Christian Turner
Indications were that Christian Turner, now a redshirt sophomore, isn’t even a factor. However, according to Harbaugh, that’s short-sighted, because his inability to see more playing time down the stretch was due to constant injuries.
That was the reason, as confirmed by a Michigan spokesperson, why Turner didn’t make the trip to Orlando in December for the VRBO Citrus Bowl. At this juncture, he’s still recovering from his various ailments, but he’s still finding ways to improve and get better, even while he can’t participate fully, Harbaugh says.
“So Christian is obviously working to get healthy now,” Harbaugh said. “And he’s maintained a great attitude really throughout and really, as you mentioned, his time year, he’s had a little bit of bad luck in terms of the injuries that have come his way. To his credit, he’s managed to keep improving, keep learning, keep a good attitude and be a good teammate throughout the whole process. For him, he’s gotta continue to do that. We know what he can do from a movement perspective. Everyone’s just anxious and excited to see it for an extended period of time, because that’s really, as a runner, it’s really underappreciated the, how much of a factor reps are. To get on the field is good and to practice is good, but to really get a feel for different plays, the way that we’re blocking him and the way that the defense is fitting runs, you need to be out there for weeks and months at a time. And he’s doing everything he can to get to that point. I think we all fully expect, with the work he’s putting in now behind the scenes, when he comes back he’ll be even better.”