When KaVontae Turpin arrived on TCU’s campus in the fall of 2015, his focus was the NFL.
Seven years later, he made it.
Most players who play college ball think their future is in pro ball. Less than a few make it.
Turpin’s life was ball, and it was his goal to be one of the few.
He’s going to land a roster spot on the 2022 Dallas Cowboys.
Six weeks after signing a free agent deal with the Cowboys, the returner/receiver from TCU who was kicked out of school in 2018 for a domestic violence incident with his girlfriend looks like he’s going to make the NFL.
On Saturday night in the Cowboys’ 32-18 win in their second fake game of the season, he returned a kick 98 yards for a touchdown in the first quarter against the Chargers in Los Angeles.
Late in the second quarter, he returned a punt 86 yards for his second touchdown of the half.
TCU fans have seen all of this before; road runner speed, jump cuts, and jack rabbit feet. They called it, “Turpin Time.”
After being named the USFL MVP earlier this summer, and now his success in the NFL preseason, he will either make the Cowboys, or another NFL team. Hard to see the Cowboys cutting Turpin now.
“I’m an exciting player, and every time I get the ball, there’s a big play waiting to happen. I’m happy to be here and take advantage of this opportunity,” Turpin told a pool reporter at halftime.
Everyone associated with the TCU football program who knew, and worked with, Turpin during his college career somewhere celebrated on Saturday night.
Turpin was the three-star recruit who picked TCU over Texas Tech, and was largely ignored by bigger schools because he is not a bigger guy.
TCU generously listed as 5-foot-9. Go with 5-foot-7.
Turpin was your classic Gary Patterson recruit; mostly overlooked, and a player who thrived at TCU.
The only reason TCU staffers were concerned about Turpin’s future in the NFL was that size.
From the time he arrived on campus to the time he was told to leave, everyone at TCU liked Turpin. They were all sympathetic to a background that was less than great.
Turpin grew up in Monroe, Louisiana, and was not exactly raised in ideal circumstances.
When he arrived to TCU, Turpin experienced some culture shock. That didn’t make him different from a handful of his teammates.
Turpin, however, may have been a slightly extreme case.
TCU staffers had to work, and lean, on Turpin to make this work. He had some influences from Monroe that weren’t ideal. School wasn’t easy.
According to TCU staffers who worked in the athletic department when Turpin attended TCU from 2015 to 2018, Turpin’s intentions were good. He was charming. Funny.
He tried.
Escaping his background was the issue. Staffers knew his relationship with a girlfriend wasn’t perfect.
When he played, he was electric.
As a junior in 2017, he was named first-team All-Big 12 as an all-purpose player.
He was a part of TCU’s last good team; in 2017, the Frogs finished 11-3, reached the Big 12 title game, won the Alamo Bowl and finished the season ranked ninth nationally.
That’s the last TCU team to finish the season ranked in the Top 25.
In the fall of 2018, it all caught up to Turpin.
In October of 2018, Tuprin was arrested on charges of assaulting his girlfriend. The specifics were ugly.
He was involved in another incident with the same woman in the spring of ‘18, in Las Cruces, New Mexico.
TCU had no choice but to kick Turpin off the team, and out of school.
Everyone associated with the program feared what would happen to Turpin when football was taken away.
In April of 2019, he plead guilty to assaulting his girlfriend and agreed to two years’ deferred adjudication probation, and a 27-week Partner Abuse Intervention Program through SafeHaven of Tarrant County.
The assault charge in Las Cruces, New Mexico was dismissed and he plead guilty to disorderly conduct.
He bounced around a few low-level leagues before landing in the USFL this spring, where he thrived. He was the only player to score a touchdown on a kick return in that league.
Now he has scored two touchdowns on returns for the Cowboys in one half of preseason football. The Cowboys didn’t even have him wear pads in the second half.
He looked so good on Saturday night as a returner it makes you wonder why any team would kick to him.
He looked so good because KaVontae Turpin was literally running for his life, and now he’s going to make the NFL.
