CLEMSON RECRUITING

Catching up with Goose Creek's Gerald Turner

Catching up with Goose Creek's Gerald Turner


by - Senior Writer -

Play with his hand on the ground, or as a linebacker? It doesn’t matter to Goose Creek defensive end Gerald Turner Gerald Turner
Middle Linebacker
6-1, 240
Goose Creek, SC

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, as long as he plays.

The 4-star prospect is a 6-2, 245-pounder that many see as a linebacker on the collegiate level, but he said that recent visits to college campuses – including Clemson and North Carolina – have him thinking he might be a defensive end in college as well.

Turner told TigerNet last week that his last visit was to Clemson, and he said the Clemson coaches told him they want him to be happy.

In other words – play the position you want to play.

“It was a great visit,” Turner said. “It is a good campus. They [the Clemson coaches] told me it is up to me what position I want to play. I am going to be playing defensive end again this year, using my speed coming off the edge of the line. Sometimes I might be a standup outside linebacker or something like that.”

Turner said that he talked to former Clemson defensive coordinator- now at North Carolina- Vic Koenning last month on a visit to Chapel Hill, and Koenning likes Turner as a defensive end.

“I talked to Coach Koenning and he wants me to play with my hands down,” Turner said. “He said a lot would depend on my height. I think I play better with my hand on the ground.”

Turner currently has three offers – Clemson, North Carolina and South Carolina – and said all three schools like for their defensive ends to stand up in certain situations.

“Basically, all three of the schools that have offered me are the schools that do that,” he said. “Clemson let Andre Branch do that, and they told me they would let me do that as well. And South Carolina, they have the SPUR. South Carolina told they are planning on using me at three different positions – defensive tackle, defensive end and outside linebacker.”

Turner said he is trying to keep all of his options open at this point, but does keep in regular contact with the Clemson coaches.

“I try to talk to them twice every week,” he said. “I talk to Coach [Marion] Hobby and Coach [Tony] Elliott. Coach Hobby is a coach I am really getting to know, and we are starting to get along together. Coach Elliott, he has been talking to me since I was in 10th grade. We talk about life and how I am doing and not just about football. We have already bonded.”

He does want to spend more time with new defensive coordinator Brent Venables, however.

“Yeah, I met him when I came up there,” he said. “He is a real nice guy. He is supposed to come down for my spring game and a spring practice.”

Turner says he doesn’t have a favorite right now.

“Yeah, I don’t have a favorite right now,” he said. “I liked my visit to North Carolina, and I like what South Carolina is telling me. Clemson is a great school, and it’s not that far away from home. I love everything about the school – you can get a great education and they have a great football team.”

As a junior, Turner had 42 tackles, 11 tackles for loss, nine sacks, an 80-yard interception return for a touchdown, six forced fumbles, five pass breakups, five blocked punts, and one blocked punt recovery for a touchdown.

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