CLEMSON – Five years ago, Nolan Turner was in the middle of his fifth and final fall camp as a Clemson football player.

The safety, who finished his career as a two-time national champion, understood the cyclical grind of summer workouts, fall practices and the tight-roping act of balancing a class schedule with football, better than most anyone at that point.

With two degrees and more football forgotten than most will ever remember at the age of 28, Turner is no longer playing defensive back for the Tigers or for an NFL team, which he did in 2022. But as Clemson’s newly-promoted safeties coach, each drill the former Tiger standout teaches is seasoned with the fresh expertise of a player not too far removed from the game.

“I had so many great memories here as a player and was able to be a part of a lot of great teams,” Turner said. “I really think I just know what it looks like from a perspective as a competitor and a winner and trying to implement you know those qualities and characteristics into our guys.”

Not many college football players can say that their position coach played for three national championships and won five conference titles. Nor can many athletes brag that their coach was an All-American while they were in middle school. However, current Clemson safeties, including Ronan Hanafin, Corey Myrick and Jerome Carter III can boast all of these truths about Turner.

For Carter, who transferred in from Old Dominion University this offseason, Turner’s recent experience was a selling point to pick the Tigers over other suitors pining to secure the commitment from college football’s runner-up in interceptions last year.

“I told Jerome that it was a plus that (Turner) played the game, and his age and his success,” Jerome Carter II, a former Florida State defensive back, told TCI this summer. “His success was a good thing, but his age shouldn’t be a negative thing, because he’s kind of closer to their age. When it comes to how recently he played, he’ll be able to translate a lot of things and get a lot of things through to Jerome in the way that he sees them, so I told him having a coach that played was a plus, that played at that time.”

Turner finished his five-year Clemson career credited with 259 tackles, 20 pass breakups and seven interceptions. In his first season back as a coach with the Tigers in 2024, he helped Hanafin, then a rising sophomore, make the switch from wide receiver, his original position, to safety.

One season later, in Hanafin’s first full year as a defensive back, the converted wide receiver finished third on the team with 73 tackles and was one of only four players to record an interception for the Tigers.

“(Turner’s) very communicative and he really knows how to portray it to guys our age,” Hanafin said. “Especially when I was switching, I didn’t know a bunch of the terminology and stuff. And just for him to be able to dumb it down and now, to be able to speak on a much deeper level about all that stuff has really helped me a lot.”

After two years serving as an assistant and helping players like Hanafin to success behind the scenes, Turner was noticed by other coaches outside of Clemson, and was sought out for bigger opportunities elsewhere. 

Head coach Dabo Swinney, however, had other plans to keep his former standout–dubbed a “swaggy” coach by Carter–around. It started with a promotion.

“We talked about and kind of what that looked like here and he ultimately offered me the job here and that was truly a blessing,” Turner said. “Obviously my alma mater, the place I played at, care a lot about. I’ve invested a lot in this place and a place that’s invested in me. And so, just truly blessed to be able to, lead that room, lead the group of men, and ultimately try to get a job done.”

Now, Turner and his room will have a tall task to start the year when they will head down to Baton Rouge, La., to open the season against LSU in Tiger Stadium on Sept. 5.. 

When Clemson played LSU in the National Championship game in 2020, Turner led all Tiger players with 16 tackles. With that, it would be hard to find a more relatable coach to get the group ready for this year’s matchup.