The Confidence of AJ Turner

I have been waiting on David Williams to step up, but the past 2 years I haven't seen anything to make me think he was going to be the guy this season. Who knows, that might change this fall camp, he has the talent and speed, he just has to hold onto the ball and stop tackling himself behind the line of scrimmage.

At the same time, I've been waiting a year now for somebody to just AJ Turner the damn ball and let him show them what he can do. His HS tape is frickin nasty, he's got speed, agility and gliding juke moves. His only negative is size and as that relates to pass protection and every down durability.

He's at 195 lbs, but he's eating 5,500 calories a day trying to put on good weight in these summer workouts. The trick for him will be not rushing and just adding good weight while keeping his speed (which makes him one of the better RB options in the 1st place.)

After spring ball and the first week of fall camp, his name was being tossed around for starting KR/PR. Now that he might be starting at RB, they won't risk him for that, which is smart.

I thought that at some point this season Dowdle and Turner could be a 1 - 2 RB combo, with Turner being that scat back/3rd down option that could catch the ball in the flat or run a sweep of 7+ yards consistently. Seeing him as a every down starting RB at that weight would be a little surprising. Dowdle is already built to be an every down RB.and is now up closer to 220 lbs.

We'll see how he does in 1st/2nd downs. I really like his focus and determination. We've read about all the offseason work he's been doing and diet/nutrition. He's really focused and smart. He had the grades out of HS to go about anywhere he wanted...hell, even Wisconsin wanted him with their extra stingy academic requirements.

Tuner missed most of his Sr season and the summer camp circuit with an arm injury, so that impacted his ranking. He got all those offers based on Soph and Jr year film and a good transcript. He was in invited go The Opening but couldn't play.