnie Stevenson 6-5, 194 Montour, Pa.

DaeSean Winston 6-2, 201 S Archbishop Spalding, Md.

J.D. Gomez 6-6 293 OL ASA College, Miami, Fla.

Nickolos Madourie 6-6, 230 Dakota College, N.D.

Rock Ya-Sin 6-2, 189 CB Presbyterian College, S.C.