ON TURPIN: Will look to earn his way into the Seminoles' starting line-up after sitting out the Seminoles' 2011-12 season as a redshirt junior...possesses the ability to be an outstanding player for the Seminoles during the remaining two seasons of his career after utilizing the entire year to develop physically and begin to adjust to the speed of the game at the ACC level...practiced and learned each day from Bernard James who earned All-ACC Honorable Mention and ACC All-Defensive Team honors...is a very skilled basketball player who has a good knowledge of the game...an outstanding pick and pop shooter and has a very soft touch on his perimeter shots...as adept as he is shooting the ball from the perimeter he is as skilled as a rebounder on the low blocks...will enjoy three seasons under head coach Leonard Hamilton and his staff who are known nationally to be among the best coaches of big men in all of college basketball...Hamilton and his staff have tutored countless big men during their collegiate careers who have gone on to become strong pros including Solomon Alabi, Alexander Johnson and Bernard James (at Florida State), James Jones, Tim James and Constantine Popa (at Miami) and Sam Bowie and Kenny Walker (at Kentucky)...Turpin spent the first year of his Florida State career playing against future professionals Bernard James, Xavier Gibson and Jon Kreft...all three of those players continuously gave Turpin a large dose of three distinctly different big man styles that he will play against during the remaining two years of his career at Florida State...look for Turpin (6-11) to be part of one of the best and most athletic front lines in all of college basketball as he plays with and alongside juniors Terrance Shannon (6-8) and Robert Gilchrist (6-8) and freshman Boris Bojanovsky (7-3) and Michael Ojo (7-1)...Florida State was generally considered to be the second tallest team in the nation and will be taller during the 2012-13 season...only the second player in NJCAA Division II history to be named the Most Valuable Player in two consecutive national tournaments - 2010 and 2011...only Turpin and Jeff Massey of Owens Technical College in 1992 and 1993 have won consecutive MVP honors in the Division II National Tournament...helped lead Lincoln College to consecutive NJCAA Division II National Championships in both 2010 and 2011...led Lincoln to the 2011 NJCAA Division II National Championship in 2011 with a 74-67 victory over Mott Community College on March 20, 2011...scored 19 points and pulled down seven rebounds in the championship game...scored 19 points to go along with seven rebounds and three blocked shots in Lincoln's national championship clinching victory during his freshman season...with Turpin in Lincoln's line-up in 2010 and 2011 the Lynx finished with a 58-13 record...the Lynx were 30-6 during his freshman season and 28-7 during his sophomore season... earned the First Year Academic Achievement Award from Leonard Hamilton and the coaching staff as the Seminoles' annual Honors Banquet in 2012...

AS A JUNIOR (2012): A redshirt season after transferring from Lincoln College to Florida State for the fall semester in 2011...participated in all team functions including all practices, conditioning, weight training and film sessions but did not play in any games...traveled to and prepared for every game as if he were going to play...gained 25 pounds on his frame - he arrived at Florida State at 215 pounds and intends to play his redshirt junior year at 240 pounds...says that playing against and learning from future pro Bernard James and the Seminoles' other bigs during his redshirt season was the most important aspect of the year away from competition...worked on improving his hook shoot in order to give him a bigger arsenal of shots was also a bonus on practicing against the Seminoles front line which was considered to be one of the most formidable in all of college basketball...

AT LINCOLN COLLEGE: Graduated from Lincoln in 2011...averaged 14.0 points, 6.8 rebounds and 2.0 blocked shots as a sophomore in leading Lincoln to the NJCAA Division II National Championship and earning MVP honors of the national tournament...named the Division II Region 24 Player of the Year, the Region 24 All-Region team and the Mid-West Athletic Conference Player of the Year as a sophomore...earned All-MWAC First Team honors as a freshman...scored 12 points and added five rebounds in Lincoln's 90-72 victory over Erie Community College in the 2011 semifinals...scored a double double of 16 points 11 rebounds and added two blocked shots and two assists as he led Lincoln to the national semifinals with a 80-76 win over Cecil College in Maryland in the national quarterfinals...Turpin opened the game with four straight baskets to give the Lynx a lead they never surrendered in defeating Cecil...helped Lincoln gain the NJCAA Division II preseason No. 1 national ranking...totaled a double double of 24 points and 14 rebounds in leading Lincoln over John Wood College on Feb. 11, 2011...totaled 27 points in Lincoln's win over Illinois Central College on Feb. 4, 2011 - the same night the Lynx raised their 2010 National Championship banner to the roof of their field house...averaged 11.3 points and 7.6 rebounds and 2.3 blocked shots as a freshman...in being named the MVP of the National Tournament, Turpin averaged 16.3 points and 3.8 blocked shots in leading the Lynx to the national title...totaled 21 points, eight rebounds and three blocked shots in the 2010 national championship game...Lincoln defeated Cincinnati State, 71-60, to win the national championship...

AT NORMAL COMMUNITY WEST: Graduated from Normal Community West High School in 2009...averaged just over 5.0 points a game as a reserve during his senior season as a growth spurt allowed him to grow into his body as he grew...

PERSONAL: Born Oct. 1, 1989...Kiel is the son of Lisa and Chris Nichols...Kiel is the son of former Kentucky All-American Mel Turpin...Mel was a two-time All-SEC First Team pick, the 1984 SEC scoring leader and the sixth overall selection in the 1984 NBA Draft...Florida State's head coach Leonard Hamilton was an assistant coach at Kentucky when Mel was a star collegiate player grew from 6-5 to 6-11 between his junior and senior seasons of high school and grew a total of eight inches during his final two seasons of high school...before his growth spurt in high school he was teased about being shorter than his sister, a 6-4 volleyball player ...major is social science...