Inside the mindset of Dallas Turner going into his freshman season

Those initial workouts were intense, even for one of the nation's top athletes.

It’s been roughly two months since Dallas Turner arrived in Tuscaloosa, Ala. to join up with the Crimson Tide. By now, the five-star linebacker is beginning to get accustomed to life as an Alabama football player. However, he admits the transition to the college game isn’t for the faint of heart.

“When I first came here it was a little hard because it was like, I’m not used to no 6:30 workouts every single day,” Turner told BamaInsider in an exclusive interview. “I mean, I kind of am, but it’s just kind of like the work that we put in. When we first got here in the weight room, they were lifting some heavy weights and I was not lifting those weights like that back home. But I feel like once I got like my fourth, fifth week here working out, I feel like I got used to it and I got accustomed to the system.

“When you get accustomed to the system, you start to have fun. I just started having fun with it, waking up happy in the morning knowing that I’m about to go get better than I was yesterday.”

Turner’s potential on the field has Alabama buzzing this offseason. The 6-foot-4, 250-pound edge rusher joins the Tide as the No. 1 outside linebacker and No. 18 overall player in this year’s class. Serving as the star of NFL Hall of Famer Jason Taylor’s defense at St. Thomas Aquinas, the five-star defender earned the Sun Sentinel's Broward County 8A-6A Defensive Player of the Year award last season, recording 41 tackles, including 25 for a loss with 13 sacks with four forced fumbles.

Turner is the highest-rated of Alabama’s 13 summer enrollees. Although, while his stars and stats stand out on paper, he’s now looking to leave that hype in the past.

“Your stars go away as soon as you step foot on that college campus,” Turner said. “High school rankings, All-American games, that doesn’t mean nothing when you’re in college because in college there’s no ranking system. It’s just like who’s the better man and who’s going to go out there and just go 100 percent no matter what. I feel like stars don’t really mean nothing in college as soon as you get there. It’s a dog-eat-dog world, so you’re going to eat or you’re going to get eaten.”

If anything, Turner knows he faces a bit of an uphill battle in terms of earning a key role this season. Unlike Alabama’s early enrollees, he wasn’t afforded the opportunity to gel with the team this spring. That’s led to some extra hours both on and off the field as he attempts to soak up as much of the Tide’s defensive scheme as he can heading into his first fall camp.

“When I first came here, I felt like I was in a big hole that I had to get out of,” Turner said. “Over time it was just being consistent with the playbook, studying the playbook every single day, putting in the extra time and then just making sure I’m focusing on things I need to work on in the weight room and on the field as well. Once you take care of the little things, everything falls in place.”

Turner is stepping into an already-loaded outside linebacker room that currently includes eight players all rated as four- or five-star recruits. The unit figures to be one of the best in college football and features two preseason All-SEC members in Will Anderson Jr. and Christopher Allen who combined for 13 sacks and 23.5 tackles for a loss last season.

“It’s a different feeling when you know you’re up here playing with some of the best in the country,” Turner said. “From what they did last year, it’s like, if they can do it, I feel like I can do it, too. Especially being here with them, seeing them here every day, work out and just in the film room, in practice, it’s just something not too many people get very often.”

Turner embraces the challenge, stating that football “is about to be my job soon, so I’ve got to come out every day and go to work.” The freshman’s first official day in the office comes next month when Alabama is set to open its fall camp on Aug. 5.

“I’m looking forward to a lot of new things,” Turner said. “The atmosphere of course, just knowing that I’m going to be in primetime. Just being in the area, on the field knowing that I’m out there. It’s not really too much butterflies and being nervous. It’s more being anxious to just go out there and make something happen on the field no matter what it is, on special teams, offense or defense, it don’t matter.”