Hanover Central senior Kyron Turner’s attitude about his physical stature is simple: “So what?”
The 5-foot-5, 155-pound middle linebacker enters his second season as a starter after recording 66 tackles, the most among returning players for the Wildcats (11-1), and believes he’s poised for improvement.
“I feel like my mindset has changed a lot between these past two years, for the better,” Turner said. “My technique has gotten a lot better. I’ve just become a better football player.
“I just stopped thinking about everything so much. I used to think about everything, even outside of football. I’d overthink. But this year, I’m not thinking about it too much and just having fun.”
One thing to which Turner isn’t paying much mind is his size.
“I just try not to let it affect me,” he said. “It’s like, ‘So what?’ That’s my mindset. So what?”
Turner also played last season with his left wrist wrapped. A sprain had lingered since the end of his sophomore season, and he continued to compete with the injury into wrestling season. But when his wrist was swollen and he could barely move it after a tournament, he visited a doctor, and X-rays revealed a break. Turner had surgery and was sidelined for close to five months.
“I’m fine now,” he said. “I feel great.”
Hanover Central coach Brian Parker initially had reservations about Turner, who said he was 5-1 and 125 pounds when he entered high school.
“His freshman year, when he showed up, we were a little worried in regards to his ability to play the position we’re asking him to play because of his lack of size,” Parker said. “But some of the things we ask our middle linebackers to do, in regards to reading guards and stuff like that, he was doing it.
“I call the plays. We were running inside run in full 11-on-11, and he was a freshman, one of our scout team guys, and he just kept showing up and making plays on us. That’s just kind of been his thing. He’s just put his head down. He’s worked. He has a great attitude. Great student. Great family — his mom and dad are great. So on top of being a very good player for us, he’s a tremendous, tremendous part of what we do here. He’s a big part of our success, for sure.”
Turner, who has also seen some time at running back, has removed any doubts about his ability.
“He is not the most imposing figure,” Parker said. “He’s vastly undersized, especially for the position he plays, but he’s as tough as they come. Pound for pound, out of all these kids in our program, he’s the strongest kid. He has a phenomenal attitude. He’s a leader on our team. He’s a student of the game.
“In my time at Merrillville, I coached running backs, then my last year I coached linebackers. And I’m a big proponent that really good inside linebackers at some point in their life have played running back because they can see the blocking schemes evolve and really play it out. Kyron gets reps at running back for us as well, and his ability and his experience of playing running back has only lent to him being such a productive player at the inside linebacker position for us.”
Parker said it’s a mistake to underestimate Turner.
“I’m sure there are teams that when they see our two-deep and see our roster and see we have Kyron in there, they want to kind of pick on him and go after him a little bit,” Parker said. “But he answers the bell every single game. We put a lot on our inside linebackers, and if they’re the ones leading our team in tackles, that means everybody, those guys up front, are doing their jobs and he’s in the right spot. … You can’t ask for a better kid to have in our program.”
Junior safety Dylan Bowen agreed that Turner is a vital part of the team.
“He’s a great player, but he’s also a great leader,” Bowen said. “He’s a great person. He’s the nicest person you’ll ever meet.”
Turner aims to help Hanover Central, which opens the season with a home game against Wheeler on Aug. 23, continue its high level of success. Since his freshman year, the Wildcats have won a sectional title and have gone undefeated in back-to-back regular seasons, including winning the Northwest Crossroads Conference title in their debut. But last season ended with a gut-wrenching overtime loss to West Lafayette in a sectional final, and the Wildcats move up to Class 4A this year.
“I like our patience in practice, and I like our competitiveness in practice,” Turner said. “We’re getting better, trying to be the best we can be. If we’re all pulling in the right direction and we’re all doing our jobs the best we can, we can make — obviously my dream is — state. We can make state.”
