James Turner, Wolverine

 

James Turner

Louisville transfer kicker James Turner has committed to Michigan.

Turner was listed at 6'0" and 205 lbs. at Louisville last season, where he made 20/22 field goals and 38/39 extra points during the 2022 season. Before that he was 14/22 on field goal attempts and 46/48 on extra points in 2021, and he went 13/15 on field goals and 40/40 on extra points in 2020. Altogether, that makes him 47/59 on field goals. He has also handled kickoff duties at times.

Turner was a class of 2019 prospect from Saline (MI) Saline who did not get an offer from the Wolverines at the time. Michigan did not sign a kicker in 2019, but they had nabbed Quinn Nordin (2017) and Jake Moody (2018) in back-to-back classes at that point.

Turner should be Michigan's starting placekicker this fall. Redshirt sophomore Tommy Doman has not been used much so far in his career, but he will probably fill in at punter for the departed Brad Robbins and perhaps on kickoff duties. Meanwhile, the placekicking duties will likely be a battle between Turner and incoming freshman Adam Samaha, with Novi (MI) Catholic Central walk-on product Charlie Mentzer also in the mix.

This is the first player to commit to Michigan in the spring portal window, but Michigan landed several players right after the season, including TE A.J. Barner, LB Ernest Hausmann, OL La'Darius Henderson, OL Chris Hinton, OL Drake Nugent, DE Josaiah Stewart, and QB Jack Tuttle