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Injured Turner finishes gridder playing career

October 24, 2000
MSU senior linebacker Julian Peterson, right, and junior linebacker T.J. Turner (35) take down Michigan’s fullback Aaron Shea on Saturday at Spartan Stadium. The Spartans beat the Wolverines 34-31, and are still undefeated with a 6-0 record. —

T.J. Turner is done for the season.

MSU head coach Bobby Williams said at his Monday press conference that the senior linebacker had surgery on his separated shoulder Friday and will not return.

“It’s a huge loss,” Williams said. “T.J. was an All-Big Ten, All-American candidate and one of our best players and we lost him.”

Turner first hurt his shoulder in the third play of the Sept. 9 Marshall game and reinjured it against Notre Dame and Iowa.

Turner finished with two solo tackles and assisted in four more.

In 1999, Turner started all 12 games at middle linebacker and had 66 tackles and two sacks.

Saturday’s officiating

Williams said he spoke with Big Ten coordinator of football officials David Parry on Monday morning concerning the officiating of Saturday’s game against Michigan. Perry mentioned to Williams that officials made mistakes Saturday.

“I had a chance to talk with Dave Parry this morning and he concurred on the calls that were made, or were not made in the game that went against us,” he said.

The play Williams focused on was the alleged fumble by sophomore running back T.J. Duckett in the third quarter that was recovered by Michigan defensive tackle Eric Wilson at the U-M eight yard line.

“The guy who recovered the fumble was clearly out of bounds and the play should’ve been blown dead,” Williams said.

When asked about the possibility of having instant replay in college football, Williams said he would support it only if there was a cost-effective way to do so without taking away from other areas of the athletic department.

“Something has to be done because these problems come up every year,” he said. “Teams are losing games because of this.”

A new face returns

Freshman wide receiver Ziehl Kavanaght returned punts Saturday at U-M, replacing junior wide receiver Shawn Foster after Foster struggled in the Oct. 14 Wisconsin game.

“I thought Ziehl did a great job,” Williams said. “He played the ball well, made very good decisions, fielded the ball well and had one really good return.”

Kavanaght, a native of Brossard, Quebec, returned two punts for 14 yards.

Food for thought

MSU, which is 0-4 and last in the conference, has scored 20 points in the first quarter, nine in the second, seven in the third and seven in the fourth.

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