That last name should sound familiar to Dolphins fans.
Immediately following the selection of the NFL draft’s “Mr. Irrelevant,” Toledo’s defensive lineman Desjuan Johnson to the Los Angeles Rams, teams hit the phones to ink their undrafted free agents.
The Miami Dolphins, as per usual over the last few years, have a long list of rookies who’ll be brought into camp to battle for a spot on the practice squad, and with hard work and a bit of luck, perhaps a spot on the 53-man roster.
In years past, especially the last four, a number of undrafted rookies have made an impact and earned a spot on the full-time roster. In 2019 cornerback Nik Needham was cut during camp, then elevated to the squad and was recently re-signed to remain a Dolphin for at least another season. Another UDFA corner, Kader Kohou was a revelation last season and one of the best undrafted rookies in the NFL.
As announced yesterday, 19 undrafted players are going to head to South Florida to fight for a role on this team, including Oklahoma punter Michael Turk.
A well-traveled and well-taught punter, Turk is the nephew of former Miami Dolphins punter Matt Turk. Another one of his uncles is former NFL long-snapper Dan Turk. Michael has punting pedigree like the catching Molinas in baseball. He played for Lafayette back in 2017 and then Arizona State from 2018-20.
Turk, who’s 25 years old, was even available for selection back in 2020 when he declared for the NFL draft as a Sun Devil, however, he wasn’t picked nor signed, so he regained two years of eligibility, which he spent at Oklahoma. In fact, back in 2020, he bench-pressed 25 reps at the NFL Combine, which was a modern-era record for punters.
The former Sooner was a two-time first-team All-Big 12 punter in 2021 and 2022 and was also the same in the Pac-12 in 2019 and 2020. Turk has a thunderous leg, and, in 2022, he ranked third in college football in gross punt average (46.8).
The distance on his punts will be there, yet he’ll have to work on the corner accuracy and not out-kick coverage. He specialized in flipping the field, even numerous times from deep in his own territory, including as far back as the backend of the end zone. On several occasions, he booted kicks of 70-plus yards.
He tallied a punt of at least 50 yards punt in all but two games last season for Oklahoma. His kicks have solid hang-time, but a bit of fine-tuning of the accuracy can make Turk a massively important person to watch in training camp, and battle recently signed punter Jake Bailey, formerly of the New England Patriots where he was an All-Pro in 2020.
The main positive for Turk is the massive power, and again, working on the nuances of the punting game like touch and corner-coffin placement are things that he’ll focus on this summer. The Dolphins have a loaded roster, and this could be the toughest season in recent memory for any undrafted rookie to get named to the 53-man team.
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