Where's Asa Turner? 2-Year Husky Starter Starts Over

The UW strong safety had dealt with injuries and teammates making a move.

For every new University of Washington football starter, such as a Kamren Fabiculanan, Julius Buelow, Julius Irvin or a Cooper McDonald, where their ascension is roundly celebrated, there is an Asa Turner.

When somebody moves up, it invariably means someone else lost a job.

Turner, as well as Ulumoo Ale, Cam Williams and Alex Cook, enter Saturday's season opener against Montana as former first-teamers, at least momentarily in the scheme of things, on the outside looking in.

In their highly competitive football world, demotions have to be exceedingly tough to deal with.

Most, if not each of these Huskies, should play against the Big Sky visitor in some capacity. They'll substitute in on scrimmage plays or appear on special teams, just not in the exalted role to which they were previously accustomed.

"He's at a point now where he's heard the calls over and over and over, and now he's just got to play at a higher speed," said UW coach Jimmy Lake, when pressed about Turner's drop in status.

However, Turner's fall-off is a little more profound than the others because of his fast-track history.

Asa Turner and fellow Huskies Alex Cook (5) and Mason West (80) missed the spring game with injuries.  / Dan Raley

In 2019, he was a true freshman who fought hard to claim a Husky starting job at strong safety for five outings at midseason. He beat out Williams, then a fellow first-year player, before giving the job back to him at season's end.

A year ago, Turner moved ahead of Williams once more and stayed there, opening for all four games of the pandemic-shortened schedule.

With nine career starts behind him, the 6-foot-3, 205-pound player from Carlsbad, California, seemed all set to become a team mainstay. He's been the opposite.

For the Montana game, he's listed as sharing the back-up job at strong safety with Cook behind Fabiculanan. Meantime, Williams moved over and is the No. 2 guy behind Irvin at free safety.

All of these guys simply could have been victims of a higher level of Husky competition and passed by, nothing more. Lake demands that his guys continually play at a high level or move aside. Yet bad luck could have played a part in his situation, too. 

In Turner's case, he missed most of spring football practice with some sort of injury. He was only briefly a first-teamer. He watched the spring game as a spectator, wearing a black hoodie rather than a gold helmet.

In fall camp, the lanky, long-haired and heavily tattooed safety sat out a week of practice at the worst possible time, when players were making finishing-kick moves for Husky starting jobs. His lengthy absence went unexplained, but COVID-19 reasons might have been the cause.

Still just a sophomore because of pandemic allowances, Turner has plenty of time to adjust and reclaim what was once his. It's up to him to see how he responds to this bit of adversity. He's won and lost a starting job before. Twice in each instance.

Nothing is guaranteed, as Turner has found out, except that college football both rewards and humbles you.

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