Justin Turner transferring to D2 Notre Dame of Ohio

Submitted by StephenRKass on

I saw this buried in a thread last night, but former Michigan 4 star transfer Justin Turner, of Masillon, who transferred to West Virginia, is now transferring to Division 2 Notre Dame of Ohio. I talked with one of the coaches at ND - Ohio, who confirmed this. Notre Dame is a small liberal arts school in the Cleveland area. According to my source, it sounds like Turner struggled at West Virginia, not on the field, but in the classroom.  IIRC, Turner had problems qualifying academically, and these troubles followed him from Masillon to Michigan and now West Virginia. I suspect that in High School, he was passed through his classes to keep him eligible on the field. He just couldn't cut it academically at either Michigan or WVa. This is now the end of the line. Either he gets it together, or he washes out of college and football altogether. Would be sad, but neither the first nor the last.

As RR has said, he no longer plays at Michigan, move on, next topic. My reason for posting is only to suggest that perhaps Turner's head wasn't screwed on right. I don't think it was his physical attributes. If anything, Turner probably could coast in HS because he was bigger and faster than the competition. Obv., this isn't the case at the next level. I wonder if sometimes, these guys have things come too easily, causing huge problems when they expect special treatment, and when they actually have to learn routes, where to be on the field, etc.

Jivas

November 28th, 2010 at 3:33 AM ^

A lot of these stories end up with sad endings, where you don't know what happened to a guy.  Hopefully he can use his physical talents to get himself a college degree, and move on with his life the best way he can.

GOBLUE4EVR

November 28th, 2010 at 10:25 AM ^

understand why high schools grease kids through just so they can play... don't the teachers and principles know that they are not helping the kid by doing this??? the kids learn nothing from this and once they get into a university thats not in the SEC and have to go to class, they're screwed because they don't know basics of studying... i wish JT all the best and i hope he can figure it out...

mackbru

November 28th, 2010 at 1:53 PM ^

This makes it easier to understand both the situation and Justin. No doubt you're right about the passing-through part (though he did have to meet certain standardized-test qualifications). Or maybe he's got personal issues. He obviously had talent; he just wasn't mentally prepared. (If you can't cut it at WVU, academically, you're really behind.) Hope he catches up. Seemed like a decent kid.

Happy Jack

November 28th, 2010 at 2:03 PM ^

so demar dorsey couldn't get in because of grades, justin turner couldn't keep up in WVU, let alone here- i know theres at least 1 or 2 other DB's we recruited that are still trying to become eligible- boubacar cissoko.....

you can't recruit the pacman jones' of the world at michigan even if they're highly rated.  this falls on RR and the recruits he's targeting.  this is the main reason why i'm sick of the "inexperienced freshman" and "injury" excuses for the defense.  if we were recruiting guys that could actually be eligible to play on the field the last 2 years WE'D HAVE A GOOD DEFENSE.  how is this not the head coaches fault? 

j-turn14

November 28th, 2010 at 3:04 PM ^

and also a Lloyd Carr recruit originally. Turner, by all reports from this past Spring and Fall, was not any more impressive than the true Freshman we ended up playing all year. You might have been thinking of Adrian Witty at the end of that first paragraph, but he wasn't even considered a high D-1 talent and many people think he was only offered because he was Denard's best friend in HS.

In summation, none of those guys would have made our defense any better. Demar Dorsey may have helped some but I doubt he changes the outcomes of any games.

Happy Jack

November 28th, 2010 at 4:36 PM ^

i know he was a criminal.  the point was we've recruited guys that we can't keep on the field.  that has something to do with how bad the defense is this year.  you guys are in denial if you don't think at least some of the blame for the defense doesn't go to RR and how he has recruited.  i guess you'd rather believe its the evil michigan secondary hating god and not the head coach.  

GOBLUE4EVR

November 28th, 2010 at 6:36 PM ^

the fun of sports, kids don't always pan out... booboo was on his way to be a decent player but for whatever reason he developed an holier than now attitude and got kicked off of the team, and then you know the rest of the story... JT didn't want to put the time in on the practice field and in the class room... it happens at every school every year the only problem is that it happens on D here and always at a position of need... dorsey did enough to get cleared by the NCAA but not by michigan, and witty busted his ass to get his grades up only to be turned down by michigan admissions... does part of the blame fall at the feet of RR? yes, but is it his fault that michigan admissions won't let players in, and kids become lazy and become thugs? i don't think so...

Happy Jack

November 28th, 2010 at 9:54 PM ^

but is it his fault that michigan admissions won't let players in, and kids become lazy and become thugs?

yes it is his fault and thank you for making my point for me.  first of all, RR should understand the admission guidelines and recruit players that fall within those guidelines rather than trying to get the school to bend the rules for players.  at WVU that shit worked, but Michigan is a top academic institution and while they definitely don't hold athletes to the same standards of you and i, there's only so much you can do.  he gambled on being able to get those kids in and they couldn't so he got burned and thus, among other things, a large contributing factor to a bad defense.

as for the "thugs" part.  i don't hold him as responsible for this because every program has guys that get into trouble.  but i think it emphasizes the point that maybe he's targeting the wrong people and i don't think he should get a free pass for that.  

at the end of the day, i think the head coach is responsible regardless of specific situations. the players we start, be it true freshman or converted wide receivers, fall on him.  EVERY school loses guys to injury.  this is not an excuse.  I hate to look to spielman but he was right in the sense that OSU loses players to injury too and they keep going.  have you ever thought that part of the reason that we lose Defensive players to attrition more than offensive is that its a fucking disaster as far as coaching goes?  Greg Robinson doesn't even know what we're doing so do you expect the players to? no, a lot of them completely lost confidence in the coaches and that's why they left.  

you didn't see these things happen to lloyd carr and you don't see it happen to coaches like tressel, saban, or even dantonio.  it's the responsibility of the coaching staff and they've done an abysmal job on the defensive side of the ball anyway you slice it.  

i support RR and Michigan 100% and i don't necessarily want to see him fired but I'm tired of seeing excuses. we shouldn't have to make excuses.