Nolan Turner was a notable omission from the list of Clemson players invited to the NFL scouting combine earlier this year, but Baylon Spector wasn’t all that worried about his former teammate’s ability to showcase his skill set for the next level.
Spector knew the Tigers’ veteran safety would get his shot during Clemson’s pro day Thursday. And after training alongside Turner in Florida for the past couple of months, Spector knew what was coming even if it came as a surprise to nearly everybody else.
“A lot of people were asking me, ‘What do you think Nolan’s going to run?’” said Spector, the former Clemson linebacker who also participated in the event. “I was like, ‘He’s going to blaze.’ And he did. So it wasn’t surprising.”
With scouts and coaches representing all 32 NFL teams packed inside Clemson’s indoor practice facility, Turner stole the show. He had the highest vertical jump among the participants at 37 ½ inches. His broad jump of 10 feet, 2 inches tied Spector and tight end Braden Galloway for the longest of the day.
And when Turner ran his first 40-yard dash in 4.47 seconds, audible gasps permeated the facility. Turner bested that a few minutes later with a 4.46 on his second attempt. None of the other participants, which included another defensive back (Mario Goodrich), a receiver (Justyn Ross) and a running back (Darien Rencher), ran faster than 4.60.
“I was just excited to get out here really and, at the end of the day, come out here and perform,” Turner said. “Been training for this day and this moment for a while now. It was good to come here and perform well and up to my expectations and hit a lot of my numbers and goals I was trying to hit.”
Turner spent six seasons as part of Clemsons’ program, the last two as a full-time starter on the back end of the defense. A two-time captain and All-American in 2020, Turner finished his career with 259 tackles and seven interceptions in 65 games, the fourth-most played in a career in program history.
He finished fourth on the team with 65 tackles last season, but it wasn’t enough to earn an invite to the scouting combine in Indianapolis last month. That didn’t come as much of a surprise to Turner considering foot and hamstring injuries limited him to 10 games and cut into his production.
“I was a little banged up and probably didn’t have the year I thought I would have statistically,” Turner said.
Turner wasn’t completely shut out of postseason showcase opportunities. He participated last month in the East-West Shrine Game, where he got the chance to meet NFL personnel and interview with some of them. Turner said he’s had conversations with other teams since, most of which told him they wanted to see more top-end speed and explosiveness from Turner as well as a clean bill of health.
That prompted Turner to travel to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, to train at XPE Sports, an athlete training program run in part by fellow Clemson alum Tony Villani. Turner’s objective was to improve in those specific areas.
“Training for this stuff, it’s a lot of the combine drills and touching up on position work,” Turner said. “I was putting a big emphasis on speed and explosiveness. Those were kind of the things I thought I needed to work on a lot. That’s why I went down and trained with those guys, and they did a really good job. Definitely got out of it what I wanted to.”
With the numbers he put up Thursday, Turner said he believes he’s put himself in position to be taken once the NFL Draft begins April 28.
“I came out here and proved I was athletic enough,” Turner said. “I’ve got the tape. At the end of the day, I think I have the speed and athleticism to play at the next level.”
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