Vikings edge rusher Dallas Turner finding his bearings with new team, new state

New Vikings edge rusher Dallas Turner is ready to hit the ground running.

After his first Vikings practice on Friday, the start of a three-day rookie minicamp, Turner said he and his fellow rookies are like children tethered to their parents. But Turner, the 17th overall pick out of Alabama, said he isn’t getting antsy yet.

“You ever seen one of those little kids in public and the mom has the backpack leash on them?” Turner said. “It’s kind of like that. The kid want to go run, play, all this stuff, but the mom is like, ‘No, come back over here.’ They’re kind of like easing us into it, but once everybody get here, it’s going to be rocking.”

At this point in the offseason, players can’t wear pads. There’s no full contact. But during meetings and downtime at the team hotel, Turner is already diving into the basic installations of the Vikings playbook under defensive coordinator Brian Flores. Turner said he was pleasantly surprised right away.

“It’s actually crazy,” he said. “In the first defensive meeting, coach Flores kind of orchestrated how the rules and regulations — the same Day One, base stuff — it kind of is the same in college, how we’re one team, one defense, all about the ball, all about tackling, playing physical and fast. All of the same kind of stuff I was used to in college. It’s a very good resemblance between the two.”

Flores and former Alabama head coach Nick Saban have similar temperaments, too.

“You can tell he definitely doesn’t play no games for sure,” Turner said of Flores. “All about business and handling business. I’m about the same thing, too. The energy is just colliding — very good energy, too.”

Turner’s transition is greater than football. After the Vikings drafted him, Turner, a Florida native, spent time with relatives in Miami before arriving in Minnesota this week.

“[Thursday] night I was sitting in the hotel room kind of thinking like where I am right now,” Turner said. “I’m looking at the map, looking at the bordering states, and I was like, ‘I never would imagine I would be up here.’ But I’m here now, ready to work, happy to be here. Ready to see what Minnesota have to offer.”

Offensive tackle Spencer Rolland, one of the Vikings’ undrafted signings, started 26 games the past two years while blocking for quarterback Drake Maye at North Carolina. That came after a four-year playing career at Harvard, where he earned a degree in mechanical engineering with a minor in astrophysics.

Six years after Rolland left Apple Valley High School, his family is just happy he’s home.

“Everybody was traveling for games,” Rolland said after Friday’s practice, “so I’m sure they’re going to be happy to be closer.”

Rolland grew up a Vikings fan and attended games at U.S. Bank Stadium as a teenager.

“It’s a childhood dream of mine,” Rolland said. “It’s amazing to actually have the purple and gold on.”

The Vikings are hosting 16 players for three-day tryouts this weekend in Eagan, including former Gophers long snapper Brady Weeks and Gophers cornerback Tre’Von Jones, former Seahawks and Browns safety Bubba Bolden, former Texans safety Jacobi Francis and Pittsburg State tight end Devon Garrison, an Elk River native.

Three of the Vikings’ seven draft picks have agreed to contracts: sixth-round kicker Will Reichard out of Alabama, seventh-round offensive lineman Michael Jurgens out of Wake Forest and seventh-round defensive lineman Levi Drake Rodriguez out of Texas A&M-Commerce.