TALKING TURKEY

Turk McDonald (UT football, 1988-1992)

by Larry Carlson

Look up "center" in your dictionary, and you find something like "around which anything relates to or revolves."

But the center position in football is seldom the center of attention. That other guy who also touches the ball on every play gets oversized expectations, too much credit and too much blame.

But that dude around which everything revolves is mighty important on every snap and his position is arguably the most demanding one -- along with that of the glamor boy quarterbacks. This writer has long held that offensive linemen are the most cerebral and often most witty, wise-cracking and wonderful-to-interview types on a football squad. And it figures that these centerpiece specimens of brains and brawn who man the middle are especially intriguing cats.

The University of Texas, in the three decades of Darrell Royal/Fred Akers football, cranked out the primo pivot-men on an assembly line. David McWilliams, Olen Underwood, Jack Howe, Forrest Wiegand, the peerless Bill Wyman, Wes Hubert, Mike Baab, Mike Ruether, Gene Chilton and Alan Champagne all rolled through. But now, only three Longhorn centers -- Turk McDonald, Lyle Sendlein and Zach Shackleford -- have earned first team All-Conference accolades in the last three decades.

TLSN recently sought out McDonald for a question and answer session. The guy who blocked belligerently as a member of the 1992 All Southwest Conference team blocked no questions, gleefully and glibly responding to them all. Turk is the quintessential UT center, straight from central casting. Born to be a Horn, big and bad on the baseball diamond and then even better on the gridiron, the long-time West Texas oil & gas landman savors family, football, bagging mule deer and teeing it up with golf buddies. In the lively interview below, number 55 looks back on Texas teammates, hamburger hangouts and sudsy sleep-aids, and looks ahead to the possibilities and liabilities as Longhorn football ushers in the era of pre-paying for pancakes.

 TLSN: DeSoto High has gained a rep this century for producing tons of future NFL players. What was Eagles football like for you back in the mid-‘80s?

Turk: DeSoto football in the late 80’s was terrible. My teams went 1-9, 3-7, 3-7 (laughs). The Eagles have a lot more talent now. We were a baseball school back in my days there. I was on a State championship team in ’85. Region Semi’s in ’86 and Region Final in ’88. One of the reasons we moved to DeSoto in the first place was for baseball, not football. But I just kept growing.

TLSN: What position did you play in baseball? And you told me you had offers.

Turk: I was a first baseman. I didn't get a lot of big offers. I think that had alot to do with my football commitment .But Tech said I could try both football and baseball and Baylor showed some interest. After signing to play with Texas most everyone backed off on baseball. But one night after hitting a pair of homers, UT Pan Am pulled me off the bus and offered me on the spot. I did kick around the idea of trying to play for the Longhorns after football. I had graduated in December (1992) and thought it would be fun. With all the weight gain and how strong I had gotten, it would've been fun to see what I could do. But, heck, I bet Coach Gus probably would've made me bunt, anyway.

TLSN: What in particular led you to sign with UT?

Turk: Texas football is in my blood. My grandfather had season tickets and my uncle is a graduate. Growing up in the metroplex, I had already been to 6-8 OU games and a bunch of home games in Austin, before I ever started getting recruited. Ultimately, I took a few visits but I knew where I was going all along. Easy choice for me. But i did really like (Texas Tech) coach (Spike) Dykes. Not Tech so much, but coach Dykes.

TLSN: Your Dad, Mark Senior, was a player for the UTEP Miners and is a noted author, sportswriter and outdoor writer. In what ways has he most influenced you, Turk?

Turk: I think like most other fathers and sons, I really look up to him. I have always wanted to make him and my Mom proud and I still do. I think athletically speaking, he was a huge influence especially in those early days. He had played football at a high level and during my days in youth and junior high, his input was huge. We talked a lot about playing hard and putting in the extra reps and workouts. Just like growing up with a coach, after games, we’d talk about every play or every pitch of an at-bat. We’d talk through the good and bad and sometimes go out back and walk through corrections. I was lucky, he’d been in it before and knew what it was like out there and knew what it took to be successful too.

TLSN: By the way, what's the story behind your nickname? Do you still go by that nickname with new acquaintances?

Turk: I was born on Thanksgiving in a snow storm in El Paso. My grandfather was joking around and said we should call him “Snurkey”, a combination of Snow and Turkey. Then he said, how about “Turk”? So it has stuck ever since. No offense to my dad, Mark, Sr. But there are millions of Marks in the world and not too many Turks. So I decided long ago I’d just stick with Turk.

TLSN: Not kidding here. Why are offensive linemen always among the smartest guys on a team? I know they were always easiest for me to get good radio answers from.

Turk: Well, I agree with you on that! But I think the centers are the smartest, best looking and easily most athletic! I’m not sure why the big boys give the best interviews. I think a lot of times, we are just happy somebody wants to talk to us other than our Mom or girlfriend. .And actually once the season starts, O-Linemen only get interviewed when you are winning. Nobody wants to talk to the guy that gave up a bunch of sacks or had two holding penalties in a loss.

