Temple quarterback EJ Warner has entered the transfer portal. With multiple years of eligibility left, the son of NFL Hall of Famer Kurt Warner should generate some interest from Group of Five and Power Five schools alike.
These five schools could form EJ Warner’s landing spots, and a few might be surprising.
EJ Warner Landing Spots: Five Transfer Destinations
Temple’s 2023 football season wasn’t its best in recent history, but it wasn’t often for a lack of offense. Though the Owls went 3-9, quarterback EJ Warner threw for over 3000 yards and 23 touchdowns.
MORE: College Football Transfer Portal Tracker
Warner was lightly recruited out of high school, but after back-to-back 3000-yard seasons to open his career, Warner should see interest from larger schools and will have the opportunity to move up a level.
Here are five schools that might be interested.
Marshall Thundering Herd
Marshall offered Warner out of high school and has typically been a consistent G5 team. This season, however, the Thundering Herd struggled to a 6-6 record, largely due to inconsistent quarterback play.
Head coach Charles Huff let several assistants go after the season, but there’s still plenty of talent on the roster. Warner could provide steady quarterback play to a team that failed to reach double digits four times in conference play.
Georgia Southern Eagles
Back in 2018, Kurt Warner coached Kedon Slovis at Desert Mountain High School. Slovis received one of his only Power Five offers from Clay Helton at USC. USC offered quickly after hiring Bryan Ellis as quarterbacks coach.
Using those connections, it makes sense to suggest Warner make the move to Statesboro. Helton moved the former triple-option Eagles to the air raid and has succeeded with two upperclassmen. It makes sense for the Eagles to look for a guy with experience with multiple years of eligibility available.
Syracuse Orange
This time of year is always tricky because there are so many moving parts. After parting ways with Dino Babers, the Orange hired Georgia defensive backs coach Fran Brown. There aren’t many indications yet given to who the first-time head coach might hire to run his offense, but he’ll need a quarterback regardless.
Warner would likely have to be patient here, but Syracuse presents the opportunity to start at a Power Five program, which might appeal to Warner.
San Diego State Aztecs
New head coach Sean Lewis will need a quarterback to tutor at San Diego State, and if Warner is looking to move back to the west, there could be an opportunity at San Diego State.
Typically, Lewis has had more mobile quarterbacks, but Warner likes to push the ball downfield, something Lewis loves in his quarterbacks. If Warner is willing to be patient and help build a program, San Diego State might be the place to build his legacy slowly.
Iowa Hawkeyes
Hold your nose. This one would be risky, but it would allow Warner to play in one of the country’s top conferences. Iowa will have to push resources toward the offensive side of the ball, and under Kirk Ferentz, the Hawkeyes have never had a less-than-stellar defense.
Here, Warner would be guaranteed a strong defensive unit. Assuming Ferentz finds a competent offensive coordinator (A big if), there’s an opportunity to raise his draft stock by playing in the same state his dad did in college.