Fantastic Senior Season Helped Cole Turner Net Clemson Offer

2022 WR Cole Turner, the younger brother of Clemson safety Nolan Turner, picked up an offer from the Tigers on Friday, in large part due to a very strong senior campaign at Vestavia Hills High in Alabama.

Jason Priester All Clemson

The early signing period has come and gone, but the Clemson coaching staff is still hard at work recruiting for the 2022 class.

The Tigers handed out two new offers on New Year's Eve, with one of those going to a high school player from Alabama with a familiar last name. Cole Turner, the younger brother of Clemson safety Nolan, picked up an offer courtesy of a phone call with wide receivers coach Tyler Grisham.

Turner has long been on the Tigers' radar. Although, with the team seemingly full at the position after the additions of Adam Randall and Antonio Williams on early signing day, it looked like a full offer might not come. However, after Ajou Ajou and Frank Ladson Jr. both entered the transfer portal, a spot opened up, and according to Sean Calhoun, Turner's high school coach at Vestavia Hills High in Alabama, that's when Turner got the call.

"Cole's been on their radar," Calhoun told All Clemson. "I think they had a player or two go in the portal and it's just amazing how things happen. Then (Friday) morning coach Grisham called, told him that he had a full scholarship offer to Clemson and then he gave me a call, which is always great. I mean, you always want the coaches to call the high school coach. And so when they do, it always makes me feel better."

Turner's story is rather unique. The 6-foot-2, 175-pound wideout didn't even play football as a freshman or sophomore. His first season wasn't until his junior year and after getting that first year under his belt, Calhoun said the two-sport star really started to blossom.

"Cole is a two-sport athlete," Calhoun said. "He's a football-basketball player, starts both obviously. He played little league football, and then actually stopped playing football for a while. And here's what's incredible, is that when you watch his film, he's only played high school football as a junior and a senior. He didn't play as a ninth-grader. He didn't play as a sophomore. And thank goodness he came back out."

"Like you watch his junior film and it's not great, you know, I mean, it's okay, and you see some flashes, but then you throw on his senior film and it's like, this kid has just absolutely developed and how much better he's gotten, and that's what Clemson saw."

As a senior, Turner reeled in 42 catches for 581 yards, with seven touchdowns. He also returned kicks, averaging 19.5 yards per punt return and 34.5 yards on kickoff returns, returning one of each for a touchdown. It was a season that saw Turner rack up 1,160 all-purpose yards. He brings speed and versatility to the table, and according to Calhoun, he hasn't been putting up those gaudy numbers against weaker competition.

"I think he can play inside, outside," Maguire said. "You know, he's gonna put on weight. The one thing that I did tell coach Grisham this morning, I said, 'Coach, don't be surprised now. Don't be surprised when he gets on campus, when those skinny little white legs get to rolling, that he can run.' He can really run. He is a kid who can take the top off and he's doing it against the elite competition in the state of Alabama. He's not doing it versus bad teams. I mean, he's not."

Despite the fact that he's only played in the spread for one season, Maguire said he's a natural fit in the offense. The head coach thinks his former receiver has an extremely high ceiling, no matter where he ends up playing, and that he will be a valuable asset to any program's locker room.

"He's played in a spread offense for 10 games in his whole life," Calhoun said. "And when you watch this film, I mean, it just seems like he just kind of has done it forever. And to say he has a high ceiling is an extreme understatement. And they know that. The Clemson staff knows that. And they're just super excited about what he's going to become because he's literally just learning the position every day."

"Clemson has built their culture and their program, they want good football players, of course, I mean, that's how you got to compete, but they want good people. And Cole is a great human being and he's gonna make the institution better on and off the field. The weight room, classroom, wherever he is." 

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