Football Recruiting
Report
Wednesday, June 12, 2013
By Sammy Batten |
|
Turnage shores up Pirates'
safety plans
Ayden-Grifton stalwart brings
4.42 speed, physical tools
By
Sammy Batten
©2013 Bonesville.net
All rights reserved.
Drew Turnage was playing
recreational football in Ayden, NC, the first time Paul Cornwell laid
eyes on him. Cornwell, the head football coach at Ayden-Grifton High
School, was impressed but not overwhelmed by Turnage's talents.
"He's someone we knew of
coming up through the local recreation leagues and playing middle school. We
knew of him and we followed him,'' Cornwell said. "He came along with a good
group. Many of the players in his class have been together for several
years. We knew the entire group.
"Drew was a kid, when he was
younger, wouldn't jump out at you necessarily as a great athlete. But he
really worked hard to develop himself physically.''
Turnage worked hard enough to
earn a late-season promotion to Cornwell's varsity as a freshman, when he
started every game at free safety during the state playoffs. The 6-foot,
185-pounder has started the two years since. Last season, as a junior, he
earned Carolina 1-A Conference and All-Pitt County honors as a safety.
The performance impressed the
East Carolina University coaching staff enough that defensive backs coach
Rick Smith personally offered Turnage a scholarship on May 10 during a visit
to Ayden-Grifton. Three days later, on May 13, Turnage made a verbal
commitment to become the second member of the Pirates' recruiting Class of
2014. He followed offensive lineman Kyle Erickson, who became ECU's first
committed prospect in late April.
The Pirates were the first to
offer Turnage, who has spent lots of time around the ECU program growing up
and attended many games at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium. Even though it was his
first scholarship offer, Turnage didn't hesitate to pull the trigger and
accept even though other schools were starting to show interest in him.
"He's grown up going to games
over there and has been around the program a lot,'' Cornwell said. "When
they offered, I definitely think they were his number one choice. He did
take the opportunity to speak with his family, and we talked about it. He
was just ready to commit. He wanted to be a Pirate.''
Despite not making a big
impression on Cornwell in the local rec leagues and middle school football,
Turnage made a sudden impact for the Chargers after spending the regular
season playing linebacker for the junior varsity. When the varsity's
starting free safety was injured right before start of the state 1-AA
playoffs, Cornwell promoted Turnage and thrust him into the starting lineup
for the first-round game against Trask.
"He made the transition to
free safety in one week of practice and started every playoff game as a
ninth grader,'' Cornwell said.
Turnage helped Ayden-Grifton
to playoff wins against Trask (42-21) and Gates County (28-13) before the
Chargers were eliminated by Southwest Onslow (38-6) in the Eastern sectional
final.
By his sophomore year, Turnage
was a full-time starter in the secondary and a part-time performer at
running back for an Ayden-Grifton team that finished 13-2 and advanced to
the state 1-AA finals before losing to Swain County, 20-14. He ran for more
than 500 yards on offense and was an a Carolina 1-A Conference pick on
defense as Ayden-Grifton went 9-3 last year.
"We always thought he'd be a
good player, but to what level we really didn't know,'' Cornwell said. "He
was always very bright and a hard worker. It all really came down to how
much he would develop physically. We were fairly certain (by his second
year) he'd be a college player ... but at what level we didn't know for
sure.
"He certainly has grown and
developed each year. He was a starter in the state championship game as a
sophomore. Last year as a junior he did very well. He returned punts for us
and was also used as a running back to carry the ball as a backup. I think
he averaged something like 12 yards a carry. He's just a guy who has taken
full advantage of every ounce of ability that he has, and has worked to
become a tremendous player.''
Turnage, who has been timed at
4.42 seconds in the 40-yard dash, is an athlete capable of making big plays
on offense, defense or special teams, says Cornwell.
"Last year, he had a couple of
big punt returns for us that were big plays that kind of got us back into
some ballgames,'' Cornwell said. " Defensively, he just makes plays. He's
not a guy going to be like the Honey Badger guy (ex-LSU defensive back
Tyrann Mathieu) who can take over games. But he's coachable and is always in
right spots and he's going to do make plays he' supposed to make.''
Cornwell said Turnage isn't
just a quality football player. He carries about a 3.0 grade point average
in school and also competes for Ayden-Grifton's track and field team in the
sprints, sprint relays and long jump. Turnage qualified for regional
competition in the sprints this year, but was unable to compete due to a
conflict.
East Carolina has recruited
Turnage to play safety. Both of the players expected to start at the safety
positions for the Pirates in 2013 — strong safety Chip Thompson and free
safety Damon Magazu — will complete their eligibility next fall. Their
backups, Desi Brown and Detric Allen, are both juniors, so signing safety
prospects is a priority for this recruiting class.
Turnage is capable physically
of making the transition to the college level and being of assistance to the
Pirates as a true freshman, according to Cornwell.
"One of his strengths is
filling in against the run,'' Cornwall said. "We don't see teams throw the
ball quite as much as they see at that level, so coverage skills is
something he'll need to develop even more.
"From the physical side of
things, he can definitely play early. I don't think he'll be overwhelmed
with the physical side of the game. He's a strong kid. The rest of it, as
far as learning new defenses and coverages, that's where it's yet to be
determined whether he'll be able to play (as a true freshman) or not.''
E-mail Sammy Batten
PAGE UPDATED
06/12/13 04:22 AM.
|