Previously: Last year's profiles. S Sammy Faustin, S German Green, CB Gemon Green, CB Vincent Gray, CB Myles "Spider" Sims, LB Cameron McGrone, DE Taylor Upshaw, DE Julius Welschof, DE Aidan Hutchinson, OL Jalen Mayfield, OL Ryan Hayes, TE Luke Schoonmaker, TE Mustapha Muhammad, WR Ronnie Bell, RB-ish Michael Barrett, FB Ben VanSumeren, RB Hassan Haskins.

Buford, GA — 5'11", 200
		24/7	4*, #672 overall #37 RB, #60 GA
		Rivals	3*, 5.7 rating #18 RB, #47 GA
		ESPN	4*, 80 rating #21 RB, #45 GA
		Composite	3*, #978 overall #49 RB, #11 MO
		Other Suitors	ND, Wisc, VT, Miami, MSU, UF, Tenn
		YMRMFSPA	Darius Walker
Previously On MGoBlog	Hello post from Ace.
Notes	Twitter.
Film
Junior:

There are a number of guys in this class who were thrown in the generic three-star bin for understandable reasons. If you take a deep dive on a kid you may come back with reasons he would outperform his ranking or even believe that a recruiting service or three was wrong, but you could still see why a QB in Connecticut slated for TE or a WR everyone expects will play basketball in college doesn't get a top 100 ranking.

There's nowhere to hide with Christian Turner, though. The subject of a rollercoaster Michigan-ND battle at one of the most talented schools in Georgia—Turner split carries with a 2018 FSU commit and 2019 four star—drawing the kind of the general yawning Turner did is weird. He even went to the Opening! Yeah, Turner didn't knock anyone's face off while there and had somewhat limited opportunities to blow up thanks to his crowded HS backfield. This still seems like an easy mid-four star kind of call, but other than ESPN that was not the case. C'est la vie.

Turner's in the bin he's in because he does not have a standout talent that recruiting sites pick up on. When they describe him they tend to say "solid" over and over again, or imply it:

"slasher ... good, not elite speed, but he is quick, he has a good burst up the field ... runs with patience ... solid [receiver]  ... flashes the ability to break tackles, but the consistency between the tackles is not there yet ... may not be one trait that blows me away, but he is solid in so many areas."

Chad Simmons:

"...knowing how he prepares and works at football makes him a safe bet. He’s not a flashy kid and he’s probably not the fastest, biggest or strongest back, but he's good at everything. He’s durable, he’s smart, he knows how to run and he can catch the ball out of the backfield. He’s just a productive running back."

Opposing coach:

“I don’t think he’s a 4.4 kid or anything, but he does run very well for his size. I just think he has an all-around game – you can tell he’s really worked on everything, and not just one area.”

Heck, Turner's self-scout is a very "solid" self-scout:

“I’d say my vision would be my best factor. Seeing things, really knowing the playbook – not just knowing the offensive side of the ball, but the defense; the different schemes and stuff they do. I think just knowing the game, is really what helps me out the most. My speed, toughness… you know I’m not the biggest running back, but I’m not afraid to lay a hit, either. I’m not afraid of contact.”

That is definitely true; a few of the plays that made his highlight reel are Turner laying the wood as a tiny middle linebacker. He gets under some pads when unblocked. And in there is where Turner impressed college coaches more than the industry guys. His coach provided the scouting report that might unravel this mystery:

“His number one strength is point of contact. His yards after contact is his strength — you better buckle up because he’s so explosive from the hips to the chest. He’s going to hit you and run you high, that’s what he’s gifted at. A lot of people don’t have that. ...  very physical ... very explosive, I think that’s what makes him so good, because he’s very fast in the hole, very explosive on contact. His footwork is really, really good.”

As a bonus, Turner is also "really good" at pass protection, in part because he understands the pickups and in part because he gets low to the ground and uses that explosion.

[After the JUMP: further unraveling the mystery]

So if you see him at a camp like an Opening regional you might describe him sort of like a quick, open-space scatback:

• "...showed a great combination of speed and quickness. He was fluid in drills and caught the ball well in 7-on-7."
• "...explosive prospect that caught the football well"
• "...dynamic football player ... showed tremendous quickness and impressive speed. He was also very instinctive and elusive, leaving many defenders grasping at air throughout the day."

And if that kind of guy doesn't whamboozle you with his testing numbers you're gonna knock him down in the three-star bin and forget about him. The only mention of Turner from the Opening itself was a bit of a sour note:

-- Michigan commit Christian Turner looked good running routes, but didn’t show much in the 1-on-1 portion. Again, the linebacker corps dominated the entire running back position as a whole on the night.

