It’s Turpin Time in Ft. Worth

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Doctson and Turpin celebrate after another TCU touchdown

When thinking about TCU football, people often want to talk about Trevone Boykin, Josh Doctson, and Coach Gary Patterson – all with good reason. However, one of the unsung heroes of the team thus far has been the electric true-freshman Kavontae Turpin. Turpin has quickly become one of the most exciting players in the country to watch, and a major headache for opposing defensive coordinators. He is second only to Doctson on the team in receptions, yards, and touchdowns with 14, 245, and 6 respectively. He is also averaging 9 yards per rushing attempt, 11 yards per punt return, and 28 yards per kick return.

Turpin was relatively unknown (and still remains relatively unknown throughout most of the country) when he graduated from West Monroe High School in Louisiana as a three star recruit. The only other power five school that offered Turpin a scholarship was Texas Tech, who didn’t heavily pursue him. In fact, Turpin was not expected to garner too much playing time this season for the Frogs until wide receiver Cameron Echols-Luper transferred to Arkansas State.

Despite being overlooked by a lot of Division 1 schools, Turpin’s success should come as no surprise to anyone who saw him play in high school. Researching this article, I looked up his high school highlight tape from his sophomore year and was blown away by how quick and explosive he was even from such a young age (see below).

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According to gofrogs.com, Turpin was named the All-NELA Big School Offensive Player of the Year when he totaled 1,928 all-purpose yards, including 904 rushing and 724 receiving, and had 29 touchdowns. That same year he was named All-State.

After this past week’s four touchdown performance against Texas, Kavontae Turpin was named the Big 12 Co-Offensive Player of the Week and was one of SportsCenter’s Week 5 Impact Performer nominees. The four touchdowns he caught were the most for a freshman in Big 12 history, and the most by any freshman in the country in 2015.

TCU’s offensive coordinators Doug Meacham and Sonny Cumbie have to be excited that they get at least two more seasons after this year with Turpin, who has obviously greatly exceeded expectations up to this point. As his role becomes more prominent in a TCU offense that is averaging 51 points per game, he will continues to solidify himself as a “must-watch” entity every week.