Signing Day Notebook: Temple poised to sign transfer-heavy class

Fresh off a third consecutive 3-9 season, including the second straight under Stan Drayton, Temple is set to sign a transfer-heavy class that could make or break this regime's tenure on North Broad Street.

With the departure of E.J. Warner to the transfer portal and linebackers Jordan Magee and Yvandy Rigby to the NFL Draft, Drayton and his staff faced the daunting task of replacing a number of proven producers at pivotal positions. In an attempt to do so, Temple added transfers from the junior college, FCS and FBS levels in this year's class.

Find out who is expected to sign with the Owls below.

Warner left some big shoes to fill, as he threw for 6,104 yards and 41 touchdowns over the last two season while the Owls went winless in games that he did not appear in. Couple that with the graduation of backup quarterback Quincy Patterson and the decommitment of high school prospect Chris Dietrich and it is no surprise that the Owls are in the market for multiple quarterbacks in this class.

Rutgers transfer Evan Simon is the first gunslinger to sign on the dotted line for the Owls, and he brings two career starts, 952 yards and five touchdowns with him to Philadelphia. Simon's best appearance, by far, came against Iowa in 2022 when the Pennsylvania native threw for a career-high 300 yards in a loss to the Hawkeyes. No Rutgers player has eclipsed the 250-yard mark since.

According to sources, Temple will could bring in up to two more scholarship quarterbacks as part of this class.

Edward Saydee chose to enter the transfer portal instead of returning to Temple for a sixth year, which left Temple with a need to bring in an upperclassman back. Junior college transfer Tyrei Washington averaged 4.8 yards per carry while rushing for 976 yards and 11 touchdowns over two seasons for City College of San Francisco. The stocky back also caught 27 passes for 219 yards this season. Washington also held an offer from Ohio.

German tight end Daniel Evert chose Temple over offers from South Florida and Akron back in June and stayed true to his commitment. Temple graduated both Jordan Smith and David Martin-Robinson from its tight end room this season so the Owls could look to add another player here before the season starts.

Temple dipped into the south for both of its high school wideout commits this cycle, as three-star Florida receiver Bryson Goodwin chose Temple over offers from Toledo and Bowling Green, while Georgia receiver Tyler Stewart selected the Owls over the West Virginia Mountaineers. The 5-foot-9, 170-pound Stewart caught 59 passes for 1,265 yards and 21 touchdowns this season for Jones County.

Temple has extended offers to junior college and transfer wideouts, so another addition to Jafar Williams' room would not be surprising.

For the second straight season, Temple brought in multiple offensive linemen from the same junior college. Last year, Laney College's Diego Barajas and Chris Smith committed to the Owls, while this year's cycle saw College of the Canyon's Samiuela Palu and Linus Lindberg commit to Chris Wiesehan's room.

Lindberg is a Swedish import, something the Owls have had success with in the past in the form of Isaac Moore and Victor Stoffel, who has yet to announce if he will return to Temple for a final year. Last season was Lindberg's first year playing offensive line.

Palu received offers from Penn State and San Diego State in 2022 before going the junior college route. This time around, the 6-foot-4 lineman chose Temple over offers from New Mexico, New Mexico State, Ohio and UMass.

Evan Dailey is a high school offensive lineman who chose Temple over an offer from Butler earlier this summer.

Bowie defensive lineman Sultan Badmus was a late addition to Temple's class, as he did not commit to the Owls until November, but could end up being one of the biggest additions. The 6-foot-4, 240-pound Badmus chose Temple over offers from Maryland, Duke and Indiana.

St. Mary Ryken defensive end Cam Jones also chose Temple over an offer from Maryland, as well as Marshall.

After seeing the middle of its defensive line decimated by injuries last season, Temple brought in two interior defensive lineman that should see immediate playing time in Sekou Kromah and Murray State bounceback Dimonyai Lacey.

Kromah had 15.5 tackles for a loss this season and left Monroe College as the program's all-time leader with 20 TFLs. Lacey, meanwhile, finished his season with Northwest Mississippi with 3.5 sacks in his last four games.

Former 4-star prospect Torren Wright originally signed with NC State in 2022 over offers from Michigan, West Virginia, South Carolina and Kentucky. This time around, Rivals rated Wright as a 3-star transfer prospect. The North Carolina native will have three years of eligibility left at Temple.

Junior college linebacker Katin Surprenant originally walked on at Colorado before going to Mt. San Antonio Community College for two seasons. The 6-foot-3, 240-pound linebacker recorded 89 tackles, seven tackles for a loss and two sacks during his time at Mt. SAC and was an unanimous All-Conference selection this season.

The largest group in this year's class, Temple's cornerbacks and safeties should receive an influx of talent in this year's class.

UTEP graduate transfer Torey Richardson started 12 games for the Miners this season and is rated as the No. 280 transfer prospect by Rivals.

Arkansas transfer cornerback Jaylen Lewis had offers from schools like Auburn, Florida State and Oklahoma coming out of high school and is rated by Rivals as the No. 367 transfer prospect this cycle. Lewis played for Temple cornerbacks coach Dominique Bowman at Arkansas in 2022 and will have three years of eligibility left at Temple.

Western Carolina safety was a 3-time All-Conference selection for the Catamounts and was a finalist for the Jerry Rice Award, given annually to the FCS's best freshman, in 2021. Keaton left Western Carolina with career totals of 184 tackles and five interceptions. He chose Temple over offers from schools like Tulane, UConn and Charlotte.

Both of Temple's high school secondary prospects in this class chose the Owls over Power 5 programs. Union City's Denzel Chavis garnered an offer from Boston College to go with other offers from schools like Air Force and Marshall. Paramus Catholic's Adrian Laing, meanwhile, received offers from schools like West Virginia, Michigan State, Maryland, Boston College and Syracuse.

With Camden Price graduating, Temple had a need to bring in a placekicker for this season. Austin Peay graduate transfer Maddux Trujillo was a Second Team All-Conference selection this season and made 86.7 percent of his field-goal attempts, which was the seventh best mark in the FCS.