Drew Turner’s set timetable for when he wanted to announce his college commitment happened to coincide with dominos in the recruiting game falling on the other side of the Continental Divide. Not that it would’ve mattered. The coveted tailback knew he wanted to be a Griz all along. ‘
The 5-foot-11, 205-pound Kalispell Glacier running back is widely considered one of the top recruits in the Treasure State. He drew heavy interest from Montana and Montana State after a first-team all-state junior season last fall. Turner rushed for 1,617 yards and 19 touchdowns and helped the Wolfpack advance to the Class AA title game.
He and his family put together a systematic plan for his recruitment that included him wanting to commit in mid-September. First, he wanted to attend junior day in Missoula and Bozeman. Then he wanted to secure scholarship offers at each school’s individual camps in June. Once he had that, he wanted to maximize his unofficial visits to both campus, watch games in both venues and decide where he felt he fit in best
[restrict paid=”true”]“My family and I had a set time schedule for when I wanted to commit and how I wanted to do it,” Turner said on Tuesday night. “I wanted to see the atmosphere a few more times, see the atmosphere for the teams and talk to the coaches after the games and see what they had for me, what they had in mind, where I was at with each one. That was all a big deal.”
With Turner creeping up on his deadline to make a decision, a key factor changed. Montana State already had verbal commitments from Huntley Project standout Lane Sumner and California product Sherod White, who hails from Heritage High in the Inland Empire near Los Angeles.
An hour before Montana State kicked off in its home opener against South Dakota State last Saturday night, Venice, California running back Justin Cauley committed to the Bobcats. His pledge effectively eliminated Turner’s scholarship offer.
Monday night, Turner gave his verbal commitment to Montana head coach Bob Stitt.
“I wanted to consider both,” Turner said. “I didn’t lean toward any side until the end. A few weeks ago, I went my separate ways and I told my parents. I called the Griz and said, ‘hey, I’m interested, I will probably call in the next week or two.’ Both of them were great options, both great schools. Bobcats went their way, had to do their thing and I decided I wanted to go to the Griz.”
“Those (commits) had an influence a little bit but that’s how their policies work and it is what it is. It’s good for them, happy for them and that’s what it was.”
Montana’s pitch, led by UM’s primary Northwest Montana recruiter quarterbacks coach Andrew Selle, moved the Griz to the top of Turner’s list regardless of Montana State’s situation, he said.
“The coaching staff is amazing, they did a great job and they were very honest with me with where they saw me,” Turner said. “That helped a lot that I could trust them throughout the whole process with where I want to be and what they could do for me.”
Selle, a Montana alum who quarterbacked UM to the 2009 Big Sky title, has been making waves on the recruiting trail. He played a hand in helping UM earn verbal commitments from Glacier product Jackson Pepe along with Eureka star athlete Garrett Graves. Although Turner said he has not had a chance to talk to Pepe about their shared future, Turner said Selle’s pitch resonated in a similarly successful fashion.
“He’s been very good, by far a great recruiter for me overall over anyone else,” Turner said. “He was good at it, supporting the school and what they see in me, that type of stuff, why they want me. He did a great job of recruiting me. He helped a lot along the process. He answered all my questions when I needed them to be answered.”
Turner employs a powerful running style but also has exceptional top-end speed, the ability to catch the ball out of the backfield and a well rounded skill set overall. He is a star sprinter. He ran a personal-best 10.99 in the 100 meters as a sophomore in the spring of 2016. His best 100 time last spring was 11.07. He also ran persona-bests of 21.93 in the 200 and 50.90 in the 400. He won the 200 at the Western AA Divisional meet last spring.
“I love to run,” Turner said. “I’m a sprinter in track because I love to run. Contact, running around, having fun. I love it.”
That speed combined with good hands that helped him catch 15 passes to go with his 148 carries last fall earned him attention from every football playing school in the state. The Frontier Conference schools that contacted Turner told him they were interested but were all certain he’d attend a Big Sky school.
Montana noticed Turner’s diversity last fall then during his solid showing at UM individual camp. Bob Stitt’s fast-paced, spread offense puts a high priority on throwing the ball. But the attack is steeped in West Coast principles If Montana runs 90 plays in a game, Stitt would love 40 or 45 of those snaps to be runs in an effort to achieve balance.
Turner said the offensive attacks are “pretty similar”, comparing the spread alignments, the pre-snap motions, the fly and jet sweep plays and the quest for balance despite the perception of the attacks. Selle, Stitt and running backs coach Justin Green — UM’s recruiting coordinator — lured Turner with a chance to be a featured part of the Griz offense.
“They see me as an every-down back, not just one that you need for a first down or a second down or a big tailback for third downs, just a bruiser but rather as an every-down back,” Turner said. “Coach Green was very helpful with giving me things I can work on. Toward the end, talking to coach, that’s huge for a coach doing that for a high school kid. That’s a huge thing for me.”
The Wolfpack are coached by former UM quarterback Grady Bennett. In his 10 years at the helm at Glacier, Bennett has established arguably the Treasure State’s most stable and productive program in terms of helping kids earn shots to play collegiately. Former Wolfpack standouts Evan Epperly, Andrew Harris and Brandon Purdy play for the Griz. Josh Hill, Brady McChesney, Logan Jones, Noah James, Tadan Gilman and Jaxen Hashley all play for the Bobcats.
“Coach Bennett done a great job getting kids to the next level as you can see if you just look around,” Turner said. “Coach Bennett is probably the best coach I’ll ever see. He makes sure we become true men and makes us ready for that next step in life. There’s nothing better than him doing that.”
Glacier played for the state title last season. The Wolfpack won the first state title in school history in 2014. Glacier has made it to the Class AA semifinals six years in a row and the championship game three of the last four seasons.
But this season, Glacier is off to an 0-3 start. The Wolfpack lost to reigning state champion Billings Senior in a rematch of last fall’s title game 37-21 in Week 1. Glacier fell 21-14 to Great Falls CMR in Week 2 and 7-6 in Bozeman last Friday. The Wolfpack play Helena High Friday.
Turner emphasizes his confidence in his team’s ability to turn it around this fall. Now that he’s reached his deadline and made his decision, he’s excited to focus solely on finishing the season strong.
“It means a lot,” Turner said. “It’s always been a dream to make it to the next level, go play college football. It was time. I’m glad I finally did it. Now I can just go on, finish my high school career and go on to my next phase in life and enjoy it. I’m looking forward to it.”
[/restrict]Photos courtesy of Turner family. All Rights Reserved.