But if that guy is not in fact an open-field scatback but in fact the kind of guy who will present you with a mass of shoulder pads to the gut when you try to tackle him, then the elusiveness just helps him grind out that YAC. And that's what he is, first and foremost. I liked this Rivals video because it shows a bunch of runs where Turner gets tackled, and he looks super annoying to tackle:

Honestly, that's a better take on Turner than any other highlight film. Running back highlight film should not have touchdowns on it. But that's an unhinged rant for another time.

Turner is the kind of runner who will ID a gap and then hit it with the proverbial burst. Brandon Brown:

"...hit[s] holes quickly and get[s] to top speed in a hurry. ... top speed doesn't necessarily look elite but he's plenty fast ... sideline and contact balance both look to be superb and he does not go down easily showing an array of spins and jukes after contact throughout his tape. He's also very good at decision making while running in terms of putting his foot in the ground and getting upfield."

Touch The Banner:

...well rounded back, and I generally like running backs to be in that 5’11” range. ...runs a lot of inside zone, outside zone, and power. Turner gets downhill quickly, keeps his shoulder pads square to the line of scrimmage, and runs behind his pads when necessary. The vision is there to plow straight ahead or see the cutback lane, and he has quick enough feet in the hole to take his body where his mind goes. He’s tricky enough in the open field to keep defenders guessing about whether he’ll cut back, power through a tackle, or try to turn on the jets. ...runs hard through contact, but he’s a little bit light and needs to gain strength in the lower body... more quick than fast.

A hidden asset for Turner is that until his senior year he played in an old-school power offense; he'll be better versed with what Michigan wants to do than most high school backs these days.

ESPN's underclass eval hearkens back to the days when ESPN said the most useful things about most prospects:

Patient and savvy runner who consistently finds the open lanes. Slasher who explodes out of his cuts and is difficult to handle in space. Well-balanced runner who flashes the ability to break through tackles and push the pile. ... Needs to add bulk and functional strength.

He's not a scatback. He's one of those smallish weeble-wobble backs who require increasingly severe countermeasures to actually put on the ground.

Umm this young man clearly has somewhere to be. @_ChrisTurner28 gives @CCHS_Gladiators defenders rides on his way https://t.co/T0ARczFQoe pic.twitter.com/t4hV8DT2xs

— NFHS Network (@NFHSNetwork) September 30, 2017

That's why Michigan and Notre Dame were after him, and why early returns on Turner are encouraging. Per Lorenz, "Michigan views Turner as a Karan Higdon-style with a higher ceiling," and he's a perfect fit for Michigan. Two different players have already brought Turner up apropos of little, with Higdon shouting him out at Media Days and Jon Runyan potentially exposing his inner recruitnik:

“From watching film, (the top freshman is) probably Christian Turner,” said redshirt junior offensive tackle Jon Runyan Jr. “Small guy, but he’s explosive. He runs really hard, and that’s what we need from a back in the Big Ten. He’s been really impressive watching him on film.”

Turner's big enough and has a lot of positive arrows; I wouldn't regard him as just another three star in this class.

Etc.: nope.

Why Darius Walker? Part of this post included scanning an ND thread since for a while Turner was expected to commit there, and one of the posts compared Turner to Walker. Walker also went to Buford so that's obvious but actually, yeah, Turner does remind me of the inexplicably frustrating to tackle Walker. Walker didn't have great long speed or intimidating size but was able to slash through defenses with shallow cuts and slip or spin off on contact to get consistent YAC. He was a deeply annoying player to root against because he'd get stopped short and then it would be second and five.

Higdon is another good comparison. He got brought up a couple times when people talk about Hassan Haskins but the squat, pad-forward Turner is a much better Higdon analogue than Haskins. And if you want to say Mike Hart, I'm listening.

Guru Reliability: Medium, I guess. There's no reason the recruiting industry shouldn't have a handle on Turner but the recruitment doesn't match the rankings outside of ESPN's.

Variance: Low. In contrast to Haskins, Turner played at a high level in high school and doesn't have a long way to go to get filled out since he's significantly shorter. Also if he's going to skip a redshirt that says something.

Ceiling: Moderate-plus. Not going to be a hellacious physical package and likely tops out as a mid-round pick even if Michigan gets a hit here.

General Excitement Level: High-minus. Turner is a good bet to be a contributor and should have a solid-to-All-Conference range.

Projection: Probably still redshirts because this space is still on the O'Maury Samuels train; if Samuels is just too dinged up or is not working out than Turner is a good bet to be the third back if his senior year pass protection translates to college. Without a lot of non-Samuels competition left on the docket at RB, Turner has an excellent shot at having a long and productive career, especially if Barrett stays on defense. He'll have the early edge on Haskins.