Boise State recruit Antoine Turner is a promising defensive tackle. Not long ago, it was tough to classify him as a defensive lineman. Before Turner was given another chance by Fullerton College coach Tim Byrnes, he weighed just 220 pounds.
Turner redshirted in his first year at Fullerton and appeared in just five games as a second-year freshman. His grades became so poor that Byrnes had no choice but to dismiss Turner from the team. That’s when he started spiraling downward again. He briefly found work at a laundromat before ending up homeless.
“They kicked me off and my life was shambles,” Turner told the LA Times.
After that, Turner spent most of his nights thinking about suicide and sleeping on a picnic table at Anaheim’s La Palma Park. His weight dropped from 290 to 220 before he met girlfriend R’Mya DeMarrco and began turning his life around. Turner moved in with DeMarrco’s family, started eating again and put the weight back on. Byrnes then invited him back to Fullerton.
“He got stable,” Byrnes explained. “He’s figured out how to make it. He got another opportunity and he made it.”
Turner was still homeless as of earlier this week, but the NCAA has granted Boise State permission to begin helping him immediately. Everyone will be in Turner’s corner when he starts his playing career with the Broncos.
