Starting at tight end for Temple: The Lancaster-Lebanon League.

Every one, or almost every one, of the snaps at tight end for the Owls in Saturday's Penn State game will be taken by Matt Balasavage, a fifth-year senior from Lancaster Catholic, and Cody Booth, a redshirt junior from Penn Manor.

Both players hitched their futures to Temple when Temple football was uncool. As a result, both appear to have grown, as players and people, at least as much as the Temple program has.

Balasavage, who was a regular at TE and on special teams on Temple's 8-4 2010 team, is still on the top of the depth chart.

We're not talking Kellen Winslow here. Both Balasavage (6-4, 256) and Booth (6-5, 255) are big, power TEs. They share the work, mostly blocking work, in the Owls' offense.

"I'd say we're similar players," Booth said Wednesday over the post-workout din at the Owls' practice facility. "We both get stuck blocking a lot."

Only Booth has a reception this year, a 10-yarder in the Owls' season-opening blowout of Villanova. Balasavage caught only two balls all of last season.

"We rotate tight ends a lot," Balasavage said. "We always have. It's good. Anything to win.

"We definitely compete in practice, and for reps in the game. But we have a great relationship. We're really good friends."

Booth was recruited mostly by Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference schools (Millersville, Shippensburg) as a Penn Manor senior in 2008.

That was OK, but, "I really, really wanted to play Division I," he said.

So it was a memorable day when Booth was sitting in class and Penn Manor coach Todd Mealy walked in and handed him a letter from Temple, which was interested in Booth as a preferred walk-on.

"That was pretty exciting," Booth said.

Soon Booth joined "Local 215," a reference to Philly's area code and the collective name of Temple's walk-ons. Last spring he earned a scholarship.

Balasavage played some as a true freshman in 2007, then redshirted in his second year, before becoming a rotation regular.

He was a higher-profile recruit, with offers from Buffalo, Pitt and a number of FCS schools, in addition to Temple.

The decisive difference was Al Golden, the then-Temple coach now bailing muck at Miami.

Now, both Booth and Balasavage are sold on Steve Addazio, the former Florida defensive coordinator who replaced Golden.

"They're a lot the same," Booth said. "Coach Golden did a phenomenal job. Addazio's a straightforward guy. He tells it like it is."

"They have pretty much the same philosophy," Balasavage said. "(Addazio) is more outgoing, wears his emotions on his sleeve.

"I definitely have sympathy for what coach Golden is going through, but he turned Temple completely around. He'll do the same thing at Miami."

Balasavage has already graduated with a degree in communications. He's taking some business classes toward eventually pursuing a master's in business administration.

There's another extracurricular activity. Intrigued by a presentation in a class last spring, Balasavage checked into and then volunteered for the Big Brothers program.

About twice a month, he gets together with a North Philadelphia boy named Julian.

"He's actually a very shy kid, who comes from a good family," Balasavage told the Philadelphia Daily News. "His mom is doing the best he can …

"I definitely see us staying in contact. He's like a little brother and a good friend. He'll probably be in my wedding some day."

That's the macro view. On the micro level, Booth and Balasavage will push everything else aside Saturday and try to make some Temple football history. The Owls' last win over Penn State was pre-Pearl Harbor.

"They're Penn State; great players, great coaches, great tradition," Booth said. "You can't really expect anything. We'll see how it goes. But I definitely think we can play with them this year."

mgross@lnpnews.com