Tag: Christian Turner

Michigan vs. Penn State Awards

Shea Patterson (image via Bleacher Report)

Let’s see more of this guy on offense . . . Christian Turner. Why Christian Turner? Toward the end of last week’s blowout win against Penn State, Michigan was still running zone read options with quarterbacks Shea Patterson and Dylan McCaffrey. I was afraid it would get one of them injured, and it turns out McCaffrey broke his right collarbone and will be out for the year. If Michigan gets in another blowout situation – which is a strong possibility this week against Rutgers – then I would prefer to see the quarterbacks hand off to Turner (or other backup running backs).

Hit the jump for more thoughts on the game.

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Michigan vs. Nebraska Awards

Khaleke Hudson (image via MLive)

Let’s see more of this guy on offense . . . Christian Turner. Turner (10 carries for 55 yards) made his college debut and looked pretty good doing it. He’s very small right now and needs to keep adding weight to his body in the coming off-season, but he showed some decent quickness and toughness. If Chris Evans needs to miss more time with his hamstring injury, it would be nice to see Turner get some snaps behind Karan Higdon and Tru Wilson.

Hit the jump for the rest of the awards.

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Michigan 56, Nebraska 10

This wasn’t deemed a penalty until much deliberation (image via Lincoln Journal Star)

That was unexpected. Nebraska isn’t very good this season, but I still thought Michigan would struggle. I predicted a 24-17 game in which the Wolverines would play down to the level of the Cornhuskers. I was wrong. Michigan’s defense played superb football, and the offensive line was overwhelmed the whole day. It also helped that Nebraska quarterback Adrian Martinez was not up to full speed after getting hurt against Colorado; he wore a knee brace and only seemed to be operating at 75% or so. Michigan’s offense was also clicking at a higher level than they have been, and that’s a credit to them. Nebraska’s defense shouldn’t have been as out of sync as the offense, but a Michigan offense that had been struggling in many ways really took it to them.

Hit the jump for the rest of the recap.

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Final TTB Ratings for 2018

Aidan Hutchinson (image via Hudl)

Thanks to Bryan and Keith for the recent, generous donations through Paypal!

It’s been a long time coming because I’ve been so busy, but here are the final TTB Ratings for the class of 2018.

A note on the ratings: These are Michigan-specific ratings, so a guy who would be an instant starter at Eastern Michigan might not be quite so much of an individual standout playing against Michigan’s opponents . . . and he might even have a hard time getting on the field over some other Wolverines. It’s tricky trying to determine how the depth chart will shake out over the next three to five years, but I’m here for the heavy lifting. For more of an explanation, check out this page here (LINK).

Hit the jump for the final rankings.

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2018 Season Countdown: #71 Christian Turner

Christian Turner (image via Detroit News)

Name: Christian Turner
Height: 5’11”
Weight: 185 lbs.
High school: Buford (GA) Buford
Position: Running back
Class: Freshman
Jersey number: N/A
Last year: Turner was a senior in high school (LINK). He ran the ball 115 times for 801 yards and 10 touchdowns.

Turner confuzzled some Michigan recruiting fanatics when he committed in April of 2017. He was a generic 3-star running back with decent offers (Miami, Notre Dame, Wisconsin) but not a whole lot of recruiting hype. Michigan snatched him when a lot of people thought he would be committing to the Fighting Irish, so that was the silver lining to an otherwise uninspiring recruiting victory. Even his high school production is solid, but nothing spectacular.

But going into the 2018 season, I keep hearing that Michigan thinks they found a bit of a hidden gem in Turner. I have heard that they expect him to play this year, likely as a third-down back. Turner did a nice job catching a screen pass in the International Bowl and has decent speed, and if he can be a decent pass blocker, that would be great. I think finding high schoolers who are ready to handle college pass protections can be an iffy proposition, but if the coaching staff thinks he has the mental and physical capabilities to be a solid blocker, then hooray – because Karan Higdon and Chris Evans haven’t been great in that area. Either way, I don’t imagine Turner as a huge step up over the non-Higdon and non-Evans options, so I’m still placing him fairly low in the countdown.

Prediction: Backup running back