Tag: James Turner

2023 All-Big Ten Selections

Michigan dominated the all-conference selections in 2023, which is to be somewhat expected with a 12-0 record.

FIRST TEAM
QB J.J. McCarthy (Coaches, Media)
RB Blake Corum (Coaches, Media)
OL La’Darius Henderson (Coaches)
OL Zak Zinter (Coaches, Media)
C Drake Nugent (Coaches, Media)
TE Colston Loveland (Coaches)
DL Mason Graham (Coaches)
DB Will Johnson (Coaches, Media)
DB Mike Sainristil (Media)

SECOND TEAM
WR Roman Wilson (Coaches, Media)
TE Colston Loveland (Media)
OL Karsen Barnhart (Coaches)
OL La’Darius Henderson (Media)
OL Trevor Keegan (Coaches, Media)
DL Kenneth Grant (Coaches)
DL Kris Jenkins, Jr. (Coaches, Media)
LB Junior Colson (Coaches, Media)
DB Mike Sainristil (Coaches)
K James Turner (Coaches)

THIRD TEAM
OL Karsen Barnhart (Media)
DL Mason Graham (Media)
DL Kenneth Grant (Media)
LB Michael Barrett (Coaches)
DB Rod Moore (Coaches)
P Tommy Doman (Media)

HONORABLE MENTION
WR Cornelius Johnson (Media)
TE A.J. Barner (Coaches, Media)
DL Jaylen Harrell (Coaches, Media)
DL Braiden McGregor (Coaches, Media)
DL Derrick Moore (Coaches, Media)
DL Josaiah Stewart (Coaches)
LB Michael Barrett (Media)
DB Rod Moore (Media)
DB Makari Paige (Coaches)
DB Josh Wallace (Coaches, Media)
K James Turner (Media)
P Tommy Doman (Media)
RET Semaj Morgan (Coaches, Media)

I believe every single Michigan starter is represented here except FB/TE Max Bredeson (1 start), OL Trente Jones (2 starts), WR Tyler Morris (2 starts), safety Keon Sabb (4 starts). Even a full-time backup in Derrick Moore – who has yet to start a single game – was named Honorable Mention by both the coaches and the media.

Do you see any snubs?

Personally, I think Mike Sainristil should have been 1st team to both coaches/media. Meanwhile, I’m surprised Barnhart was valued so highly since he struggled in pass protection so much, especially over the last three weeks of the season.

Michigan 30, East Carolina 3

Football is back! All is right in the world when it’s football season. In another few days, the NFL season will be back and we can all enjoy Heaven for a few months. It has been a long off-season for me on an individual level, and this is also a chance to break away from the 2023 Season Countdown and get back into a groove with writing about various topics.

This was a boring matchup. I like seeing different opponents, but with East Carolina, there were no storylines. It’s not a geographical matchup. When I looked through the roster and coaching staff, there was no crossover. East Carolina doesn’t recruit in the state of Michigan. No transfers or ex-staffers from Michigan. There was no angle. The most interesting aspect going into the opener, aside from seeing who starts for Michigan, was . . .

. . . Peacock. The Peacock stream sucked. I signed up for Peacock on Friday because there’s really no other reason to do so earlier. And I don’t really care about the expense. I’ll pay $5.99 to watch a Michigan game. But when I’m paying for it, I expect a good product. When I paid for cable, I expected ESPN and FS1 and BTN to give me a good product. Otherwise, I’ll just turn off the volume and think through it myself. I don’t need Mike Tirico and one of the Simms brothers to tell me what’s happening on the game. Peacock actually complied – presumably on accident – when there was just no audio for several minutes. The fourth quarter feed got blurry, too, but maybe that had something to do with my local internet. But Peacock also cut out a play, there was no pregame show, the halftime show was boring, and oh yeah . . . the Simms kid isn’t exactly top-notch. If I wanted crappy analysis, I would watch some of the ex-Buckeye talking heads like Josh Perry and Joey Galloway.

Hit the jump for more.

2023 Season Countdown: #15 James Turner

Name: James Turner
Height: 6’0″
Weight: 196 lbs.
High school: Saline (MI) Saline
Position: Kicker
Class: Fifth year senior
Jersey number: #32
Last year: Turner played at Louisville. He made 20/22 field goals and 38/39 extra point attempts.
TTB Rating: N/A

Michigan was spoiled by having Jake Moody kick the ball the past couple years, so last year was thoroughly enjoyable with that guy around. Now he’s making important kicks in NFL (pre-season) games.

James Turner is a hometown boy who gets a chance to kick in front of 110,000+ fans after playing his high school ball in Saline. He spent the last four years at Louisville, where he was the starting kicker. He did make a long field goal of 48 yards last season, but generally, the strength of his kicking leg is the question mark. He’s accurate, but mostly from short range.

The transfer should be Michigan’s starting kicker this fall, and word seeping out of camp suggests that’s the case. He’s battling with freshman Adam Samaha, while punter/kicker Tommy Doman is probably going to stick with punting and walk-on Hudson Hollenbeck is likely to handle kickoffs. The hope is that Turner can handle some chip-shot field goals if Michigan’s offense gets bogged down in the redzone, and . . . well . . . hopefully that’s about it. Last-second field goals to win or tie games are about the most gut-wrenching plays in sports, so I don’t want any of those. It would be nice if Michigan could just cruise to 15 comfortable victories this season . . .

Prediction: Starting kicker

James Turner, Wolverine

Louisville transfer kicker James Turner has committed to Michigan.

Turner was listed at 6’0″ and 205 lbs. at Louisville last season, where he made 20/22 field goals and 38/39 extra points during the 2022 season. Before that he was 14/22 on field goal attempts and 46/48 on extra points in 2021, and he went 13/15 on field goals and 40/40 on extra points in 2020. Altogether, that makes him 47/59 on field goals. He has also handled kickoff duties at times.

Turner was a class of 2019 prospect from Saline (MI) Saline who did not get an offer from the Wolverines at the time. Michigan did not sign a kicker in 2019, but they had nabbed Quinn Nordin (2017) and Jake Moody (2018) in back-to-back classes at that point.

Turner should be Michigan’s starting placekicker this fall. Redshirt sophomore Tommy Doman has not been used much so far in his career, but he will probably fill in at punter for the departed Brad Robbins and perhaps on kickoff duties. Meanwhile, the placekicking duties will likely be a battle between Turner and incoming freshman Adam Samaha, with Novi (MI) Catholic Central walk-on product Charlie Mentzer also in the mix.

This is the first player to commit to Michigan in the spring portal window, but Michigan landed several players right after the season, including TE A.J. Barner, LB Ernest Hausmann, OL La’Darius Henderson, OL Chris Hinton, OL Drake Nugent, DE Josaiah Stewart, and QB Jack Tuttle