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Will Jamel Turner Disappear Before a College Football Nation Meets Him?

Apr 20, 2010, 9:00 PM UTC

â†µYoungstown Ursuline defensive end Jamel Turner (pictured below in green) was one of the biggestâ†µcatches in Ohio State’s 2009 recruiting class. Unfortunately for bothâ†µparties, Fork Union Military Academy defensive end Jamel Turner was oneâ†µof the biggest catches in Ohio State’s 2010 recruiting class afterâ†µTurner got booted off Ursuline’s team and failed to qualify. â†µ

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â†µâ†µThis isn’t unusual for schools across the country whoseâ†µprized recruits get shot down by the NCAA. A lot of kids cool theirâ†µheels at Fork Union for a post-grad year. For example, Ohio Stateâ†µHeisman winner Eddie George spent 11th and 12th grade plus a post-gradâ†µyear at FUMA. It’s a fairly common path to a big school.â†µ

â†µâ†µHowever, that path does not often include gettingâ†µbooted from a second school for unexplained reasons, then gettingâ†µshot riding around in a car with a bagâ†µof weed and a couple handguns next to a driver with a laundryâ†µlist of prior convictions. â†µ

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â†µTurner himself has not been charged with anything, and this isn't oneâ†µof those columns where the writer hectors a college coach for stickingâ†µhis neck out for a talented kid still suffering from a nasty background.â†µI saw the last two seasons of The Wire, man. So even thoughâ†µTurner plays for the team I'd like to see lose more than any other, it'sâ†µsad that the picture painted is not of a guy who's likely to stick atâ†µOhio State, or anywhere. Jim Tressel hasn't said anything yet...â†µ

â†µâ†µâ‡¥â†µâ‡¥OSU coach Jim Tressel texted the Dispatch moments ago, simply saying,â†µâ‡¥“Have not spoken to him,” in response to messages about Jamelâ†µâ‡¥Turner.â†µâ‡¥

â†µâ†µâ†µ...but with OSU’s annual spring game coming up tomorrow, you canâ†µbet he’ll be peppered with questions that he will answer in the mostâ†µboring fashion possible. Even the impressively recalcitrant Tressel willâ†µbe hard-pressed not to admit that the chances Turner ever arrives inâ†µColumbus seem thin indeed. The correspondence courses Turner isâ†µ“believed” to be taking probably aren’t going to get it done.â†µ

â†µâ†µIf and when Turner shuffles off to an obscure school-hopefully notâ†µYoungstown State, given what just went down-he’ll join the Legendaryâ†µMidwest Recruit Flameout Hall of Fame next to Kelly Baraka, a Michiganâ†µrecruit who blazed out with multiple pot busts before even arriving inâ†µAnn Arbor and now playsâ†µfor the Kalamazoo Xplosion, and Callahan Bright, a planet-sizedâ†µdefensive tackle whose long and winding road took him from Florida Stateâ†µto prep school to junior college to a garbage truck to jail to a D-IIâ†µschool and now maybeâ†µthe NFL draft. â†µ

â†µâ†µHopefully Turner’s “where are they now” feature is at leastâ†µthat positive; it sounds like he’s starting off much further behind theâ†µeight ball.â†µ

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This post originally appeared on the Sporting Blog. For more, see The Sporting Blog Archives.

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