Honors & Awards
- Nebraska Assistant Coach (1992-2004)
- Nebraska Football Hall of Fame Inductee (1989)
- Two-Year CFL Veteran (Montreal)
- Three-Time All-Big Eight Honoree (1981, 1982, 1983)
- Nebraska Co-Captain (1983)
- Novak Trophy Winner (1983)
Career Summary
A three-time All-Big Eight quarterback at Nebraska, Turner Gill spent 13 seasons as an assistant coach at Nebraska.
In 13 years as quarterbacks coach at Nebraska, Gill helped develop 2001 Heisman Trophy and Davey O’Brien Award winner Eric Crouch and 1995 Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award winner Tommie Frazier. Frazier led the Huskers to two national championships with Gill on the sideline, while another star, NU quarterback Scott Frost, added a third national title.
Gill also saw great success on the field as a player. Nebraska’s starting quarterback from 1981 to 1983, Gill led one of the most explosive offensive attacks in college football history, as NU averaged 546.7 yards of total offense and 52.0 points per game in 1983.
Gill led the Huskers to a 28-2 mark, including a 20-0 league record, and three conference titles during his playing days. A three-time All-Big Eight pick and a second-team All-American as a senior, Gill finished fourth in 1983 Heisman Trophy voting, while teammate Mike Rozier won the award. The 1983 team finished 12-1 and second in the final polls, just missing a national championship on a missed two-point conversion against Miami. In his career, Gill completed 231-of-428 passes for 3,317 yards, 34 touchdowns and a .540 completion percentage. He also rushed for 1,317 yards and 18 TDs.
A talented all-around athlete, Gill spent two seasons with the CFL’s Montreal Concordes (1984-85) and three years (1986-88) in the Cleveland and Detroit minor league baseball systems. He left baseball for the University of North Texas in 1989, where he was a volunteer assistant coach working with the receivers and earned a bachelor’s degree in behavior analysis in 1990. He returned to NU in 1990 as a graduate assistant, then moved to SMU as a graduate assistant in 1991. He was the receivers coach that season, and was elevated to a full-time position before returning to NU in August of 1992. Gill has taken graduate courses at both SMU and NU.
1983 (Senior)
Gill finished a sterling Nebraska career with a 28-2 record as the Huskers' starter including a 20-0 conference mark. Gill led the Big Eight in passing efficiency as a senior (152.7) and would have ranked third in the country had he attempted 10 more passes. One of the surest passer in Big Eight history, Gill set a school and conference record, and just missed the NCAA record for lowest interception percentage in a career (11 interceptions in 428 attempts, 2.57%), just .01 from the record set by USC's Paul McDonald. Had Gill thrown just one less interception or two more passes, he would have set the record. Gill set a school record (and fell just 17 shy of the conference record) by throwing 125 passes without an interception. Gill finished his career third on the NU chart in completions, percentage and yards (trailing in all three categories All-Americans Jerry Tagge and Dave Humm). Second to Humm with 34 career touchdowns, Gill also finished fourth all-time in NU total offense behind Tagge, Humm and Mike Rozier.
His best total offense game in 1983 came in a 293-yard effort againts Iowa State, in which he was 13-for-24 passing for 241 yards and three touchdowns and rushed 10 times for 52 yards and another touchdown. Gill ended his career as Nebraska's top rushing quarterback of all time and the first to gain 1,000 yards. His top running game was an even 100 yards on four carries against Minnesota.
1982 (Junior)
Gill was 90-for-166 passing for 1,182 yards and 11 touchdowns against three interceptions while rushing for 497 yards and four TDs on 101 attempts. Gill was named the outstanding back of the 1983 Orange Bowl against LSU as he passed for 184 yards and a touchdown and rushed for 37 yards and a TD as Nebraska came back to beat the Tigers, 21-20. In back-to-back games against Penn State and Auburn, Gill earned two straight Big Eight offensive player-of-the-week honors as he was 16-for-34 passing against the Nittany Lions for 239 yards and two touchdowns along with a rushing touchdown while guiding three 80-yard touchdown drives, then threw for 162 yards and ran for 50 more against the Tigers in a 41-7 Nebraska win.
Two weeks later against Kansas State, Gill broke Dave Humm's eight-year-old Nebraska and Big Eight single-game completion percentage record of .852 with an 11-for-12 effort passing for 101 and a touchdown. He was not intercepted in his last 72 passing attempts of the regular season.
1981 (Sophomore)
Gill took over as Nebraska's starting quarterback five games into the season and led NU to six straight wins before missing the regular-season finale with Oklahoma and the Orange Bowl with a leg injury. In his first year at the helm of the Huskers, Gill was 45-for-84 for 594 yards and nine touchdowns. In his first start, Gill was 9-for-14 for 178 yards and a school-record-tying four TDs in a 59-0 win over Colorado that earned Gill the Big Eight offensive player-of-the-week honors.
1980 (Freshman)
Gill set the freshman squad record with 981 total offense yards (302 rushing, 51 attempts; 679 passing, 34-for-52). Gill passed for eight touchdowns and ran for three more.
Baseball Career
In addition to his football accomplishments, Gill was a skilled baseball player who played three years of minor league baseball in the Detroit and Cleveland organizations after his football career at Nebraska. In his lone year on the Husker baseball squad, 1983, Gill was an All-Big Eight shortstop who hit .284 while ranking second on the team in hits (48) and triples (five) in his first baseball action since high school. Gill was drafted twice by MLB organizations. After his high-school career, Gill was a second-round pick of the Chicago White Sox in 1980. Gill also was drafted in the 17th-round in 1983 by the New York Yankees, though he announced before the draft that he would not sign a professional baseball contract.
Personal
The son of Mr. and Mrs. Turner Gill, Sr., Turner, Jr., was born on Aug. 13 1962.
At Arlington Heights HS
A highly-recruited prep prospect, Gill was an all-state, all-county and all-district quarterback for Coach Merlin Priddy at Fort Worth Arlington Heights High School.
Gill's Career Statistics
Career Passing Statistics
Year
Att.
Comp.
Pct.
Int.
Yds.
TD
1980
1
0
.000
0
0
0
1981
91
47
.516
4
619
9
1982
166
90
.542
3
1,182
11
1983
170
94
.553
4
1,516
14
Totals
428
231
.540
11
3,317
34
Career Rushing
Year
Att.
Net
Avg.
TDs
1980
4
26
6.5
0
1981
76
263
3.5
3
1982
101
497
4.9
4
1983
109
531
4.9
11
Totals
290
1,593
4.5
18