dj turner ii

Hello, fan of an NFL team. MGoBlog excruciatingly scouts every Michigan play, and scores them to inform our coverage. Since mi atleta es su atleta now, here we share what we're sharing.

Quickly: Quick, fluid, sticky corner who gets overwhelmed by the hosses of the Midwest.

Draft Projection: Late 1st to mid-2nd round.

NFL Comp: Isaiah Rogers

What's his story? Some Michigan fan sold his soul—or more likely the fortunes of our basketball team—to the devil to make this one happen. In the darkest days of the pandemic there was a game played in front of 40 people versus Michigan State where this kid nobody had heard of (and would never hear of again) just torched the entire Michigan secondary. It was one of those moments where you won't believe anyone who played can ever be good, and an entire fanbase dove into deep into roster to find someone with an alibi for being behind those responsible.

Then-redshirt freshman DJ Turner II had one, since he redshirted through 2019 with an injury and wasn't on screen in the 2020 MSU disaster because he'd yet to be healthy for a spring or fall practice session. He also had a recruiting profile that read like it could be ANYTHING.

His conflicting testing numbers said he was both the fastest thing at IMG and so slow that he had to escape there or play safety for Gwinnet. In May 2019 we actually comped him at the time to Brandon Watson, the slow press corner just coming off a program-shattering torching at the hands of Ohio State's mercenary speedsters.

This was what we call in scouting an Incorrect Take. Over the 2021 offseason any mention of Turner was a hope cloud. Into the nonconference season some of that hope started to look like something tangible, but as soon as it was grasped Turner would screw up a crack/replace or extend a dead drive with unnecessary roughness. For some insane reason they had everybody playing off Cover-3 against "Downfield is Lava" Rutgers.

The narrative on Turner changed along with the narrative on Michigan. Wisconsin's receivers couldn't shake him—okay, those are just Wisconsin receivers. Northwestern went at him and got it in the face. Like IN THE FACE. But it's just Northwestern, right? Michigan State needed review officials to overturn literally every catch made against Turner. Indiana stayed away. But all this time we're saying "Gotta be a mirage, right? We'll find out when we see Jahan Dotson and Penn State." No mirage. Turner obliterated the PSU star. It goes on the shelf with Marlin Jackson vs. Reggie Williams.

Zone coverages still needed cleaning up, but there was no doubt when Ohio State came to town and Chris Olave—Chris "I've been murdering Michigan since I got here" Olave—couldn't get this guy unglued from him. Basketball coach Juwan Howard was on the sideline, and must have suspected somebody talked to the devil. After the game somebody found a copy of OSU's scouting of Michigan's secondary. The rest was straight disrespect but the Turner file…

Good frame with below average bulk. Good playspeed. Good AA. Good hips and change of direction. Sticky in coverage. Man player. Good feet at the line of scrimmage. Good turn and run in press. Good hips at the top of routes. Good look back for ball. Good burst to close. A.

…was on point.

In 2022 Turner made the Bruce Feldman Freaks list, and had an excellent season, but the "average bulk" got exploited, the tackling was hit or miss or HUGE, SEASON-ENDING MISS, and there was more of that soft Cover 3 stuff. Technically it was Turner's fourth year, but the first two were such a washout it was more like a true sophomore follow-up to a breakout freshman campaign. That sly savvy you expect from a senior—the type that will bait a dumb college QB into a slant for a pick, or knows how to get the benefit of the doubt on downfield contact, or is always pointing at the younger guys where to go—he never really got there on the field like he did off of it.

There's a playmaker in there, but he was on the borderline of a guy who can get drafted on the elite upside and a guy who could come back and be a Thorpe candidate and 1st round lock. When he ran a 4.23 at the combine it looked like he made a wise decision.

Positives: The speed and agility are absolutely NFL quality. Feldman:

He is the fastest guy on the Wolverines, having hit 23.07 mph on the GPS and run a 4.28 40 — out of a two-point stance, no less. His 3-cone time is even more stunning. He clocked a 6.29 this offseason, and strength coaches think he has a good shot at besting the combine record of 6.28

Haha just 4.28. I mean, half of cornerbacking is can you slip around the field like a ninja. And while he's "undersized" that's a bulk and length issue, not a height one. And there's a lot of upside here too if you think you can add bulk.

