Terps are now Turner's team

For Chris Turner, this season is all about confidence.

You can see it in the way the senior quarterback commands the respect of his Terrapin football teammates.

You can see it in the way he carries himself on and off the field, sure of what he wants to accomplish this season, and what he needs to do to get there.

After quarterback controversies and bouts of inconsistent play lingered as constant subplots during his first season and a half as a starter, Turner is finally ready to take the reins this season as the Terps’ unquestioned leader.

The team’s success this season will largely depend on how well Turner plays behind center.

He has noticeably improved his arm strength, his fundamentals and his physique since last year, but the biggest difference between the end of last season and the beginning of this one is how he feels mentally.

Turner said he feels like the game is beginning to slow down for him, and everything is really coming together.

“It’s a pretty big difference. I feel very confident going to the line,” Turner said. “I’m kind of at that point where I just feel very comfortable that I know what’s going to happen.”

At this time last year, Turner was dealing with the disappointment of being passed over in favor of Jordan Steffy as the Terps’ starting quarterback for the season opener against Delaware.

By all accounts, Turner handled the situation well, and he said there was never much weight behind the speculation at the time that he might transfer.

Then, Steffy broke his thumb against the Blue Hens, and Turner became the Terps’ starter for the rest of the season.

Turner played well at times and led the Terps to several high-profile wins, but he never felt 100 percent comfortable in his first year running new offensive coordinator James Franklin’s complex offense.

“It was hard for him to be the type of leader I wanted him to be last year because he didn’t really completely know everything he was doing,” Franklin said. “It wasn’t natural to him yet.”

So Turner and Franklin went back during the offseason and watched the film from every game last season and graded Turner on each throw he made.

What Franklin called Turner’s formerly “kind of mushy” physique has become more muscular and shaped. But Franklin said Turner is throwing the ball with more velocity and accuracy this preseason mostly because he has the confidence to get in a rhythm and go through his progressions with the proper timing.

And because Turner now knows what everyone else around him is supposed to be doing, he has become less hesitant to correct his teammates’ mistakes in practice and has become a more noticeable leader.

“Chris has always been a laid-back kind of guy, but this year he’s been more vocal,” wide receiver Torrey Smith said. “He’s been out in the front and everything. I really feel like he understands that this is his last chance and he’s giving it his all right now.”

And that’s what this season boils down to for Turner: This year is his last chance to make an impact. He is one of a small group of seniors who must shape the identity of this young and largely inexperienced team.

If Turner plays the way he, Franklin and coach Ralph Friedgen expect him to, things could fall into place for the Terps.

If Turner struggles, wins are going to be hard to come by.

“I think it’s very important that he plays well,” Friedgen said. “I think if he plays well we’re going to have a chance.”

Turner knows what he wants to accomplish, and for the first time in his Terp career there are no other quarterbacks and no more mental hurdles standing in his way.

“I just want to have a really successful season, the kind of season that I’ve always wanted to have for myself and for this program.” Turner said. “That’s kind of what I want — to have one of those years you don’t forget.”

schimmel@umdbk.com