Chris Turner (American football)
Los Angeles, California) | |
College: | Maryland |
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Undrafted: | 2010 |
Career history | |
* Offseason and/or practice squad member only | |
Career highlights and awards | |
| |
Player stats at ArenaFan.com |
Christopher Evenson Turner
After a redshirt season in 2005, Turner saw no playing time as the third-string quarterback the following year. In 2007, he replaced the injured starter during the game against 10th-ranked Rutgers and led the Terrapins to an upset victory. After that, he remained as the team's leader for the remainder of the season, and against eighth-ranked Boston College, engineered another upset victory. Turner also helped Maryland secure an appearance in the Emerald Bowl. At the start of the 2008 season, he was relegated to backup status, but soon regained the starting position. That year, he led Maryland in wins over four of their five ranked opponents and to an appearance in the Humanitarian Bowl. He returned as the starter for the 2009 season, but suffered a knee injury and was replaced by Jamarr Robinson.
Early years
Turner was born in
At Chaminade, he led a
College career
Experience
Turner sat out his true freshman year during the 2005 season on redshirt status. In 2006, he served as the third-team quarterback behind starter Sam Hollenbach and reserve Jordan Steffy, but Turner saw no playing time during that season.[2]
2007 season
In
2008 season
In 2008, Maryland hired a new offensive coordinator, James Franklin, who installed a West Coast offense.[17] That season started with some controversy when head coach Ralph Friedgen initially selected senior Jordan Steffy as the starting quarterback. Turner considered returning home with a transfer to a Californian school, but ultimately decided against it.[18][19] When Steffy was injured again in the season-opener against Delaware, Turner was awarded the starting job for the rest of the season.[20][21] After Maryland defeated 21st-ranked Wake Forest, 26–0, Turner was voted the ACC Player of the Week and ESPN named him an "On the Mark" quarterback.[22][23] Against 16th-ranked North Carolina, Turner's split-second decision to hold onto the ball for a nine-yard run on fourth down and five put the team within range for the game-winning field goal, 17–15. For that, he was nominated for the week's Pontiac Game Changing Performance.[24] The win improved Maryland's record to 7–3 and reasserted control over their ACC championship destiny, although they lost the next game against Florida State, 37–3, which ended the Terrapins' title hopes. The following week against Boston College, Turner set career highs with 33 completions, 57 attempts, and 360 passing yards, but the effort fell short and Maryland lost, 28–21.[25] In the postseason, the Terrapins played Nevada in the Humanitarian Bowl where Turner threw for 198 yards, one interception, two touchdowns including a 59-yard long, and a two-point conversion.[26] At the end of the season, Maryland had beaten four out of their five Top 25-ranked opponents, a feat that was surpassed only by the teams in the BCS Championship Game: Florida and Oklahoma.[27]
2009 season
Fifth-year senior Turner entered the
Before the season, Turner was added to the watch list for the
Playing style and personality
Prior to his senior year, Jeff Barker of The Baltimore Sun noted that Turner's strengths were "poise, smarts, [and] toughness," while he had room for improvement in arm strength and mobility. Barker said, "He's a bit streaky—he calls himself a 'rhythm' passer … But he doesn't quit when things go poorly. His coolness can be mistaken for apathy."[32] Turner typically confines himself to the pocket, as his ability to run the ball himself is limited by his speed. He has made light of his own lack of quickness by saying that he runs a "flat 5.0"-second 40-yard dash.[35] The CBS Sports-affiliated NFL Draft Scout records his actual time as ranging from a low of 4.89 to a high of 5.16 seconds,[34] while Scout.com reports his 40-yard time as 4.8 seconds.[5] Turner's supposedly one-dimensional nature, however, has occasionally allowed him to make unexpected plays with his feet. The most noteworthy of these were the momentum-changing 41-yard option run against NC State in 2007,[14] and the fourth-down nine-yard scramble into field goal range against North Carolina in 2008.[24]
