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Photo courtesy of Bryant Turner Jr.
Bryant Turner Jr. played for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and BC Lions during his CFL career from 2011-17.
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Photo courtesy of Bryant Turner Jr.
The Turner family, from left: Bryant, Zoey, Kennedy and Morgan.
Bryant Turner Jr. started playing sports at a young age. Always the “bigger kid,” Turner Jr. played defensive lineman in football from around age 7 until just two years ago. He is now working as a real estate agent and lives in Chelsea.
His family moved from Mobile to Daphne when he was in sixth grade. His dad had been commuting there for work, and there were talks in Mobile about cutting sports and extracurricular activities due to budget, so the Turners made the 30-minute move.
He began playing football for Daphne in seventh grade and found connections and made friends through the sport. In addition to football, he also played soccer and basketball, was named Athlete of the Year for Daphne when he was in the eighth grade and went on to win two state football championships.
After his high school career was over, Turner Jr. had to make a college decision. He initially wanted to go to the University of Central Florida, but after a visit to UAB, he could tell that it would mean a lot to his dad if he went there, so he headed to UAB on a scholarship.
His first year, he played under head coach Watson Brown and his next four years for Neil Callaway. It was while at UAB that Turner Jr. met Morgan Haney, a soccer player who became his future wife.
During his career at UAB, Turner Jr. said his parents were able to come to most of his games, and while the team wasn’t winning many games, he made many friendships.
“We were close as teammates,” he said. “We spent a lot of time together. It was a very diverse school, and I met a lot of different people.”
Studying exercise science, Turner Jr. planned on being a strength coach. However, when he didn’t pass part of the test at the collegiate strength coach conference, he thought his dream was lost. He was let down, but not for long.
The very next day — May 9, 2011 — Turner Jr. signed a contract to play for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers of the Canadian Football League.
“I had never been to Canada and came out of UAB during the lock-out year for the NFL,” he said. “If you didn’t get drafted, there was no communication from coaches to players, so you just had to sit around and wait to see if you got picked up. The CFL was pulling people because of that reason. To me, it was the most assured thing you could do waiting on the NFL.”
Turner Jr. said the first article he found while researching Winnipeg said it was the coldest city in the world. Three weeks later, he was there and on the team’s practice roster. It wasn’t long until someone got hurt, and Turner Jr. got moved up and “never looked back.”
He quickly adapted to the CFL rules, and his parents and Haney made trips to visit, while Turner came back to Alabama as often as he could. Haney was in her first year of teaching at Indian Valley Elementary in Sylacauga. The couple continued their long-distance relationship.
On December 19, 2013, the Blue Bombers added two years to Turner Jr.’s contract.
“In 2012, we had the worst season, and the next three years, we didn’t go to the playoffs,” he said. “I went through 14 starting quarterbacks, but my second year, I was the only one on my team who made the CFL All-Star team.”
Turner Jr. was released from Winnipeg on March 22, 2016, but signed a one-year contract with the BC Lions just two weeks later. He said he loved the city of Vancouver and played there for two years.
During that time, he started getting injured more frequently, and at the age of 30 when his contract ended and he became a free agent, he decided it was time for his football career to come to an end.
The more he played football, the more Turner Jr. said he didn’t want to be a coach, as they aren’t allotted much family time. He had been working on obtaining his real estate license during the last two years of his football career and was ready to become a full-time agent.
“One thing athletes all agree on is a 9-5 job is impossible coming from the athletic world,” he said. “I ended up going to ARC Realty and had an amazing mentor named Janet Hamm, who walked me through how to start getting business.”
The Turner family made the move from Sylacauga to Chelsea two years ago. His wife now teaches second grade at Chelsea Park Elementary School, where their oldest daughter, Kennedy, is in first grade. Their other daughter, Zoey, just turned 3.
Turner Jr. doesn’t just focus on the Chelsea area for his business, but said he tries to spread it out all around the greater Birmingham area. He said he uses sports in his advertising, as it’s something people can relate to.
He starts his days early at his office in Cahaba Heights and spends them taking care of clients, showing houses, working on advertising and finalizing contracts.
“I feel like sports helps you to be self-motivated,” Turner Jr. said. “You control your own destiny. The smarter you work, the more you get out of it. Last year, I was a top producer, in the top 20 out of 400 agents.”
As a husband and father, Turner Jr. is very hands on. He enjoys family time and being involved in the community. The Turners enjoy spending time outdoors and trying different restaurants. They are members at the Church of the Highlands’ Sylacauga campus and are building another house in Chelsea Park. His parents are still in Daphne and usually come up once a month to visit.
Although he is no longer involved in sports, Turner Jr. is happy with how things have turned out.
“It’s pretty cool being a girl dad,” he said. “Being an athlete, you think you want a boy, but I don’t feel like I am missing anything. I get to just be a fun dad.”
He plans to continue growing his realty business and hopes to get into investing in properties down the road.
“I never want to be defined as an athlete,” he said. “I want people to think of me as a business man or family man and I try to live my life that way.”
For more about Turner Jr. and his real estate business, visit facebook.com/btjrealestate.
