Chris Turner

Christopher Evenson Turner (born September 8, 1987) is an American football player. He was a quarterback for the Maryland Terrapins at the University of Maryland from 2007 to 2009. Turner began his career at Maryland as a redshirt in 2005 and then served as a reserve quarterback before he earned the starting position.

After a redshirt season in 2005, Turner saw no playing time as the third-string quarterback the following year. In 2007, he replaced the injured starter during the game against 10th-ranked Rutgers and led the Terrapins to an upset victory. After that, he remained as the team's leader for the remainder of the season, and against eighth-ranked Boston College, engineered another upset victory. Turner also helped Maryland secure an appearance in the Emerald Bowl. At the start of the 2008 season, he was relegated to backup status, but soon regained the starting position. That year, he led Maryland in wins over four of their five ranked opponents and to an appearance in the Humanitarian Bowl. He returned as the starter for the 2009 season, but suffered a knee injury and was replaced by Jamarr Robinson.

Early life Turner was born in Simi Valley, California to parents John and Grace Turner. His father was the original drummer of the glam metal band Ratt. Chris Turner attended high school at the Chaminade College Preparatory School, where he was a three-year letterwinner and starting quarterback in football and pitcher in baseball. As a sophomore, he was on the junior varsity football team until midseason when the varsity quarterback suffered an injury against Valencia High School, a regional powerhouse. Turner described the incident as the last time that he was nervous during a game and said, "It got pretty ugly to be honest. Ever since then, I've always thought to myself, 'It can't get worse than that.'" He received scholarship offers from Boise State, Illinois, Louisville, Maryland, Oregon, Utah, and UTEP. Turner ultimately chose Maryland, which is located just outside Washington, D.C., partly due to his interest in politics. Turner started for the remaining eight games of the season. In his career-first start, he passed for 255 yards in a win against Georgia Tech, 28–26. In the game, he threw a 78-yard touchdown pass, which was caught by tight end Jason Goode rather than his intended receiver, Darrius Heyward-Bey. After a three-game losing streak, Turner led another upset win over a top-ten team, this time against eighth-ranked Boston College, 42–35. In the 24–16 loss to Florida State, Turner had his worst performance of the season. Late in the second quarter, he was benched and replaced by Steffy for two possessions. Turner said, "I didn't know that my leash was that short in the first place, to be honest. I didn't think it would come to this. I guess I should have." After an uneven performance by Steffy, Turner played the entire second half and showed improvement. The following week Maryland played their regular season finale against NC State and both teams needed an additional win to attain bowl eligibility. Maryland led in the second quarter, 3–0, but was struggling offensively. Turner, a generally immobile pocket quarterback, invigorated the offense when he executed a 41-yard option run for a first down. He completed 19 of 24 passes for 206 yards and led a shutout of NC State, 37–0. With the sixth win, Maryland was invited to the Emerald Bowl, where they were beaten by Oregon State, 21–14. Turner finished the season as the third-most efficient passer in the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC).

2008 season In 2008, Maryland hired a new offensive coordinator, James Franklin, who installed a West Coast offense. That season started with some controversy when head coach Ralph Friedgen initially selected senior Jordan Steffy as the starting quarterback. Turner considered returning home with a transfer to a Californian school, but ultimately decided against it. When Steffy was injured again in the season-opener against Delaware, Turner was awarded the starting job for the rest of the season. After Maryland defeated 21st-ranked Wake Forest, 26–0, Turner was voted the ACC Player of the Week and ESPN named him an "On the Mark" quarterback. Against 16th-ranked North Carolina, Turner's split-second decision to hold onto the ball for a nine-yard run on fourth down and five put the team within range for the game-winning field goal, 17–15. For that, he was nominated for the week's Pontiac Game Changing Performance. The win improved Maryland's record to 7–3 and reasserted control over their ACC championship destiny, although they lost the next game against Florida State, 37–3, which ended the Terrapins' title hopes. The following week against Boston College, Turner set career highs with 33 completions, 57 attempts, and 360 passing yards, but the effort fell short and Maryland lost, 28–21. In the postseason, the Terrapins played Nevada in the Humanitarian Bowl where Turner threw for 198 yards, one interception, two touchdowns including a 59-yard long, and a two-point conversion. At the end of the season, Maryland had beaten four out of their five Top 25-ranked opponents, a feat that was surpassed only by the teams in the BCS Championship Game: Florida and Oklahoma.

2009 season

Fifth-year senior Turner entered the 2009 season as the uncontested starter at quarterback for the first time in his career. He was backed-up by sophomore Jamarr Robinson and true freshmen C. J. Brown and Danny O'Brien. Turner's seniority was called critical for the performance of the team's relatively youthful offensive line. Head coach Friedgen said, "If I had to choose between a veteran offensive line and an inexperienced quarterback, or an inexperienced line with a veteran quarterback, I think I'd go with the veteran quarterback." Upon the conclusion of preseason camp, the coaching staff praised his progress, particularly his game-planning, for which he had been criticized in the past. Turner said, "Mentally, I am way further ahead than where I was last year." At that time, he ranked as the school's fourth all-time quarterback in terms of completion percentage, fifth in completions, seventh in total offensive yards, and he is tied for 11th in number of touchdown passes. In June 2009, Turner stated that he wanted to leave a "legacy" at Maryland in his final season.

The NFL Draft Scout assessed Turner as the 16th-ranked quarterback out of the 135 available for the 2010 NFL draft and projected him as a potential seventh-round selection. The CBS Sports-affiliated NFL Draft Scout records his actual time as ranging from a low of 4.89 to a high of 5.16 seconds, while Scout.com reports his 40-yard time as 4.8 seconds. Regarding the 2008 summer practices, offensive coordinator James Franklin said Turner ranked in the middle compared with Jordan Steffy and Josh Portis in terms of completion percentage, fewest interceptions, and "explosive" plays that gained 16 yards or more. Turner conceded that Steffy was a better game-planner during practices. Turner received the nicknames "Sunshine" and "Napoleon Dynamite", in reference to his similar appearance to the fictional characters in the films Remember the Titans and Napoleon Dynamite, respectively.

Personal life Turner graduated from the University of Maryland in May 2009 with a bachelor's degree in government and politics. His strong interest in politics factored into his decision on where to attend college. During the summer of 2009, Turner held an internship on Capitol Hill working for Democratic Representative Steny Hoyer, the House Majority Leader and Maryland's fifth district congressman. Turner had previously considered volunteering for the presidential campaign of Barack Obama, which he said probably annoyed his conservative father, John Turner. Describing his experience during the internship, Turner said, "It's funny to compare how serious politics is and how serious football is. Depending on who you talk to, they're both pretty big deals . . . There's more to life than football."

Turner's favorite sport, incidentally, is soccer, not football. He is also interested in foreign cultures and expressed regret at being unable to spend a semester abroad because of college football. Turner said that, dependent upon the outcome of his football career, he would like to attend the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. He was able to attend that event and also got to meet his childhood idol David Beckham.

Statistics Maryland Passing Rushing Season GP GS Rating Att Cmp % Yds Lng TD Int Att Sack Yds Lng TD 2007 11 8 135.50 241 153 63.5 1,958 78 7 7 44 21 −26 41 0 2008 13 12 119.31 374 214 57.2 2,516 80 13 11 43 27 −154 13 1 2009 10 10 121.05 303 180 59.4 2,069 67 10 10 84 25 22 15 2 Totals 34 30 124.15 918 547 59.6 6,544 80 30 28 171 73 −158 41 3