Washington County Enterprise-Leader
Mutual Faith Bond Strengthens Cardinal Teammates
RECOUNTING TURNER’S JOURNEY FROM CARDINAL TO RAZORBACK WALK-ON
FARMINGTON — Farmington senior Reid Turner endeavors to live out his life as an answer to the question posed in Psalm 119:9 (Amplified Bible).
“How can a young man keep his way pure? By keeping watch [on himself] according to your word [conforming his life to your precepts].”
That doesn’t mean Turner plans to take the easy way out. His choice to walk on with the Arkansas Razorbacks Division I football program when he could have accepted a scholarship offer from a smaller school illustrates he’s not afraid of a challenge.
Turner acknowledged a closeknit group of classmates and high school football teammates at Farmington help one another avoid peer pressure temptations or from acting upon teenage impulses that might lead to trouble.
“There’s definitely times like that, guys want to act foolish,” Turner admits. “But for the most part I was really blessed with having great friends that weren’t about the party life nor was I.”
He realizes many teens don’t enjoy that sort of insulation because their cliques don’t concentrate on modeling faith.
“A lot of people don’t have that community that helps each other out,” Turner said. “Especially when you have a lot of friends it’s hard to find a lot of guys, who all care about glorifying Christ like we do. I was very blessed for that.”
Turner’s role model is former Florida and NFL quarterback Tim Tebow. He lists among his best friends: Jacob Freeman, Jacob Rogers, Seth Swain, Eric Hill and Chuck Carlson; while acknowledging his parents, grandparents, brothers, and seemingly everyone around him on a regular basis as part of a supporting cast.
Their prayers and influence hover like an invisible force field of protection.
Turner experienced down moments. A star tailback in junior high he brought blazing speed into the Cardinal backfield as a sophomore carrying the football 71 times for 333 yards in part-time duty then disappeared at times from the backfield rotation as a junior backup to Caleb Williams.
In those moments, Turner learned not to put his head down, but look up.
“But above everything (I had) Jesus Christ,” Turner said. “When I felt like I had nothing, I always had him, I could always turn back on that. That’s definitely why I’m here.”
Veteran Farmington head football coach Mike Adams makes starters earn their spots — something which Turner achieved as a senior and in retrospect appreciates.
“Not throwing me the starting (tailback) job as a sophomore. That definitely made me step up to a different level, never being comfortable with where I was at, always had to work harder to get better,” Turner said.
Adams called upon Turner as a senior to expand his game by playing him on defense. Turner never worked that side of the football before and grew as a player lining up at lockdown end in the Cardinals’ nickel package and cornerback in the regular defense.
“(This was) actually my first year of playing defense ever,” Turner said. “It kind of moved more towards not playing both ways towards the end of the year, but definitely in the beginning that was a fun experience I hadn’t gotten a little while back.”
“It definitely made me play with more instinct which is something I’ve always relied on instinct, but that gave me a different grasp of being aggressive.”
Turner and his teammates wanted to win as much as anybody. That didn’t happen often enough for the Cardinals, finishing 4-6 overall and 2-5 in the competitive 5A West to make the 2018 playoffs. Yet, the boys never let up, never backed off and never quit.
“If nothing else we would hold each other accountable,” Turner said. “We were there to be great whether the score showed it or not we put everything into everything we did.”
“I knew from day one that if I wasn’t holding up my end, they were going to hold me to it. If they weren’t, I was going to (hold them accountable). It’s just the relationship we had.”
That’s the sort of fighting spirit the Arkansas Razorbacks are looking for and why Turner was invited to walk-on at the University football program.