35 days until Michigan football: James Turner won't be Jake Moody, but he was a major addition

There’s much anticipation heading into the Michigan Wolverines football season, and TheWolverine.com is counting down the days until the Sept. 2 opener against East Carolina. We’ll discuss current Michigan events, the upcoming season and/or take a look at a significant number that correlates with how many days remain until kickoff, whether it be a player’s jersey number, a year, a date, a score, etc.

Michigan will have a new kicker this season. The favorite to start, according to head coach Jim Harbaugh, is graduate James Turner, a Louisville transfer who joined the team this summer. Freshman Adam Samaha, an Ann Arbor native, and junior Tommy Doman, who we project will handle punts, will also compete for the job.

No matter who wins it, there’s no question they have massive shoes to fill. Third-round pick (No. 99 overall) Jake Moody — the highest drafted kicker since Roberto Aguayo at No. 59 in 2016 — was steady and helped Michigan win plenty of games over the course of his career, particularly in 2018, 2019, 2021 and 2022.

The last two seasons, especially, Moody was crucial to the team’s success. He hit game-tying and game-winning kicks at Nebraska in a Michigan come-from-behind victory in 2021. He nailed a game-winning kick to keep the Wolverines’ perfect season alive in 2022. And then there were some under the radar performances — keeping Michigan in games it wound up winning, salvaging points on drives that stalled out, etc. The Wolverines have had red zone struggles for portions of the last two seasons, with the offense failing to punch it in for touchdowns, but Moody mitigated the damage by being so consistent.

The 2021 Lou Groza Award winner, Moody nailed 23 of his 25 field goal attempts that season, becoming the Wolverines’ first to win the award for the nation’s top kicker. Moody was once again stellar in 2022, with 29 made field goals on 35 attempts, including a 59-yarder in a Fiesta Bowl loss to TCU. That kick kept Michigan within striking distance at halftime, when it trailed 21-6 but made a game of it in the second half.

Turner has been steady throughout his Louisville career, too, though he’s been no Moody. Michigan fans are going to have to come to grips with that, though. If the Saline (Mich.) native can be solid, even very good, that’s a massive win for the Wolverines, who would have filled a question mark through the transfer portal with his addition.

Turner made 20 of his 22 field goal attempts last season and 47 of 59 over the last three seasons. He’s 14-of-20 from 40 to 49 yards in his career, and was 3-of-5 last season. That stat isn’t one to overlook. Moody holds Michigan’s program-record with 17 field goals of 40-plus yards, and he did it in 40 games as a place kicker compared to Turner’s 36. Turner is 1-for-6 on kicks of 50-plus yards; while that seems underwhelming, Moody ‘only’ made 4 of those in his career — they weren’t his bread and butter and aren’t for any college kickers — setting Michigan’s program record.

The “layups,” so to speak, are extremely important, though, and those were Moody’s speciality, too. He was a perfect 148-for-148 on extra points (Turner is 121-for-123) for his career and 38-of-39 inside 40 yards (Turner is 32-for-33 from inside 40 and 46-for-53 from inside 50). Turner is as good as anybody not named Moody, perhaps, in that area.

In closing, Michigan went into spring ball with a concern at kicker. It came out of spring ball with that same concern. But less than a month later, Harbaugh and Co. reeled in an underrated piece that didn’t get as much fanfare as some of the other portal additions — but in a few games, he may have the greatest impact of any of the newcomers, and that’s saying a lot.

Michigan football countdown to kickoff

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