Kurt Warner's son gets first career start as quarterback for Temple football

Temple has started true freshman quarterback E.J. Warner -- son of Pro Football Hall of Famer Kurt Warner -- against Rutgers on Saturday.

Warner was given the nod for his first career start from first-year coach Stan Drayton after a strong showing in his first appearance against Lafayette on Saturday. He completed 14 of 19 passes for 173 yards and two touchdowns after relieving D'Wan Mathis in the second quarter.

Warner was not highly recruited out of high school, picking Temple over offers from schools like Colorado State, Hawai'i, UConn and Marshall. There will inevitably be parallels to his father's story, as Kurt Warner played college football at Northern Iowa before famously dominating Arena Football and earning a shot in the NFL.

Warner is 6-foot, 190 pounds and played high school football at Brophy Prep in Phoenix. He had a connection to Temple, as Owls offensive coordinator Danny Langsdorf coached his brother, receiver Kade Warner, at Nebraska.

Mathis, a Georgia transfer, and former Virginia Tech and North Dakota State quarterback Quincy Patterson had been considered the front-runners for the starting job in camp.