Louisville Football had made it known they were going to peruse the transfer portal for some help along the defensive line for the upcoming season. The transfer portal provided that help today in the person of a 6’1 289 lbs DL from Southern Miss.
Next chapter🙏🏾 pic.twitter.com/JYjcjoO44D
— JACQUES9️⃣9️⃣ (@JacquesTurner_) April 25, 2021
Jacques Turner, a native of D’Iberville, MS, chose to use his final year of eligibility with the Louisville Football program. In his three years at Southern Miss, Turner was a very valuable defensive lineman. He was a 2018 All-Conference USA First Team performer. For his career with the Golden Eagles, Turner totaled 100 tackles, 31.5 tackles for loss, 14.5 sacks, 1 pass defensed, and 3 forced fumbles per southernmiss.com
Turner has a connection to the UofL Football program. Current assistant coach and inside linebackers coach Derek Nicholson was on staff at Southern Miss for most of Turner’s time with the Golden Eagles program. Turner is being brought in to provide depth to the interior line. He will likely play the nose tackle position for the Cards in their 3-4 scheme.
Louisville wanted to add quality, experienced depth at the position as most of the returning players redshirted or played sparingly with the exception of Dezmond Tell. As much as Louisville likes to rotate players in and out along the defensive front, Turner will provide a quality, experienced lineman who will bring some nice production.
While he primarily lined up at DE for Southern Miss, Turner has the size to play the nose tackle in Louisville’s scheme. He should be able to bring some havoc to the interior line and get some tackles for loss and sacks. I wouldn’t be surprised if Louisville did line up Turner occasionally at DE, but he will bring some nice size, speed, and quickness to the interior line; these qualities are what Bryan Brown wants in his interior line because UofL uses a lot of movement and slanting in their scheme.
Jacques Turner will bring a wealth of experience and production to the Cards. It will allow the younger guys to be eased in more and be used in situations more advantageous to them. I foresee that he and Dezmond Tell will be the primary guys lining up at nose tackle for the Cards when they open against SEC for Ole Miss in Atlanta. This is an excellent pickup by the staff.
