Over the past five years, the Michigan football team watched 148 of 148 extra points sail through the uprights courtesy of graduated kicker Jake Moody.
Less than two quarters into the Wolverines’ contest against East Carolina, that streak came to an unceremonious end. Lining up to take his third PAT of the season, graduate kicker James Turner misplaced the kick wide left, burying his head in his hands in response.
Now — nearly three weeks removed from what could be a lingering regret — the Saline, Michigan native sees his miss in a different light.
“Obviously you don’t want to miss PATs, that kind of sucked,” Turner said Tuesday. “But it was good to get that out of the way, in a sense, that game. It was definitely a different environment, playing in the Big House, and so that was kind of a hurdle to get over, but I’m feeling a lot more comfortable now and confident.”
That confidence has corrected Turner’s course after the brief detour. In the time since that miss, Turner is 10-for-10 on his extra point attempts. Meanwhile, though he’s yet to have a huge workload, Turner has secured two field goals on three attempts, missing only a 52 yard attempt against the Pirates.
But distance has yet to be a particular cause of concern for the Louisville transfer. His two makes have come from 42 and 50 yards respectively, with the 50 being the longest kick of his career. It’s a leg strength that he’s always had.
Before starting football in his freshman year of high school Turner — like many kickers — got his start as a soccer player. Yet, as he realized his time on the pitch was not going to transpire as he intended, he switched to the gridiron — and never looked back. By his sophomore year of high school, he exclusively played American football.
“I always had a strong leg in soccer,” Turner said. “And so it just made sense to start kicking footballs.”
He found rapid success after the switch. By his senior season, he knew it was time to commit to a Division I program as a kicker, and Michigan even came calling. But, the Wolverines came with a catch: he wouldn’t be on scholarship. Electing instead to attend the Louisville, Turner had a successful kicking career for four years.
Across his time with the Cardinals, Turner notched 124 of 127 PAT attempts, good for 97.6 percent accuracy. From farther out, Turner’s big leg traveled with him to Derby City as well, knocking in 47 of 59 field goals. Four years later and the kicker wasn’t ready to hang up his cleats. Four years later and the Wolverines came calling once again.
This time with a scholarship in hand.
And after exploring his options, Turner elected to come home to southeastern Michigan. Fifteen minutes away from home, to be exact. Now, unlike his days in the Blue Grass State, Turner relishes the chance to have his family come and watch him.
“It’s definitely an advantage to being here, for sure, having my family come to games,” Turner said.
Now though, his family members aren’t the only ones watching him. Given the Herculean task to follow in Moody’s footsteps, Turner has big shoes to fill.
“There’s definitely a spotlight on the kicker position here,” he said. “So that’s good and bad. Obviously, if you’re doing good, then it’s good. If you’re doing bad, then it’s not so good.”
It’s a tame analysis, but one that reflects the necessities of his position. With kickers, the spotlight only comes in the necessary moments, and as Turner already knows, those moments are either hit or miss.
After his inaugural game with the Wolverines though, they’ve only been hits.