The longest dash of Calvin Turner Jr.’s career, 4,693 miles from Jacksonville, Fla., to the University of Hawaii, began with an out-of-the-blue phone call.
“I’ve got this guy you might be interested in …” Ian Shields told then-UH football Nick Rolovich almost a year ago today.
Shields was the head coach at Jacksonville (Fla.) University when the small (2,900 enrollment) private school suddenly announced an end to its Football Championship Subdivision football program on Dec. 3, 2019 after 22 seasons.
Before Shields looked for a new job for himself, he set out to try to find homes for his players. In the case of Turner, his triple option quarterback, Shields made a particular point of trying to find a place at a higher level Football Bowl Subdivision school — “a bigger stage, brighter lights” — more befitting the senior-to-be’s exceptional talents.
Something like Saturday night, for example, during which Turner caught a game-high 10 passes for 77 yards and a touchdown, ran twice for 28 yards and returned a kickoff 47 yards in the Rainbow Warriors’ 24-21 victory over previously unbeaten Nevada.
“Everything you guys are seeing, we’ve seen for three years,” Shields said. So, Shields said, “I reached out to a bunch of coaches, but knew Rolo for maybe 10-15 years and the offense they ran. I thought it would be a good fit for Calvin and for Hawaii. I think I had enough credibility with Rolo that when I called exclusively about one kid he was willing to take a look at the highlight tape.”
What Rolovich saw was enough to generate a quick return call, “telling me he wanted to make it happen,” Shields said. In a matter of days, Turner was on a recruiting trip and posting photos of himself in a Rainbow Warriors jersey, pledging himself to UH.
Less than a month later, Rolovich was off to Washington State. “I knew what the next coach, (Todd) Graham, ran and figured as soon as he saw (Turner) with a ball in his hands, they’d find a place for him, too,” Shields said.
At UH, Turner has had a 24-karat touch as a wildcat, running back, slot receiver and kick returner. In 64 overall “touches” he has averaged 10.54 yards and contributed 52 points over six games.
Because he wasn’t much of passer at North Hampstead High in Savannah, Ga., and some schools weren’t sure where the 6-foot,
195 pounder might fit in, Turner was a little under the radar despite being voted the city’s outstanding male high school athlete (track, basketball and football) and student his senior year.
At JU, “He played cornerback for us his freshman year and then transitioned to quarterback,” Shields said. Turner wasn’t called on to pass much in the Pioneer League, averaging just seven attempts per game over two seasons, but was a revelation as a runner. Over two seasons, the one they called “Turner the Burner” averaged 127.8 yards per game, 6.3 yards per carry and 1.5 touchdowns a game.
“He runs with an innate sense, a spatial awareness and the first guy never makes the tackle on him,” Shields said. “He’s a dynamic guy with the ball in his hands. He can play just about any skill position on the field and he’s a really special young man, very bright and sharp with
next-level abilities.”
These day, Shields watches highlights of Turner in a UH uniform from afar and nods his head at how well things have worked out for his prize player and UH.
Maybe a little too well, Shields acknowledge, since he eventually took a job on the defensive staff at Nevada-Las Vegas, which is scheduled to play UH and Turner Dec. 12 at Aloha Stadium.
Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@staradvertiser.com or 529-4820.
