As June winds to a close, we are now only 70 days from real, live Panther football returning. Since we are down to 70 days, we are obviously going to look at #70 for the Panthers, a young stud on the offensive line, Trai Turner.
Bio
Height: 6’3”
Weight: 310
College: LSU
Experience: 3 years
Career
The Panthers took a young, raw offensive guard in the third round of the 2014 Draft and he has already made incredible strides. When the Panthers selected Trai Turner 92nd overall, many pundits remarked that Turner would have been a first round selection in the 2015 Draft had he decided to stay in school. The Panthers lucked out and got one heck of a player when Turner decided to leave LSU after just his sophomore season. The Panthers weaned him into the league his rookie year, but last season he started all 16 regular season games at right guard for the league’s top-scoring offense. While there are not many stats for offensive linemen, PFF ranked Turner the 79th overall player from 2015, ahead of Tyler Eifert and just behind Drew Brees. Plays like this are part of the reason why he is thought of so highly:
Trai Turner destroys JJ Watt on the Ginn TD cc: @DCWLN @macwfnz @Kroeger pic.twitter.com/iqGZxGdoHf
— Tom Bonner (@misterbonner) September 22, 2015
Yes, that is Trai Turner owning the reigning Defensive Player of the Year JJ Watt. Now it is only one play, but not many people can throw JJ around like that regardless of the circumstances. Heading into 2016, Trai Turner is 100% guaranteed the starting right guard spot for the Carolina Panthers. He will make the roster, he will start, and (hopefully) he will continue to improve.
Trai is quite active on social media. His Twitter account can be found here. He even got in on the GIF fun with the other offensive lineman after hearing about Michael Oher’s extension.
— Trai Turner (@trai_turner) June 17, 2016
He does not seem to be quite as active on Instagram, but here is his page if you’d like to follow him.
Just a little over two months, Panther fans! It will be here before you know it! Keep Pounding!