Oregon Football Signee Spotlight: Safety Tyler Turner

Tyler Turner should turn into another key piece for Dan Lanning and the Ducks in the safety room.

Josh Parker | Feb 9, 2023

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Oregon Ducks

Continuing with our Oregon Football signee spotlight we will be looking at someone who joins the Ducks in an area that needed some depth. Texas Safety Tyler Turner is today’s spotlight and is one of the two high school safeties Dan Lanning was able to sign back in December.

-Height: 6’0”

-Weight: 180 pounds

-Hometown: San Antonio, TX

-High School: Brennan High School

-District 29-6A unanimous Defensive MVP

-First-team all-district

Evaluation

Playing more of a Nickel back for his high school during his senior season, Turner brings both that safety and downhill linebacker mentality when he's on the field. He's physical and quick to the ball no matter which direction the ball carrier is going and has no problem chasing them down.

He finished his senior season with 57 Tackles, six tackles for loss, one interception, one forced fumble and a sack. When he does line up in that true safety position, he's a strong open-field tackler.

His pursuit and form tackling remind me of Bennett Williams during his time with the Ducks. Turner shows a lot of similar attributes to Williams and based off some of his high school clips he looks like he could match his speed to the ball.

Coverage wise he's also quick to the ball and uses his long arms to bat down balls with ease in one-on-one matchups. Turner is also quick to jump the ball when it's thrown in his vicinity.

The recruitment, how it happened

Turner is a Texas native and was first approached and offered by the Baylor Bears early in his recruitment in the summer of 2021. Matthew Powledge at the time was Baylor’s lead recruiter in their pursuit of Turner before he joined Lanning’s defensive staff prior to the 2022 season.

Turner was committed to the Bears for a brief two months from January to March of 2022. He would go on to collect a few more offers including USC, Ole Miss, Auburn and Michigan State. Oregon first offered the safety on May 6, which resulted in an unofficial visit about a week later to Eugene.

After his visit Turner announced that he had narrowed his recruitment to Oregon and Oklahoma. After officially visiting Oklahoma on June 3, Turner took an official visit to Oregon and decided to join the Flock and be a Duck three weeks later.

He was a hard commit for the Ducks and signed during the early signing period and is now on campus in Eugene, joining the team for practice leading up to the Holiday Bowl in December.

COMMITTED 🦆 #GoDucks @oregonfootball pic.twitter.com/40DNdyNB9r
— Tyler Turner (@theTylerTurner) June 22, 2022

Outlook at Oregon

Everyone is aware of the issues the Ducks had in the secondary last season. Lanning adjusted according after the season by adding players he feels can turn the secondary around.

The Ducks have added former Ole Miss Tysheem Johnson and former Fresno State Evan Williams ahead of spring practice. Oregon also only signed Turner and Under Armour All-American Kodi Decambra in the 2023 class.

Oregon also returns a number of veterans at the position including Jamal Hill, Steve Stephens IV and Bryan Addison who all played major roles last season. This spring will be an interesting one, particularly at safety as new safeties coach Chris Hampton and the rest of the defensive staff look for some separation.

For Turner it may be to difficult to find the field as a true freshman based on the numbers and experience ahead of him in that room. However, the skill set he brings can definitely help him earn a role somewhere for the Ducks in his first year.

A plus for him is that he's already on campus and will have his shot at a first impression during spring. Last spring we saw freshman cornerback Jahlil Florence make a name for himself which earned him some early playing time.

Turner could potentially have a similar outcome with a solid spring.

Rankings rundown

247Sports Composite rating: 4-star (0.8976)

247Sports Composite ranking: No. 353 Natl., No. 34 S, No. 61 in TX

Rivals rating: 4-star (5.8)

Rivals ranking: No. N/A Natl., No. 24 S, No 56 in TX

On3 consensus rating: 4-star (89.61)

On3 consensus ranking: No. 364 Natl., No. 32 S, No. 64 in TX

SIGNEE SPOTLIGHT: Oregon RB Dante Dowdell

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Published Feb 9, 2023

JOSH PARKER

Josh Parker is a student at the University of North Florida who will be graduating in the winter of 2022 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Sports Management. He has spent the last six years building vast sports experience as a Division 1 football player at Stetson University, varsity football coach at Nease and Bishop Kenny High Schools. He primarily covers football and recruiting at Ducks Digest.