Alabama’s Dallas Turner To Enter 2024 Draft

Following Will Anderson‘s climb from SEC Defensive Player of the Year to No. 3 overall pick in the draft, one of his former Crimson Tide pass-rushing sidekicks will leave school early as well.

Co-SEC Defensive Player of the Year this season, Dallas Turner, said after Alabama’s overtime loss to Michigan tonight he will enter the draft early, ESPN.com’s Alex Scarborough tweets. Considering the likelihood of Turner becoming a first-round pick, this is an unsurprising choice.

Mel Kiper Jr.’s most recent ESPN big board slots Turner 11th overall. These placements regularly change between the end of a season and the draft, but Turner is coming off a strong junior season. The ex-Anderson wingman finished with 10 sacks and 14.5 tackles for loss this season, becoming an All-American. Turner, who forced two fumbles this season, posted a sack in Alabama’s CFP semifinal loss tonight.

Turner’s DPOY honor gives Nick Saban’s program four such achievements over the past four years. Anderson and Patrick Surtain collected the honor from 2020-22, with the former being named as such twice. Turner, UCLA’s Laiatu Latu and Florida State’s Jared Verse reside as the early top-tier edge defenders in the 2024 class. Both the Bruins and Seminoles standouts have already declared for the draft.

Turner combined for 60 QB pressures from 2021-22, doing so as Anderson accumulated 130 during his dominant run that led to his move to Houston. As a freshman in 2021, Turner totaled 8.5 sacks. The 6-foot-4 edge defender finished the regular season 12th in Division I-FBS pressure rate. Alabama’s 2020s draft imprint has skewed a bit more toward offense, despite Surtain and Anderson’s arrivals, but Turner will likely check a box on the defensive side upon being chosen in Round 1 come April.