TLSN: You were a Longhorn for the perfect 4-0 grade that QB Peter Gardere put up against OU from '89-'92. How much fun was that?

TLSN: You made All-SWC in '92 as a senior for John Mackovic's first season at Texas. There was a big shift in coaching styles when he replaced David McWilliams. What kind of an adjustment was it for you and the offensive line?

Turk: I was a McWilliams guy. I love that man. I think all of us would run through a wall for him. So, it was a rough coaching change. We were only one season removed from being 10-2 and at one point (prior to the Cotton Bowl loss to Miami) ranked #3 in the country. But offensively, we were struggling. A lot of my older teammates didn’t get along with Mackovic. In fact, after my first "one on one" meeting with him, I went back to the dorm and called my parents immediately trying to make sense of the meeting and trying to figure out my options. But shortly thereafter, I understood him and loved playing for him. His offense was creative and fresh. We were going to throw the ball a lot more. Be in shotgun probably 80% of the time, too. We had probably 4-5 different screen play set ups. We used a ton of counters, a lot more draws and threw the ball on first down more. So, in my mind at least offensively speaking it was an easy adjustment and we felt good about it. Now, you might get a lot different answer from a defensive guy.

TLSN: The best defensive line in UT history --, Tommy Jeter, Bo Robinson, James Patton and the late Shane Dronett -- came through big in your Longhorn career. How tough were those guys at practice?

Turk: Those guys are badass! I definitely got better working against that group. I remember Dronett working scout team D for us as a freshman and thinking this guy needs to be outside, because he plays too high to be inside. But we could tell at an early age he had a little something. Sure enough he moves out to defensive end and is a MAN. Bo and I were good friends, I helped host him on his visit and later lived with him in Houston with the Oilers during our off-season. Such a good player and even a better person. My "one on ones” were mostly with Jeter and Patton. The best part of getting reps with those guys was they were so very different in style. One rep would be bull rush then the next time you were gonna get “hand swats and spins”. They are all really good players. Funny thing was, we all got along really well and you’d think it would have been the opposite. But we were all friends and respected each other.

TLSN: What particular game that you played in brings back more memories than most?

Turk: OU for sure, but I’ll never forget at M&A on Thanksgiving night of '89. We weren’t very good. I think maybe we were about 4-6 entering the game. The ags are doing their BS right before the game, swaying and crap. But their seniors had formed their sway line too close to our sideline and were actually between the numbers and our sideline. We’re all standing there messing with them and all of sudden I see Ed Cunningham and Ken Hackemack running up and down their sway line and tapping them on their heads. Next thing you know we are all in full team fight. I got lucky and had a little guy. I got his helmet off real quick and was just about to start whaling on him with it and for some reason thought better of it. They cleared it all up, we played the game and to my knowledge nothing came out of that. Obviously, it wouldn’t happen today. There’d be suspensions and reprimands. But that sure was fun.

TLSN: Blake Brockermeyer, one of UT's all-time greatest O-linemen (and then a stalwart with the Carolina Panthers), was a young pup, getting experience and growing while you played. Could you tell he was likely to become a long-time NFL guy?

TLSN: What were you and your closest teammates doing for fun away from football at UT? Any particular hangouts or favorite places for food or refreshments?

Turk: We ate at “Players” at least 3 times a week. Jeff Boyd and I ate there so much that Carlos, the owner and his gang would always throw in an extra burger or two for us. Heck, he always invited us to his July 4th parties and until they closed up (2014) there were still pictures of us up on the wall. Even after I was done playing, I’d go in with my son, Carlos would remember me and we’d visit and of course he’d throw in an extra burger.... Man, I miss that place!

During 2-a-days in ’92, after our night time meeting, Jeff and I would alternate turns and go down to the 7-11. We’d each drink a six-pack of Keystone Light tall boys before bed. Kinda helped you sleep just a little better. Back then you could buy those for about four or five bucks. Even a poor football player could handle that.

TLSN: It's been a long time since the Horns have had an imposing O-line and their units have often struggled in the past dozen years. Any theories on a short version of what's wrong or what's missing?

Turk: Good offensive line play is hard. Finding and or developing good Linemen is just damn hard to do. Playing O-line is just as much about ability as it is mentality. Some have one or the other and only a few have both. It’s obviously hard to impossible to look inside a guy’s head and heart and know that in 2 to 3 years he will have put in the time and effort so that now he’s kicking ass. Football has changed a lot since my days, but one thing hasn’t. Winning teams block well.

For me I want athletes, first. I want guys who are quick, move well and have a “finishing” mentality. I don’t necessarily care if they are tall, big or look good. I can show you plenty of guys that look good and can’t play. Give me a guy who is quick, maybe played another position in high school, but he runs well and finishes the play and I’d bet that guy will have a chance to develop. Just watch Dan Neil for an example of this.