Pundits and coaches sometimes characterized Turner as a quarterback who did not excel during practices, but executed well on game-day.[19] Maryland head coach Ralph Friedgen said "He's pretty go-with-the-flow. And that's his greatest strength and maybe his greatest weakness. The bottom line is, he plays well in games."[3] The Baltimore Sun wrote that he "seems to play his best when it counts—and his worst when it doesn't."[3] Regarding the 2008 summer practices, offensive coordinator James Franklin said Turner ranked in the middle compared with Jordan Steffy and Josh Portis in terms of completion percentage, fewest interceptions, and "explosive" plays that gained 16 yards or more.[36] Turner conceded that Steffy was a better game-planner during practices.[19] Head coach Ralph Friedgen who had offered critical or subdued assessments of Turners' practice, said his intensity grew after losing the starting position to Steffy prior to the 2008 season. Turner said, "It lit a fire in me in the sense that I had to be ready."[19]
Among his Maryland teammates and coaches, Turner earned a reputation as an archetypal "laid-back" Californian and for remaining calm under pressure. After the 2007 win over Rutgers, offensive tackle Scott Burley described his roommate Turner as "real calm [in the huddle] . . . He would say, 'Guys, are you ready to score again? Are you ready to run the ball on these guys?' And we're like, 'Yeah, let's do that.'"[11][37] Turner received the nicknames "Sunshine" and "Napoleon Dynamite", in reference to his similar appearance to the fictional characters in the films Remember the Titans and Napoleon Dynamite, respectively.[11][38][39]
Personal life
Turner graduated from the University of Maryland in May 2009 with a bachelor's degree in government and politics.[40] His strong interest in politics factored into his decision on where to attend college.[3] He chose the University of Maryland partly based on its close proximity to Washington, D.C.[3] Turner's political views are liberal;[3] he is registered as a Democrat,[41] and has described himself as an idealist.[3]
During the 2008 season, political discussions were common in the Maryland locker room because of the
Turner's favorite sport, incidentally, is soccer, not football. He is also interested in foreign cultures and expressed regret at being unable to spend a semester abroad because of college football. Turner said that, dependent upon the outcome of his football career, he would like to attend the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.[3] He was able to attend that event and also got to meet his childhood idol David Beckham.
Statistics
Maryland | Passing | Rushing | |||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Season | GP | GS | Rating | Att | Cmp | % | Yds | Lng | TD | Int | Att | Sack | Yds | Lng | TD | ||
2007 | 11 | 8 | 135.50 | 241 | 153 | 63.5 | 1,958 | 78 | 7 | 7 | 44 | 21 | −26 | 41 | 0 | ||
2008 | 13 | 12 | 119.31 | 374 | 214 | 57.2 | 2,516 | 80 | 13 | 11 | 43 | 27 | −154 | 13 | 1 | ||
2009 | 10 | 10 | 121.05 | 303 | 180 | 59.4 | 2,069 | 67 | 10 | 10 | 84 | 25 | 22 | 15 | 2 | ||
Totals | 34 | 30 | 124.15 | 918 | 547 | 59.6 | 6,544 | 80 | 30 | 28 | 171 | 73 | −158 | 41 | 3 |
References
- ^ University of Maryland Commencement, May 21 and 22, 2009, University of Maryland, 2009, p. 57
- ^ a b c d e "Player Bio: Chris Turner". University of Maryland. Archived from the original on November 12, 2011. Retrieved July 27, 2017.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Kevin Van Valkenburg, Turner is tough to read[permanent dead link], The Baltimore Sun, April 25, 2009.
- ^ a b Chris Turner Profile, Rivals.com, retrieved July 3, 2009.
- ^ a b Chris Turner Profile, Scout.com, retrieved July 3, 2009.
- ^ Doug Doughty, Once 'Round and Round', Terps' QB act now set, The Roanoke Times, October 21, 2007.
- ^ Seth Hoffman, "Sunshine" Turner Shines Bright as Terps Win, Scout.com, September 29, 2007.
- The Washington Examiner, August 27, 2008.
- ^ Patrick Stevens, Past – and passed – is prologue? Archived December 16, 2009, at the Wayback Machine, The Washington Times, November 11, 2009.
- ^ Turner gives good audition as Terps' QB, The Herald-Mail, October 10, 2007.
- ^ a b c Turner brings new life to Terps, The Washington Times, October 5, 2007, retrieved December 30, 2008.
