Article by Michael Gehlken

FRISCO — Cowboys rookie wide receiver KaVontae Turpin kept composed during his first NFL practice on July 28. He avoided overexcitement when scoring his first NFL return touchdown on Aug. 20, the even approach helping him score a second return that same night.

But Turpin could not outrun his emotions forever.

On Aug. 24, when the rookie arrived at the Cowboys facility on his morning commute, sentiment overcame him upon gaining access to the parking area designated for players.

He belonged.

“I almost broke into tears because it’s been a long journey,” Turpin said. “I’m just happy to be in a place that I love, that I feel like I’ll be a part of. It’s just a blessing come true, having that moment. … That was the first time it hit me.”

Turpin will make his highly anticipated regular-season debut Sunday evening against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The former TCU speedster lacks prototypical size and took a circuitous path that he laid to reach this stage. One season in the USFL helped create an opportunity that he now seems bound to seize.

Turpin may lack league experience or a conventional frame, but the Buccaneers would be mistaken to overlook him. The Cowboys believe, by now, their Week 1 opponent and all future ones know better.

Dallas lists Turpin at 5-7 and 158 pounds.

He has said that he may be 155.

“One thing we know, 155, 158, it ain’t 180,” wide receivers coach Robert Prince said. “He is the lightest player [I have coached], but he is very dynamic, and he is very eager to learn. He brings a positive energy to the group. … I’ll say this, too: He is light and small, but he’s not weak. He is very strong in the weight room. It’s not like he is a frail human being. He is not a 157-pound weak guy. He is very strong.”

Turpin credits the strength program at TCU for the strength packed into his compact frame.

“I squat 600 pounds,” Turpin said. “I power clean to like 420. I’m little, but I’m very strong. Blocking-wise, I feel like I can do that at my size.”

No confusion or misconception surrounds his speed and elusiveness.

Those athletic traits were his calling card at TCU where “Turpin Time” became must-watch football, garnering attention from NFL scouts and coaches. Still, his size created a 3-foot hurdle for evaluators. Turpin then inserted a 4-foot one when a domestic violence incident reportedly involving a girlfriend in a parking lot led to his 2018 midseason dismissal from TCU.

Two days after going undrafted in 2019, Turpin pleaded guilty to assault causing bodily injury-family violence. His sentence included two years’ probation.

Reaching the NFL would require a road less traveled.

In 2020, Turpin signed with the Frisco Fighters in the Indoor Football League. Their season opener was scheduled for March 12. The World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic on March 11, and the season was canceled. In 2021, he signed up for pro football leagues like a child might look for free candy, playing for the Glazier Boyz of the Fan Controlled Football league, the Sea Lions of The Spring League, and the Poland-based Panthers Wroclaw in the European League of Football.

He returned to the United States for the 2022 relaunch of the USFL — the New Jersey Generals drafted him in the 13th round.

Turpin Time was back.

His 554 receiving yards led the USFL, and a 71-yard punt return for a touchdown was the league’s only kick return score of the year. Still, NFL teams were not lining up to bang on Turpin’s door. The Cowboys quietly did their legwork on Turpin both on the field and off it.

That included a phone call to Cowboys great Daryl Johnston, the retired longtime fullback and lead blocker for Emmitt Smith who works as the USFL’s executive vice president of football operations.

Cowboys vice president of player personnel Will McClay made that call, catching up with Johnston about the USFL and a few of its players, including Turpin and linebacker Christian Sam. Coach Mike McCarthy was in the room for the most of the conversation, Johnston said, and McClay placed the conversation on speaker phone.

The Cowboys were the only team who directly contacted Turpin’s agent, Lynn Lashbrook, before Turpin signed on July 27. The lack of competing interest is reflected in Turpin’s three-year contract, which does not include a signing bonus or any other form of guaranteed money.

“Dallas, by far, was the most interested,” Lashbrook said. “There were feelers, if I may, but nobody bid on him. The only ones who called were the Cowboys.”

Turpin’s NFL potential is now there for all to see.

On Aug. 20, Turpin followed strong blocking for a 98-yard touchdown on a first-quarter kickoff return in the second preseason game against the Los Angeles Chargers. Less than an hour later, he largely created separation himself with a rare combination of vision, agility, and explosion on an 86-yard punt return for a touchdown during the second quarter.

Turpin scored two touchdowns on five return attempts this preseason.

The rest of the NFL went 0-for-442.

Johnston said he believes Turpin can be an “ambassador for the USFL,” a live example of how the rebooted league can benefit players as a stepping stone to the NFL. That example already has begun.

“The secret’s out, and I think he’s going to be really good,” special teams coordinator John Fassel said. “And part of it, too, for us in the Chargers game, he broke it and I was like, ‘Yeah, great for him!’ But then immediately I thought, ‘Eh, teams are going to be on him now.’ But there are positives where our blockers are highly inspired.

“When you’re blocking for a guy like that, you can be 100% effort, relentless. You coach it as much as you want because there’s just that little bit extra when the blockers [know they have] somebody back there like Turp. ‘OK, you’ve just got to keep going for a few seconds longer because he can extend plays, and I’ve just got to give it my all.’”

Recently, in a special teams meeting, the Cowboys studied all of Chicago Bears return legend Devin Hester’s touchdown returns. They specifically focused on what Fassel called the “Devin Hester Effect,” an over-the-top effort from Hester’s blockers. Their passion reflected the belief that one block could be the difference to spring Hester for a score.

Meanwhile, offensive coordinator Kellen Moore said that Turpin has earned the coaching staff’s confidence to involve him not only in the return game but also in the offense. He is more than a returner. He is a wide receiver, too.

Dallas does not need to show its entire hand all at once Sunday when it comes to Turpin’s usage in 2022. But the team gave a teaser in the preseason with jet sweeps and short passes that stretch defenses laterally.

Despite the fanfare, Turpin said that his approach has not changed.

He has actively worked to avoid social media, where the NFL’s official Twitter bio temporarily changed on Aug. 21 to “Don’t kick to KaVontae Turpin.” He tried not to get ahead of himself, either, when Dante Hall, the former Pro Bowl returner for the Kansas City Chiefs, procured Turpin’s cell number and reached out following the Chargers game to lend support.

“It’s been a great experience,” Turpin said. “I’m just trying to stay levelheaded. I’m not trying to get too high about being in the NFL. ... I ain’t really trying to get into the hype, basically.”

Turpin came a long way to reach his beginning.

He is not stopping now.