Before Temple’s season finale against Memphis at Lincoln Financial Field, the program honored 14 players on senior day, many of whom were about to play their last game for the Cherry and White.

As a sophomore, E.J. Warner was not one of those players. But in a college football world that includes the lure of the transfer portal and NIL for its players, there has of course been curiosity about the future of a quarterback who has been a certain bright spot while surpassing the 3,000 yard passing mark in each of his first two seasons, among other milestones.

In a 45-21 loss Friday that brought the Owls’ season to a disappointing end with a 3-9 record, Warner played well, recording 330 passing yards, two touchdowns and an interception that bounced off wide receiver Dante Wright’s hands with less than two minutes remaining in the first half.

It was a solid end to a season that saw Warner etch himself into Temple’s record books once again.

When posed with a question regarding his future with the team as his postgame media session came to a close, Warner declined to say anything definitive.

“Please don’t ask me that right now,” Warner said. “Just focus on the seniors, focus on this season and this game.”

Earlier in the postgame session, Warner did point out that he loved being around his teammates and wants to improve himself to be better next year.

“Just a lot of down points that we didn’t expect to happen or didn’t want to happen,” Warner said. “We didn’t reach our goals, but it’s something that we can lean on and grow in the future. I think it makes it sweeter on the back end once we turn this thing around with all the stuff we’ve had to go through. Just spending time with all these guys, I love this team, just being there every single day, working this whole season, just getting back and ready to go.”

Warner averaged a little less than 254 passing yards and threw seven touchdowns and five interceptions through Temple’s first five games as the Owls started 2-3. In game six, Warner responded with a 472-yard, five-touchdown, no-interception passing performance in a 49-34 shootout loss to UTSA.

Warner did not make the trip to face North Texas the following week because of concussion symptoms that followed the UTSA loss, and that concussion also held him out of the Owls’ 55-0 loss to SMU the next week.

Simply put, Temple’s offense was not competitive without him.

Warner made his return to the lineup against Navy and led the Owls to a win over the Midshipmen by completing 27 of his 33 passes for 402 yards, four touchdowns and two interceptions. Over the last four games of the season, Warner threw for 1,335 yards, 11 touchdowns and seven interceptions while completing 59 percent (103 of 174) of his throws.

Warner finished the 2023 season with 3,076 passing yards, 23 touchdowns and 12 interceptions.

When asked if there was anything different he would want to do differently to prepare and improve this coming offseason as opposed to last, Warner sounded like someone intent on returning, although he stopped short of a definitive ‘yes’ when asked directly just moments later about whether or not he would return.

“Kind of the same thing,” Warner said. “Change my body, getting bigger, stronger, faster, and then just being around the guys. Working hard, getting in the film room, just so that we can come back and have a better season, reach our goals that we want to reach. So nothing too much different. Not going to change too much. Ready to get back to work.”