Hair of the Dog: Turner Still Clubhouse Leader, But Challengers Emerge

The Husky safety still carries his trademark look, but other might surpass him.

Teammates kid him that he should strike a name, image and likeness deal with Head and Shoulders, or any shampoo company that will have him.

Entering his fifth season in the University of Washington football program, Asa Turner continues to stick out as the longest-haired Husky, that guy in the secondary with the stringy brown strands flowing out of his gold helmet, all of which likely ranks him as the league leader.

"It's something I've had since I was young," the junior safety said of his long locks. "It's kind of a look for me, kind of a staple."

In another time, Turner seemingly might have been cast as the lead singer in a Seattle grunge band — how about Asa in Chains or maybe Turnervana? — though he's quick to disagree with the music selection.

"Rock is not really my thing," he said. "I listen to reggae."

OK, make him a Bob Marley roadie, mon, with massive braids bopping in all directions. 

As for the origin of his long hair, Turner grew up as a carefree kid in Hawaii before moving to equally laidback San Diego, with his shoulder-length mane following him everywhere he went.

"I definitely had an island vibe," he said. "After that, I moved to San Diego so I kept it there, as well. I had a little beachy vibe."

Asa Turner shows off his long locks / UW Athletics

Over the past decade, however, Turner actually cut his hair as part of a requirement to attend a private school in the eighth grade, but a year later he grew it back to hipster length.

Today, Turner is trying to make as much of a football statement as he does a fashion statement. A starter in 22 of 36 previous UW games, he comes off a season in which in earned his first individual accolades as a college player, receiving All-Pac-12 honorable-mention attention for his efforts for last season's 11-2 team. His coaches rely on him to provide a veteran influence on the defense.

It's hard to recall any other UW player pulling on a helmet and packing so much hair inside it in program annals. Old-school Husky football coaches Jim Owens and Don James most likely would have taken one look at Turner and brought out the shears. Chances are opposing coaches back then would have ordered their players to get their hands on Turner's hair and pull it as hard as they could. 

Yet under Kalen DeBoer's more relaxed and permissive coaching lead, Turner has his hair intact, but he actually now finds himself under assault by a pair of UW freshmen who seem bent on challenging him for having the team's longest tresses.

Asa Turner admittedly always has had sort of a hipster vibe with his hair / Dan Raley

First-year center Landen Hatchett from Ferndale, Washington, and offensive tackle Soane Faasolo from East Palo Alto, California, each bring cascading mops of blond and black hair, respectively, to Montlake with no indication a stylist or barber shop visit is planned in their near futures.

Turner, however, isn't worried about being surpassed for team-best length. He's so not worried, in fact, he just had three inches of his hair shorn, as he put it, "to keep it healthy."

"They've got long hair," he said, "but it's no competition."

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