Swinney on Turner: ‘This Guy Can Play’
Clemson junior safety Nolan Turner's worst moment and best moment of his college career arguably took place within minutes of each other near the end of the Tigers’ 29-23 win against Ohio State in the College Football Playoff semifinal.
First, he failed to break up a fourth-and-2 play that led to the Buckeyes taking a 23-21 lead with 3 minutes, 2 seconds left in the game, but only a couple minutes later, after Trevor Lawrence and the Tigers led an impressive 94-yard touchdown drive, he came up with an interception on Ohio State’s ensuing possession to seal the win.
But that fateful moment almost never happened for Turner — at Clemson or anywhere else — as the safety did not receive any scholarship offers, and he nearly flew under Dabo Swinney’s radar.
“That's God's plan; that’s all I can tell you,” Swinney said about Turner’s rise from getting no offers to play in college to making the game-winning interception to lift his team to the national title game. “He's an unbelievable player. He's talented. Same reason Tom Brady is a sixth-round draft pick. I mean, people miss. It's that simple.”
Adam Humphries, wide receiver for the Tennessee Titans and a former Clemson player, only received one offer, and that was from the Tigers, Swinney said, noting that another former Clemson player, Atlanta Falcons defensive tackle Grady Jarrett, was in a similar situation early in his college career.
“It's more than – just because somebody labels you as something or don't label you as something, that doesn't mean that's the way it's going to be,” Swinney said.
He said players still need to work hard regardless of how touted they are as a recruit. “That's just the way it is. (It takes) a lot of work. I think football is a developmental game. Guys get better. So I think the recruiting process is really not good because you have so many people making decisions on ninth and tenth graders and miss out on a lot of seniors.”
He said that in 2015, although Clemson was not actively recruiting defensive backs, coaches had a shortage of players to fill the roster after the national championship game, when at least four players, T.J. Green, Mackensie Alexander, Jayron Kearse, Travis Blanks, told Swinney they were not returning.
“Next thing you know, we've got, oh, about three weeks to go to find some DBs,” Swinney said, noting that Clemson coaches then signed Trayvon Mullen, who now plays with the Oakland Raiders, along with current players, K’Von Wallace and Isaiah Simmons, who have been standouts at their position.
Swinney then happened to watch Turner’s highlight reel.
“All of a sudden now we've got a spot, and we're looking, and I watched his tape, his highlight, and I'm looking at it, and I'm going, this guy can play,” Swinney said. “I called his coach (Buddy Anderson), and I was like, ‘Why does he not have any (offers)?’ – and his exact words, he said, ‘I have no idea. He's as good a player as I've had in 50 years here being the head coach at Vestavia.’”
The Tigers head coach then took the video to his defensive coordinator Brent Venables, and the rest is history.
“I said, ‘Hey, I want you to watch this guy,’” Swinney said. “Brent watched it, and he's like, ‘Man, who's this guy? Where is he at?’ and I said, ‘That's all I needed to know.’”
Swinney said that when Turner made the game-winning interception, it was almost like fate intervened.
“The biggest thing, I just love his heart. I love his fight,” Swinney said. “He's not afraid to make a mistake. He missed a couple plays, but man, when it came back, and the interesting thing was his interception was in the exact same spot that the touchdown on fourth-and-2 was, almost. His feet were almost in the same spot. I just think that's a great visual, that hey, sometimes God takes you right back to your failure, right? So it was really cool.”
