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66 days until Michigan football: James Turner becomes a legend after shaky start

clayton-sayfieby:Clayton Sayfie•06/26/24•

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James Turner
Michigan Wolverines football kicker James Turner made 3 50-yard field goals in 2023. (Photo by Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports)

There are 66 days until the defending national champion Michigan Wolverines football team takes the field in the Aug. 31 opener against Fresno State. Each day until then, 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 made 66 of its 68 extra point attempts last season, with graduate James Turner going 65-of-66 and then-freshman Adam Samaha finishing 1-of-1. A quirk is that the Wolverines were credited with a missed extra point on the official stat sheet in the Rose Bowl on a play when a kick was never attempted. Graduate long snapper William Wagner and then-junior punter Tommy Doman couldn’t connect on the snap, which rolled all the way back near the 30-yard line, where Turner recovered.

Turner’s actual lone miss came in Michigan’s season-opener against East Carolina, likely due to nerves in the Saline, Mich., native’s first game after transferring in from Louisville.

“Obviously, you don’t want to miss PATs, that kind of sucked,” Turner said later that month. “It was good to get that out of the way in a sense that game, because it’s definitely a different environment playing in The Big House, so that was kind of a hurdle to get over. I’m feeling a lot more confident and comfortable in there.”

That was his third PAT of the season, and he went on to make his final 64 of the year. It’s safe to say he bounced back. He also missed on a 52-yarder that day, but he made some massive field goals as the season went on.

In fact, Turner was perfect on field goal attempts from the Sept. 23 matchup against Rutgers all the way until missing a kick in the Jan. 1 Rose Bowl against Alabama — connecting on 14 field goals in a row during that span.

He had a quiet middle of the season but finished with a bang, drilling all 3 of his attempts in a 30-24 win over Ohio State, including one that put the Wolverines up 6 points late and a 50-yarder earlier in the ball game, and going 4-for-4 in a 26-0 shutout victory over Iowa in the Big Ten championship game the following week.

His only miss the rest of the season came on a 49-yarder in the Rose Bowl, which Michigan won 27-20 in overtime over Alabama.

All told for the season, Turner went 16-of-18 on field goals with 3 makes of 50 yards. He was 6-of-8 on attempts of 40-plus yards and perfect from inside 40 (10-for-10).

Turner was picked up by the Detroit Lions as an undrafted free agent, but was released on waivers last week. He was awarded to the Green Bay Packers one day later, where he’ll compete with Anders Carlson and Greg Joseph.

Michigan football countdown to kickoff

67 days | 68 days | 71 days | 72 days | 73 days | 74 days | 75 days | 76 days | 77 days | 78 days | 79 days | 80 days | 81 days | 82 days | 84 days | 85 days | 87 days | 88 days | 89 days | 90 days | 91 days | 92 days | 93 days | 95 days | | 96 days | 97 days | 98 days | 99 days | 100 days

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