- ^ Marc Carig, Terrapins, Turner left licking their wounds, The Washington Post, November 17, 2007.
- ^ Patrick Stevens, Confusion abounds in Maryland defeat; QB carousel highlights loss, The Washington Times, November 18, 2007.
- ^ a b Patrick Stevens, Turner in rush to play another, The Washington Times, November 25, 2007.
- ^ Associated Press, Oregon State's 4th straight bowl win snaps Maryland's postseason streak Archived February 21, 2015, at the Wayback Machine, ESPN, December 28, 2007.
- ^ Heather Dinich, ACC position rankings: Quarterbacks Archived July 4, 2009, at the Wayback Machine, ESPN, July 11, 2008.
- ^ Bob Parasiliti, The Eastern Michigan litmus test[permanent dead link], The Herald-Mail, September 19, 2008.
- ^ Patrick Stevens, Turner remains in picture for Terps, The Washington Times, August 21, 2008.
- ^ a b c d Eric Prisbell, 'A Roller Coaster, for sure', The Washington Post, September 6, 2008, retrieved December 30, 2008.
- ^ Eric Detweiler, QB or not QB? Archived October 31, 2008, at the Wayback Machine, The Diamondback, August 7, 2008.
- ^ Heather Dinich, Thumb injury shelves Steffy for at least several weeks, ESPN.com, September 3, 2008.
- ^ Heather Dinich, ACC's Players of the Week Archived February 28, 2009, at the Wayback Machine, ESPN, October 20, 2008.
- ^ Mark Schlabach, On The Mark: Sizing up conference races, ESPN, October 20, 2008.
- ^ a b Heather Dinich, Video: Game-Changing Nominees, Week 12[permanent dead link], ESPN, November 16, 2008.
- ^ Maryland Falls to No. 20 Boston College, 28-21 Archived March 17, 2012, at the Wayback Machine, University of Maryland, November 25, 2008.
- ^ Maryland 42, Nevada 35, ESPN, December 30, 2008.
- ^ Maryland Team Notes, Inside Slant, USA Today, retrieved December 31, 2008.
- ^ a b c Eric Prisbell, For Terps, 'Mature' Turner Is the Man at Quarterback[permanent dead link], The Washington Post, p. D1 and D2, August 29, 2009.
- ^ Patrick Stevens, QB Turner's role: 'stabilizer', The Washington Times, July 28, 2009.
- ^ 2009 Football Season Outlook – Part I; General overview of the Terps as well as in-depth look at the quarterback and running back positions Archived May 9, 2012, at the Wayback Machine, University of Maryland, August 3, 2009.
- ^ John Taylor, Johnny Unitas Watch List Announced Archived July 19, 2009, at the Wayback Machine, NBC Sports, July 16, 2009.
- ^ a b c Jeff Barker, Chris Turner's "legacy", The Baltimore Sun, June 30, 2009.
- ^ Jeff Barker, How far can Chris Turner throw?, The Baltimore Sun, July 31, 2009.
- ^ a b Chris Turner, The NFL Draft Scout, retrieved August 6, 2009.
- ^ Jeff Barker, Terps can't run, The Baltimore Sun, November 29, 2008.
- ^ Patrick Stevens, Direct from Franklin Archived August 22, 2008, at the Wayback Machine, The Washington Times, August 18, 2008, retrieved January 5, 2009.
- ^ Marc Carig, Terp's Cool Facade Belies Tough Interior, The Washington Post, October 6, 2007, retrieved December 30, 2008.
- ^ Brett Edgerton, A couple of teams looked championship ready – and one was Ohio State, College GameDay Final, ESPN, October 19, 2008, retrieved December 30, 2008.
- ^ Dan Hinxman, Turner not overshadowed by father's hair-do legacy, Reno Gazette-Journal, December 28, 2008, retrieved December 30, 2008.
- ^ a b c Aaron Kraut, Mr. Turner goes to Washington Archived August 4, 2009, at the Wayback Machine, The Diamondback, July 26, 2009.
- ^ a b Greg Schimmel, The Political Gridiron: U. Maryland Quarterback Duo Stand On Opposing Sides Of Election, CBS News, November 3, 2008.
External links
- Chris Turner on Twitter
- Maryland Terrapins bio