Herschel Turner shatters North Coast Section, Bay Area single-season rushing marks after 413 yards, 5 TDs

Mt. Diablo senior running back unofficially has rushed for 2,957 yards and 42 touchdowns in 10 games

In the history of the North Coast Section or Bay Area high school football, there's never been a better rushing regular season than that of Mt. Diablo of Concord (Calif.) senior Herschel Turner. 

The 5-foot-10, 190-pound running back and linebacker, a 3-star prospect with 10 college offers, rushed unofficially for 413 yards and five touchdowns on Saturday afternoon in a 55-40 win at Berean Christian of Walnut Creek. 

In 10 games, Turner unofficially has 2,957 rushing yards and 42 touchdowns, eclipsing the NCS regular single-season record of 2,623 set by Salesian-Richmond's Jahvid Best and the Bay Area mark of 2,749 set by Capuchino-San Bruno's Justin Ewing in 2012. 

Herschel Turner is approaching 3,000 rushing yards in 2023 alone / Photo: Courtesy Brandon Huffman, 247Sports

The California single-season regular-season rushing record is 3,354 by Moreno Valley's David Dotson in 1991. The California overall single-season rushing record is 4,495 set in 2000 by Ventura's Tyler Ebell. 

The Red Devils improved to 7-3 and will play in next week's NCS playoffs. Saturday's game totals were reported by West Coasts Preps. 

TURNER JR. IS IN!!! Touchdown Red Devils to make this 28-6. Just 1:28 left in the first half and it’s been all Red Devils. pic.twitter.com/jPqWnfwRnP

— West Coast Preps (@westcoastpreps_) November 4, 2023

Turner, who has offers from among others UNLV, Utah, Utah State, Yale and Washington State, will go for the total season NCS and Bay Area mark of 3,488 set in 2011 by Concord's Olito Thompson. 

All records are according to CalHi Sports. 

On Saturday, Turner scored on runs of 59, 70, 80, 8 and 25 yards. In his first season at Mt. Diablo, the transfer from Freedom-Oakley rushed for at least 300 yards for the sixth time and he broke his own school mark of 377 in a season-opening 39-28 win over Deer Valley. 

Heading into the week, Turner ranked fourth in the nation in rushing, according to leaderboards kept by MaxPreps, and second in California behind Caruthers' senior Hunter Babb (2,916). Babb's totals were through 10 games. 

Turner might have also broke the Bay Area record for most touchdowns scored in a regular season. The most by any Californian is 55 by Tulare's Kazmeir Allen in 2017, but the cutoff for Cal-Hi Sports is 44. Nobody from the Bay Area is between 44 and 55. 

Turner came into the game averaging a ridiculous 18.44 yards per carry, by far the most among the top 50 rushers in the country. 

He told us after breaking the school record in the season opener: “I had a good feeling coming into the game. I told my teammates I was gonna have a big game, and that I would get five touchdowns."

A momentous offseason training regimen has aided him all season, Turner said. 

“It felt really good because my team and I went through hell this offseason,” Turner said. “All the conditioning, lifting, learning a whole new playbook and competing every single day was all worth it. I’ve seen a glimpse of that in Week 1, but we have a long way to go.” 

He has barely dropped off all season, averaging 294 yards rushing per game. He's also a force on defense, with a team-best 62 tackles through nine games, six caused fumbles and five fumble recoveries. 

During the season, when his big numbers were being noticed throughout the web, Turner took to Twitter, writing: "I appreciate the love, but nothing is possible without my OL. Credit goes to them, my teammates, and my coaches!!"