Nov. 13, 2009
By: DAN DUNKIN
Bucks County Courier Times
PHILADELPHIA - During the first three years of his massive rebuilding project, Temple football coach Al Golden won plaudits for his recruiting prowess.
But he had won only 10 games, largely because he lacked a game changer - a program transformer.
The kid who would become that catalyst was undergoing a life-changing experience at Glen Mills, a boarding school in Delaware County for court-adjudicated young men. Bernard Pierce was sent there after a troubled time at Lower Merion High, ending his sophomore year with a brawl.
During Pierce's transition to Glen Mills' regimented environment, Golden, underscoring the adage "leave no stone unturned," began recruiting Pierce. Golden saw an immensely gifted running back and a kid determined not to fall through the cracks.
And now, as the nation's leading freshman rusher, Pierce is a cornerstone of Temple's huge turnaround. He changed, and so have the Owls' fortunes.
With the Owls 7-2 overall and 5-0 in the Mid-American Conference, the powerful, durable and explosive Pierce has already set a Temple freshman rushing record with 1,211 yards, a total that leads the MAC. He ranks third nationally with a 134.56 yards per game average. His average per carry is 5.9 and he's scored 14 touchdowns.
This is classic high-risk, high-reward.
"To have a running back like Bernard, it makes our job so much easier," sophomore left guard Steve Caputo said. "+He's just unbelievable. We haven't had someone like him in a while."
"I just wanted to come here and try to help the program turn around," Pierce said. "I didn't know that it was going to be this big of an impact this soon."
As a senior at Glen Mills, Pierce rushed for 1,578 yards and scored 26 touchdowns. In track, he ran the 100 meters in 10.6 seconds - the best time in the state that year. What impressed Golden as much as the athletic package was that Pierce opted to stay for his senior year; the court had mandated only one year.
Golden's discussions with Pierce's teachers and coaches convinced the coach this was a good kid, one who before Glen Mills had made bad choices and run with the wrong crowd. Pierce says Glen Mills got him on the right path, giving him discipline and focus.
The Ardmore native chose Temple because Golden and Temple "stuck with me from Day One."
"I wanted to come here and make a difference," Pierce said+ "I've been following Al and he's turned the program around year by year, so I did think we definitely had a good shot."
Pierce has twice carried 40 times in a game and has basically strapped the Temple offense on his back. His 212- and 267-yard rushing outputs against Toledo and Navy, respectively, marked the first back-to-back 200-yard games by a Temple runner since then-senior Paul Palmer in 1986.
"We don't take a pitch count," Golden said. "He's unique. He's got top-end speed, power between the tackles and can make you miss in the second and third level."
Golden is as pleased with Pierce's punishing and patient 5-, 6-yard runs as he is with his home runs.
"That's hard to teach young running backs - they don't want to hit singles," Golden said. "He stays on track, and the accumulation of those (shorter) runs have an impact late in games. And when he gets to the second and third level, well, I can't coach that."
The maturity of Temple's tough offensive line coincides with the arrival of the game-changer.
"I don't think you could've had a tailback that could've come in here at a more opportune time," Golden said. "If he'd have come in a couple years earlier, it would've been like Rocky covering up in the corner. We weren't very strong or very big.
"He has some room to run now."
"They get off the ball, they're big, physical, they punch you in the mouth, and I just follow their blocks," Pierce grins.
The way Pierce handles all the new media attention reflects his hard-earned maturity.
"We're real confident, but we want to stay humble," he said. "Coach is telling us to stay humble, that whatever people say to you, say thank you, but don't feed into it. As soon as people tell you how great you are is when you start to slack and relax."