Temple safety Alex Odom enters NCAA transfer portal

Temple safety Alex Odom has entered the NCAA transfer portal. He spent the past four seasons with the Owls and will have one year of eligibility remaining as a graduate transfer.

Odom recorded 198 total tackles and appeared in 40 games across his career at Temple. He was a starter each of the past three seasons, and he finished 2023 with 52 tackles and one pass defended.

The 6-foot, 205-pound defensive back had his best season the year prior as a sophomore to finish with 75 tackles (four for loss), two interceptions and four passes defended. He’ll now hope to find a new home as he prepared to enter his final season of college.

As a recruit, Odom was a three-star prospect coming out of Kingsway High School in Swedesboro, New Jersey. He played both running back and safety to rank as the No. 2,589 overall player and No. 136 athlete in the 2020 cycle according to the On3 Industry Ranking, a weighted average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies.

Alex Odom is the fifth Temple defensive back to enter the transfer portal this offseason. Among the other players that the Owls lost include cornerback Jalen McMurray, who recently committed to Tennessee.

Temple is coming off of a 3-9 finish as it prepared to enter the third season under coach Stan Drayton. The program has not won more than three games in any of the past four years but will hope to change that in 2024.

To keep up with the latest players on the move, check out On3’s Transfer Portal wire. 

The On3 Transfer Portal Instagram account and Twitter account are excellent resources to stay up to date with the latest moves.

Former Temple CB Jalen McMurray transfers to Tennessee

One former Temple defensive back has already found a new home with McMurray committed to Tennessee in January. He has played in parts of 27 games over his career ands has started each of the past two seasons for the Owls, picking up the starting gig in the 2022 season-opener against Duke.

He’s logged 90 career tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss, and one interception over 12 passes defended. McMurray has also forced a pair of fumbles and recovered one.

According to Pro Football Focus, the cornerback was on the field for 742 snaps in 2023, 654 snaps in 2022 and 32 snaps in 2021 as a true freshman. The publication lauded him with a grade of 80.6 as a redshirt freshman and 66.5 as a redshirt-sophomore this past season, having given up five total touchdowns across 94 targets his way in parts of three seasons.