Driven to success by faith and family, Turk is ASU’s newest weapon

Under his maroon and gold, fitted, flat-billed hat, Michael Turk looks forward, pausing a second. He’s trying to concisely sum up all the things he’s gleaned from his uncle, former NFL punter Matt Turk.

“Yeah, I guess a lot of technical stuff,” Turk quickly says.

He’s right -- both in his answer and for dumbing it down for the media contingent in front of him. We see a punt. Turk and Matt see form, and trajectory, and angles, and a whole bunch of other stuff that no one thinks about after the ball whizzes high into the sky off Turk’s majestic right foot.

But then Turk elaborates a bit, offering what Matt told him is the most crucial of the punt. The drop.

Hey, who knew?

“He taught me that a lot of punters don’t work their drop enough,” Turk said.

So, like a quarterback who needs to hone in on his end zone fade, Turk works on his drop. Every day after practice, he heads home, stretches a bit, then makes the short walk over to the Sun Devil student recreation center to do 300 drops on the basketball court lines.

On Thursday night, though, he only had to drop the ball five times. The quintet landed 64, 62, 65, 49 and 75 yards away, respectively. The 63-yard single-game average broke the NCAA record by more than two yards and, after one game, Turk leads the nation in punting average by nine yards.

“The best defensive player and I’m taking him on our side of the ball was Turk,” defensive coordinator Danny Gonzales said after ASU’s 30-7 win over Kent State. “Unbelievable. That last field he flipped, that 75-yard punt, that can really help us as we go along in the season in changing field position.”

On the 75-yard bomb, Kent State return man Kavious Price looked like a wide receiver running a deep post route.

Pierce did something not a whole lot of punt returners ever do, he turned his back to the play and began sprinting to chase the ball. He set up to field the punt right around the Kent State 45-yard line and didn’t touch it until it stopped rolling at the Kent State 15.

“I kind of knew right away I hit it well, Turk said. “Then I looked up and saw him running back and so I was pretty pumped.”

So were his teammates, welcoming him back to the sideline like a war hero finally getting his praise. On Monday, as about a half dozen cameras and recorders inched closer to his face, Turk stood near the open double doors in ASU’s student-athlete facility, making him visible to his teammates funneling into the locker room.

Senior defensive back Darien Cornay had his helmet off when he spotted Turk, ASU’s newest celebrity, talking to the media. He cupped his hand and shouted over like Turk was his shy friend finally talking to the girl he liked. “Hangtime,” he yelled in both an ode Turk’s punting prowess and his extraordinary Instagram handle.

Turk smiled, holding back a chuckle as he continued to answer questions.

On his actual hang time, though, Turk said he always shoots for five seconds; and by unofficial calculations, his 75-yard missile was right around there.

Despite the NFL connections, Turk doesn’t herald stories about him running around the house punting balls. In high school, he was a safety with no intentions of making a living out of booting footballs.

Towards the end of his senior year, he and his uncle would go out and punt. Seeing promise in his nephew, Matt kept working with him. But his biggest development as a punter didn’t formulate until after high school, when he decided to take a gap year before college, training intensely with his brother Ben, a former Notre Dame punter who recently punted for the Orlando Apollos of the now-defunct AAF.

“Mostly the gap year with my brother Ben, that’s when I grew most,” Turk said. “So it’s been four years now (since I started punting). I grew a lot really fast.”

Above all else, Turk really wanted to play college football and punting, his family told him, was the smartest and most effective way to do so. The culmination of Turk deciding to punt, most would think, was a plan set in motion by his genetics and kin.

He doesn’t necessarily believe that.

“The reason why I began is I always believe that if you kind of humble yourself and trust in the Lord, he’ll guide your way,” Turk said. “Obviously God first, but, yeah, I’d say a combination of my brother and my uncle.”

Like many in the ASU locker room, Turk is open and honest about his faith. When asked about his record-setting game Monday, before delving into the question, Turk started multiple answers with, “All thanks to God.”

And, in the end, it was that faith that led him to Tempe. After playing his freshman season at Lafayette College in 2017, Turk decided to transfer. He landed on ASU for a few reasons. First, Matt had punted under Herm Edwards while on the New York Jets in 2002. There was familiarity. Second, a healthy majority of the Sun Devil coaches are incredibly outspoken about their faith and devotion to God.

In the sales game that recruiting can often become, that was the pitch he needed to hear, the pitch that ultimately brought him to Tempe.

“That’s all of it, really,” Turk said. “I can have everything. I could be the best punter in history. But I truly believe if I don’t have the Lord, if I don’t have God, I think it’s kind of all for not. That has to be the starting point in my life. The coaches being outspoken and having a good culture here, that’s definitely a positive.”

Turk will stay humble after just one game with ASU. His uncle didn’t carve out a 19-year NFL career by dwelling on one game or one punt, so Turk will do the same. After all, the record aside, most sort of saw Thursday coming.

In fall camp, Turk drew the attention of ASU’s coaches early by booming kicks one off the top of the Verde Dickey Dome. It just sounded different when he booted one, they claimed.

In his ASU career, former punter Michael Sleep-Dalton had been inconsistent. For every 50-yard blast, it seemed a 25-yard shank followed. The punting inconsistencies, brought about by Sleep-Dalton’s 41.8-yard average over two seasons, often drew the ire of fans.

All the sudden, five punts into his Sun Devil career, Turk has morphed into ASU’s mythical figure with a golden leg. He knows, however, that doesn’t make him royalty.

“One game is not good enough,” Turk said.