The weeks when he was going to tag an elite receiver (Chris Olave, Jahan Dotson, Parker Washington, Jayden Reed) he shut that guy down. We took this as a sign of work ethic/film study--a point his coaches bring up often--but in the context of his natural ability. You get into your release, stem your route, watch the safety take your teammate, look back for the ball, and find Turner erasing your precious cushion and not even breaking a sweat.

Negatives: Size is the big one. He's sub-180, and I'm not sure he can get bigger than that. It's been a problem when bigger receivers body him, and borderline push-offs create too much separation. He's also not very long-armed, so there are times when a perfect throw and a perfect catch negate the perfect coverage.

The other negatives are residuals from Turner essentially losing the first half of his career to injury and COVID. He's a very undeveloped blitzer, and his tackling angles get him in trouble. Advanced techniques didn't get taught—you probably saw the (legal, IE behind the LOS) drag screens TCU was using to good effect and wondered why Michigan doesn't have its DBs swap assignments. We were wondering that all year, and the most likely answer is the coaches trusted Turner's athleticism and burst to make up for those windows more than they trusted him to swap jobs mid-play.

Things discussed:

• Recruiting is #1: Should Ohio State fans be freaking out? Well yeah, because Michigan has Ohio State's class.
• Why are centers underrated? High schools can't waste beasts at center, and Wonderlic scores don't come out in college recruiting.
• Jerod Smith: How that all went down. How committable were his Georgia and Alabama and Tennessee offers? Pretty committable.
• I'Marion Stewart is their #1 WR since the July camp. Marquise Lightfoot is turning into an elite, good to have Stewart at his school in his ear but that one's an uphill battle.
• The three transfers: Those are all depth chart things after spring. NHG was still hurt. Henning is a loss but there were other guys doing that and he wasn't going to be getting many targets. Moten really fell off a cliff last year, and if he's behind Quinten Johnson and Zeke Berry, it wasn't happening.
• NFL Draft: Don't like the quarterbacks.
• Seth thinks teams are going to pass on QBs and take the personality gamble on Jalen Carter. Everyone agrees he's the best player in the draft, but even Georgia coaches are saying they won't miss him: Todd McShay has 7 sources.
• Brian: Ignore these quarterbacks, all of them are going to be failures.
• CJ Stroud: Every time he opens his mouth it's like stop talking. Michael Vick and Deshaun Watson are the guys you model yourself after? Losing to Michigan doesn't define me? You're a football player not a test taker? Dude!
• All I'm hearing there is Georgia coaches are going to bad mouth their own players at the draft; seems like something the recruits should know about.
• Can the Lions trade down and get Devon Witherspoon lower? Only if the QBs fall down to 6th and someone wants to trade up five spots to get one.
• Wolverines in the draft? Mazi Smith doesn't have the pass rush to be in the 1st round but solid 2nd rounder. DJ Turner on the other hand could make it. Seth: there's a pretty tight group of CBs and they're all in a pretty solid order so that run could happen in the 1st round or 2nd. He's got a really high floor and some team is going to see the ceiling too, because his one issue is he's too slight.
• Here's the Brett Kollman video I referenced.

[Hit the JUMP for the player, and video and stuff]

UFR Glossary: Here. Sorry this took so long to get out. If you're wondering, it was the 3rd and 2 when Mazi Smith turned down a free sack that caused a three-month rage quit.

Video Note: It looks like Gfycat is dying. I got half of the videos uploaded before uploading stopped working. They're still hosting for now, but I moved to Streamable to complete the job. Feedback appreciated.

Substitution Notes: Michigan started in a dime with all three CBs and Turner the dimeback, and used that a lot instead of a second safety. A lot less rotation up front than most of the season. Colson, Barrett, Smith and Jenkins went most of the way, Harrell and Morris had about 75% of the snaps outside. McGregor earned his way on the field in the 2nd half, but Graham, Upshaw, Moore, Okie, and Rolder had far smaller workloads than usual.Secondary was Moore the whole way, Paige when Turner wasn't diming, and the usual cornerback rotation. Quinten Johnson got in for one drive. Moten did not play.

Formation Notes: Double arrows means the players who normally play those positions have swapped roles so "H<->Y" here means the slot receiver (H) and TE (Y) have done so.

I'm shortening the nomenclature for 4- and 5-wide sets to how the threats are arrayed, so this is 3x1:

And this is a "3x1 Stack RB":

…meaning the RB is on the same side as the stacked WRs. I'll list the field side first so if you see "1x3" that means 3 WRs to the boundary. TCU also went Unbalanced, meaning there's only a guard and a TE above the C here:

[After THE JUMP: Some surprising results]