As for our struggles, I can’t pinpoint it and everyone’s got an opinion, but I’m pretty sure we have run a lot of different styles with different OC’s in the past several years. So, stability in our staff and philosophy is big to me. Then It really does come down to recruiting and identifying those characteristics I mentioned. But finding the needle in the haystack is just the beginning, then you gotta get them to Austin. Then develop them and there’s no other position where development is as important.

TLSN: As a guy who played center when a majority of snaps were taken under center instead of in a permanent shotgun, what do you see as pros and cons of the old and new school on center-QB play?

Turk: When Mackovic came on we went to shotgun about 75 to 80 percent of the time. That took some getting used to. Because before it was more like 25 to 30 percent of the time.

I think shotgun is great, but don’t like that in many cases you are setting the “landing point” for the rushers. I think shotgun makes the job of the OT’s more difficult and makes an offense more dependent on their ability to block. There’s no such thing anymore of a QB taking a 7-step drop and most spread offenses don’t even have a 5-step drop.

I love to watch teams that mix it up between under center and shotgun… Funny that sounds innovative, huh?

TLSN: How much do you pay attention to football these days?

Turk: I’m a college football junkie. “College Football Saturday” is a big deal at our house when we're not traveling to watch our son play. We usually start at 11am and I’ll fall asleep to a West Coast game. Oh, and though I don’t get to Austin much, I watch every Longhorn game.

TLSN: You mentioned you and your wife traveling to watch your son. Where does he play?

Turk: Riggs plays.at Trinity Valley Community College in Athens. He's a quarterback. Yeah, I know. He's the son of an offensive lineman! He's in his fourth semester there so it's likely about time to move on but he does have an extra Covid year. We aren't sure yet on his next move.

TLSN: If you're still close friends with some former teammates, who are a few and what do y'all do when you get together?

Turk: Living out here in West Texas makes it tough to keep up with my teammates the way I’d like. Sam Adams lives out here and we’ll play golf occasionally. I talk to Lance Gunn every few weeks. Todd Hunt sends out updates on all the guys and I do my best to keep up that way. I am hopeful to get down to for a visit one day soon and wrangle a few guys up for maybe some golf and dinner.

TLSN: What's your business career like?

Turk: I’ve spent the past 30 years working on the land side of oil and gas. It’s been a lot of fun and hashad plenty of ups and downs. I was independent for much of that, but last year went back full time as Senior Landman with Earthstone Energy, Inc. We are very busy and there’s lots to do. I’m thankful for the work. I know plenty of people who have not been as fortunate.

TLSN: If you could change one rule in college football, what would it be, and why?

Turk: I’m sure I’m like most, but I really have a hard time with the targeting penalty. Sometimes it seems like officials are trying to manage intent versus action. And nobody should be kicked out of a game for tackling someone. Plus, now they tell you to go low. That seems more dangerous and causes just as much damage.

I gotta throw this one in there, too, though. If a kicker on-sides a kick, somebody please take his head off! I’m sure I’d get tossed, but if you start hammering him, maybe he’d think twice about dribbling that thing to himself! Plus, last I remember it’s 11 versus 11. Hit the kicker on on-side attempts!

TLSN: Agreed, on both the targeting and the kickers. What do you do to relax and have fun, Turk?

TLSN: Which golfers do you follow and what's the coolest course you've played?

Turk: I used to always root for Tom Kite, Ben Crenshaw and Justin Leonard. Nowadays, the first guy I look for is Jordan Spieth. I guess I'm a "homer." That way, I'm not a big fan of "whiney" golfers. Bryson DeChambeau (2020 U.S. Open Champ and former SMU golfer) playing badly doesn't hurt my feelings.

I got to go to play Shadow Creek (Las Vegas) a few years back. Pretty nice but Vegas and golf gives me a headache just thinking about it. Escondido Golf and Lake Club at Horseshoe Bay is awesome. But I really enjoy just playing with buddies here in Midland.

TLSN: What tunes or music artists do you listen to?

Turk: Ha! I get in trouble on trips, because I’m usually tuned into ESPN radio or listening to PGA radio, then they get mad at me for being on Kenny Chesney’s channel for too long.

TLSN: We all saw news that, thanks to some UT alums forming a non-profit and introducing a "Pancake Factory," offensive linemen can get paid $50,000 per year. Thoughts?

Turk: Pretty crazy!

This whole NIL thing is nuts to me, especially in connection with the freebie transfer rule. I see none of this as ultimately good for college football, and I hope at some point there are some new rules put into place to manage this.

I’m curious to see how this “Pancake Factory” works. Who gets the money, how that’s determined? Does it actually help us get some guys we need? What about if you “opt-out” of the bowl game? Do you get the money all at once or spread out over the season? What if you get into trouble? What if you are a starter in August and on the bench in October? is any of it tied to staying eligible grade wise?

TLSN: A final question, then. Are you ready to suit up for an extra season of eligibility....a Covid year?

Turk: (Laughs heartily) Yeah, with that NIL money! (Laughs more)

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