Hitting The Road: Christian Turner

Georgia running back Christian Turner took a visit to Notre Dame’s campus on Wednesday. It’s always important for Notre Dame to get Southeastern prospects to campus as early as possible and it seems Notre Dame is in a really good spot with Turner.

He goes to Buford High School, the same school that produced current Notre Dame quarterback Montgomery VanGorder. Georgia is a fertile recruiting state and it is a priority for the Irish staff as they have already land a commitment from Derrik Allen. 

However, Notre Dame is not the only school Turner will be visiting this week. Turner has already visited Wisconsin and Michigan and reportedly has plans to be at Michigan State during his trip. 

The Badgers have constantly produced solid running backs and it starts with them always having a strong offensive line. These two positions have been strengths of the Wisconsin program for a while and it’s no shock that running backs are attracted to running behind a group of talented, consistent run blockers. Also, the style of offense that Wisconsin runs favors running backs and gives them ample opportunities to make plays. Wisconsin has produced NFL running backs Montee Ball, James White and Melvin Gordon in recent years. They’ll look to add Corey Clement and Dare Ogunbowale to that list this April.

Wisconsin has also been pretty dominant in the Big Ten’s Western Division. The Badgers tend to take care of business in the games they’re meant to win and more than competitive in games when they’re underdogs. Wisconsin is one of the most consistent programs in the country. The Badgers may not be on the national championship level just yet, but they are always vying for the Big Ten crown. Turner surely got his opportunity to hear all of this and see Madison when it is not completely covered in snow. It should be interesting to see how much of a player Wisconsin becomes in this recruitment. 

As for Turner’s visits to Michigan and Michigan State, he should be able to see two similar offenses in two other competitive Big Ten programs. Michigan may provide a more competitive depth chart in the backfield as it tends to recruit at a higher level, but Mark Dantonio is very talented at getting the best out of his players.

In the past two cycles, Michigan has brought in Kareem Walker, Chris Evans, Kurt Taylor and O’Maury Samuels; whereas, Michigan State has only brought in Winston Bridges. From a strict depth-chart perspective, it seems to favor the Spartans over the Wolverines. Michigan State likes to use a rotation and LJ Scott, Madre London and Gerald Holmes are coming to the end of their college careers and Turner should realize the Spartans need to find replacements.

In the end, Notre Dame will have a good shot at Turner. Obviously, there is formidable competition for the Irish, but Notre Dame seems to be optimistic heading into this weekend.