Inside The Huskies

Mr. Fourth Down: No One Does It Better than Ex-Husky Zeke Turner

The special-teams standout and third-year NFL vet is making the most of his opportunities.

Dan Raley

Fourth down often can be be such a boring play, as teams kick the ball, call for a fair catch and exchange possession, yet Zeke Turner always makes it interesting.

One Sunday, the former University of Washington special-teams standout was at his disruptive best, both blocking a punt and catching a pass on a fake punt in the Arizona Cardinals' 33-26 victory over Philadelphia.

Late in the first quarter, Turner, an opportunistic three-year NFL veteran and No. 47 in the photo, came up the middle and blocked Cameron Johnston's punt, setting up the Cardinals on the Eagles 6 and leading to a score.

This marked Turner's second punt block of the season, adding to the one he picked up against San Francisco in a season-opening 24-20 victory in September.

“Just putting the offense in that position, to be able to flip the field like that, in close games like that, field positioning is huge,” Turner told the press afterward. “I don’t know what it looks like on tape, but I didn’t really feel anyone try to come to me or block me.”

In the fourth quarter, the ex-Husky defender slipped out of the backfield on fourth-and-2 and hauled in a 26-yard pass from Arizona punter Andy Lee, catching a ball in traffic.

It was his first football reception since high school.

“Andy puts a lot of touch on it,” Turner said. “We practiced that a lot. I’m glad I looked up and — I didn’t really have to do much. It was a perfect throw. He put it right in the bread basket.”

Turner always has been a behind-the-scenes guy, showing up at the UW as a California junior-college transfer by way of Pasadena -- Pasadena, Maryland. 

He started just five games at safety in three seasons (2015-17) for the Huskies, playing behind the likes of Budda Baker and JoJo McIntosh, two NFL-bound teammates. He went undrafted.

However, Arizona found a time and a place for him.

Fourth down.

No one does it better.

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Dan Raley
DAN RALEY

Dan Raley has worked for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, as well as for MSN.com and Boeing, the latter as a global aerospace writer. His sportswriting career spans four decades and he's covered University of Washington football and basketball during much of that time. In a working capacity, he's been to the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals, the MLB playoffs, the Masters, the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship and countless Final Fours and bowl games.

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