RECRUITING: Gorman DE Turner commits to Stanford

Defensive end Alex Turner and linebacker Evan Palelei have helped form a fearsome front seven for the Bishop Gorman football program.

In the future, they might do the same at Stanford.

Only three days after Palelei gave an oral commitment to Stanford, Turner committed to the Cardinal on Tuesday. Both players will be seniors in 2009.

Though he called moving on with Palelei a plus, Turner said his decision was made independently.

“I thought it was great for him, but I don’t think it affected me,” Turner said. “It’s just great that we’re playing at the same school.

“We’ve been talking about it for a long time. We’ve always played on the same team. Now, we’ll play on the same college team.”

Turner gave his commitment to Cardinal defensive ends/special teams coach D.J. Durkin. Oregon was the runner-up.

“I was really impressed with how up-beat and up-tempo the coaches were and how they push the players to be the best they can be,” Turner said of his unofficial visit to Stanford on April 4.

In addition to Stanford and Oregon, Turner had offers from UCLA, Washington, UNLV, Utah and San Diego State. He visited Stanford, Oregon, UCLA and UNLV.

“It was close to choose between Stanford and Oregon,” Turner said. “I just feel I have a great opportunity to succeed at Stanford.”

Turner said Cardinal coaches envision him somewhere between a rush end and linebacker.

He said his strengths are “good hand placement and being strong at the point of attack,” and that “speed, running and play reading” are areas to improve.

The 6-foot, 234-pound Turner had 56 tackles and 2.5 sacks last season, helping the Gaels finish 12-2 overall and 7-0 in the Southwest League. He had 11 sacks as a sophomore.

Rivals.com ranks Turner as the No. 8 overall senior-to-be in Nevada.

Turner said he hopes to major in engineering or business.

“I don’t know how to explain it,” he said of Stanford’s academic reputation. “It’s definitely an experience going to Stanford and seeing what they’re about.”

On a team with at least five major college prospects, Turner said the Gaels should not take anything for granted.

“I don’t think we should buy into the hype,” he said. “There are kids in gyms that are working twice as hard. We’ve always got to keep that mentality; we’ve still got to work hard.

“We’ll go as far as we want to work.”