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ANN ARBOR, Mich. — With Michigan’s running backs situation being one of strong positional depth, there’s a lot of reasons for enthusiasm going into the 2020 season.
Co-starters a year ago, Zach Charbonnet and Hassan Haskins return with a year of experience under their belt, Chris Evans — would would have been the presumptive starter a year ago — comes back from a one-year academic suspension while true freshman Blake Corum appears to be poised to see the field in year one.
But one player often gets lost in the mix: third-year tailback Christian Turner.
Turner was the talk of the program heading into the 2018 Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl with starter Karan Higdon sitting out. The staff and his teammates waxed poetic about how elusive of a runner he is and how much he was showing in practice.
We got a glimpse of that on his first carry, a long rumble to the endzone, but with a toe stepping out of bounds, that long run was significantly shortened.
However, in 2019, we only saw Turner in small doses. It was revealed this offseason that he was encumbered by injuries, which precluded him from seeing the field as often as many anticipated. But now, he’s healthy, and his position coach in Jay Harbaugh says he’ll be good to go this year.
“Yeah, CT is ready to roll,” Harbaugh said. “He’s healthy, we’re super excited about it. Just love him, love everything he’s about. He’s worked his butt off to get back and be healthy. It’s a bummer that he wasn’t able to get the rust off in spring. But he’s done a great job of getting ready.”
But what kind of back will he be?
Not every runner is the same, which leaves room for him to be able to get on the field and get carries. He certainly will, if you listen to Harbaugh, who praised his love of the game, and his ability now that he’s healthy.
From what he says, we can expect to see him both in the backfield as well as on special teams. And in that regard, Harbaugh’s excitement is palpable as to the possibilities.
“Going into the season, I’m just excited for him to be able to get on the field and do what he loves to do,” Harbaugh said. “Absolutely loves to play football. I’m absolutely dying to see him out there and doing what he loves to do. And impacting on special teams and as a running back, continuing to improve his feel, his patience, his footwork in the backfield. Really all the little things are going to let him harness all that explosiveness that he has. Like I said, I can’t wait to see it.”
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