Film Breakdown: Landon Turner vs. Duke

Senior right guard Landon Turner is Carolina’s best lineman and an All-American candidate for the Tar Heels. Fans know Turner is a talented football player, but sometimes in the chaos that is an American football play, it can be hard to keep track of Turner or even see how he makes an impact for the Tar Heels.

Today, I took a look at the film on Landon Turner from draftbreakdown.com and picked out three plays that show how good Turner is. These three plays show the ability of Turner and why NFL scouts and coaches will show him so much love during the 2016 NFL Draft season.

Here is the first play on the goal line in the third quarter…

The score is 52-17, the game is already well out of hand, yet Turner is still driving the pile and creating running lanes for the Tar Heel running backs. Watch Turner, second from the right on the offense line, explode from his stance and drive Duke’s defensive tackle back five yards into his own goal line.

This is textbook technique from Turner. His hand placement is perfect, he gets excellent leg drive to move the defensive tackle off his line and his motor and relentlessness are exactly what the coaching staff wants from an offensive lineman.

Elijah Hood, after bouncing off Romar Morris, finds the gap that Turner creates and gets his way into the endzone for an easy score. This touchdown goes into the scorebook as Hoods’, but in reality this one was all Turner.

The next play comes from the first quarter…

Watch carefully, because this one is a bit harder to see. (Turner is third from the right on the line this time.)

This is a play action pass, so Turner is run blocking even though Marquise Williams ends up throwing the ball. Turner starts out the play blocking Duke’s defensive tackle with center Lucas Crowley, essentially forming a double team like you would in basketball. Two blockers on one defender is a mismatch in favor of the offense almost every time, and it is in this case too — Duke’s defensive tackle is driven back.

The play isn’t over for Turner once he finishes that block, though. Next, his job is to get to the second level and try to get a hat on a linebacker. Turner also accomplishes this goal, pancaking number 40 in Duke blue right before the camera pans to watch the completion of the pass.

It’s hard enough for a lineman to get to the second level, let alone get a pancake block on a linebacker. This play showcases Turner’s explosiveness and finishing ability.

This last play is from the same drive when the Heels have now entered the red zone.

Landon Turner’s block here is the equivelant of a SC Top-10 catch for a wide reciever. Unfortunately, lineman don’t get any respect on SportsCenter, so Turner will have to settle for praise here and in the film room from UNC offensive line coach Chris Kapilovic.

Turner is again third from the right on the line here and pulls out to the right upon the snap along with the center. Turner’s job is just to get a hat on anyone coming after the quarterback on the edge, and he does that and more, completely obliterating the Duke defender by knocking him off his feet. This play showcases Turner’s incredibly athletic ability for such a big guy. Not a lot of lineman can pull and still make a great block like Turner does here.

The huge hole that results from Turner’s block allows Marquise to waltz into the endzone untouched. This is an excellent play design executed excellently.

Landon Turner is a great football who deserves every bit of the recognition he has received so far this season, and he deserves to be a first team All-American and a first-round NFL Draft pick. Tar Heel fans will likely only get four more chances to watch Turner play in the Carolina blue, so cherish them while you still can.