2019 Ohio OL will camp with Pitt this summer
Pitt will host 2019 Canton (Ohio) McKinley offensive tackle Charles Turner for camp this summer. Turner is a product of one of the country's most storied high school football programs and has been looked at by several Power Five programs.
Few programs in the country have a longer or more storied tradition than the Canton (Ohio) McKinley Bulldogs. For over 120 years, McKinley has helped to build the storied tradition of Stark County football and been home to some of Ohio’s most noteworthy athletes. While he has not yet entered those ranks, 2019 offensive tackle Charles Turner Jr. is beginning to receive Division I recruiting attention, like so many of his teammates and predecessors have before him.
“I’ve been hearing from Pitt, Penn State, Minnesota, Ohio State, Miami of Ohio, Syracuse, and Boston College, but I’m still waiting on my first offer,” Turner said. “I want to camp at Pitt, Penn State, Ohio State, Cincinnati, maybe a few others.”
Given his status as a 2019 graduate and the fact that he’s just wrapping up his sophomore year of high school, Turner can’t speak too much with college coaches. Despite that, the coaches at Pitt have made it known to Turner’s coaches – who they can have free and open communication with – that they’re interested and want to host him on campus this summer.
“Pitt came to the school and just invited me down to their camp and looked at my transcripts and all of that. That’s their junior elite camp on June 11th,” Turner said. “I couldn’t talk to the coach in person, he came by and stopped to talk to my coach.”
As he begins his contact with Pitt, which can truly develop in earnest starting on September 1st of his junior year, Turner will look more into the program moving forward.
“I hadn’t heard a lot from them before this, but I actually had a cousin that played at Pitt before transferring to Akron, Jamal Davis,” Turner said. “I’m most definitely going to research the school a little more soon.”
Turner has a big body at 6-foot-5 and 250 pounds and as he grows into that frame and develops his offensive line technique, the future should certainly be bright. He helped lead one of the most effective rushing attacks in northeast Ohio last season.
“I think my pass blocking is my biggest strength right now and my sets there definitely,” Turner said. “I think I do well at run blocking but there are always things that I can improve and make better about my game.”
An advantage of Turner’s enrollment in Canton McKinley is that there will be no shortage of advice and experience with the recruiting process for him to lean on. More so than most sophomore prospects around the country, Turner will know what to look for in his eventual college.
“I’m looking for a good education – you really can’t do anything without a good education, most definitely. I’m focused on life after football and they taught us a bit about that here at Rivals,” Turner said. “You can’t depend on football your whole life, so I need to get a great education.”
Check out Turner’s sophomore highlights below as well as pictures from his performance at the Rivals 3 Stripe Camp in Columbus:
