SST Athlete Watch – Edition 17
Junior Turner Having a Great Start to His CFL Career!
Calgary Stampeders defensive tackle and SST athlete, Junior Turner (number 23 pictured above) is quietly having a very strong start in first season as a professional. The 9th overall pick in the 2011 Entry draft from Bishop’s University was ready to put in his time on special teams in order to earn himself a spot in the defensive rotation. Junior has found himself right in the thick of the defensive scheme for the Stamps just 3 games into his young CFL career. Turner’s strength, speed and football awareness have allowed him to jump right into the lineup and make an immediate impact.
After his 4 year career at Bishop’s University, Junior turned his focus to playing football at the professional level. Junior spent countless hours here at SST preparing himself mentally and physically for the CFL evaluation camp. Junior would practice the different tests’ continuously, until his 40 yard dash was second nature and he made 20 reps on the bench test look easy! When it came time for the combine, Turner was calm cool and collected and tested much better than most scouts expected. Junior had the best broad jump, fastest 10 split, 20 split, shuttle and second best vertical and 40 yard dash for all defensive linemen in the combine. Along with testing well, Junior showed his technique in the one on one drills, as he was very hard to contain throughout the day. His combine results impressed a lot of scouts from a lot of different teams and eventually ended up getting him drafted in the first round.
Throughout training camp and pre-season, Turner worked extremely hard to improve himself on and off the field as a professional. Turner is a very coachable individual who is always very keen to learn new techniques and better his existing strengths. His positive attitude has helped him earn a spot in the Stamps defensive rotation and to this point in the season he certainly is making the most of his opportunity. Just 3 games into the season, Turner has racked up 5 tackles along with a sack in his first year as a pro.
Junior looks to have a long and very successful career ahead of him in the CFL. SST and its staff would like to congratulate Junior on all of his accomplishments in the last year. He worked extremely hard to get to where he is today and we know he will work that much harder in order to stay and continue to grow as a player and more importantly, as an individual.
Gore Having A Breakout Season with the Lions!
BC Lions wide receiver Shawn Gore has had an electric start to the 2011 season. After being on the practice roster for the majority of last season, Gore has been a go to receiver for the Lions in the early stages of the new season.
Gore is a big target that runs very well and loves to mix it up. In the first pre-season game, Gore recorded 3 catches for 62 yards, with one being a 52 yard reception. Shawn fits right into the Lions air assault offence as he can get into the open areas of the field and find lots of space to run after the catch, as he has the ability and agility to make people miss when one on one in the open field. After 3 regular season games under his belt, Gore has been a force to be reckoned with recording 16 catches for 217 yards. His best outing was in week 2 against the Stampeders where he racked up 7 catches for a very impressive 96 yards, despite Gore’s great performance the Stamps edged the Lions 34-32 in a thrilling week 2 game.
Everyone here at SST would like to wish Shawn continued success throughout the season. If he sticks to what he has done up until this point and remains healthy, it looks like it shouldn’t be a problem to keep this tremendous pace up! Great job Shawn! Keep up the hard work and dedication.
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