Flowery Branch — The Turner brothers — you needed a program; there were six of them — gravitated to football naturally enough. The difficulty came in determining where the back yard game finished and the scrap began.

"There were always fights," recalled Michael Turner, No. 4 of the half dozen. "There was always something every night."

They would play in fields near the Turners' north Chicago home — that one they called Lambeau — or near their grandmother's house, which was Candlestick. As Michael grew bigger than them all, he somehow became faster too.

"He was so strong, it always took more than one man to bring him down," said Kevin Turner, who with twin Keith is the youngest of the brothers. "We knew then he was going to be a problem when he grew up."

Yes, the Turners could all play. But where might that lead? Older brother Damon went off to play linebacker in Illinois State. Could Michael follow?

"The whole family had those dreams," Michael Turner said. "Everybody in our neighborhood was like, one of y'all is going to have to make it.

"And it turned out to be me."

Turner was speaking Monday afternoon as he walked off from his first practice as an Atlanta Falcon, where "making it" is still a matter of perspective. The money — $34.5 million over six years — looks good, for the best running back available in a tepid free agent pool.

But for a team with a galaxy of 2007 shortcomings, Turner is the first remedy offered by the Thomas Dimitroff-Mike Smith regime and to that, some responsibility is attached. Turner has gone from a San Diego Chargers team that came close to a conference title to a team that is essentially starting over.

There are easier ways for a guy to make it to the Super Bowl.

"You can't think about that, because you can't predict a NFL season," Turner said. "A team can turn around at any moment. It was time for me to grow as a player and time for me to move on from San Diego.

"I just didn't know where. I'm glad it's here."

His new hometown will find him quick to smile and thoughtful too. The traits come naturally to a player who had made being overlooked into a lifestyle.

He wound up at Northern Illinois University only because that was the one school to offer him a scholarship, even though he had played in the heart of Big Ten country.

After putting up some of the biggest numbers in Mid-American Conference history — Turner's 4,941 career yards ranked him 13th on the NCAA's all-time list — he went undrafted until the Chargers made him the 154th pick of the 2004 draft.

And when he emerged as San Diego's' counter-punch to LaDainian Tomlinson — 4.4 speed on a stout 237-pound frame — the Chargers didn't know what to do with him. In four seasons, he carried the ball just 228 times, less than four a game, while Tomlinson was bagging league rushing titles. He became more important as the team's kick-off return specialist.

When the Falcons signed him last month, Chargers general manager A.J. Smith told reporters, "Michael Turner is a great player who happened to pass through the Chargers, helped us win and it's time. We all know it's his time."

And this would the place, as Smith's Falcons are installing a power rushing game. Offensive coordinator Mike Mularkey's system, when he developed it in Pittsburgh (2001-02), was termed "Exotic Smashmouth," as he leavened the halfback options passes and tight end reverses with Jerome Bettis' domination between the tackles.

Turner has the Bettis role. He does so having started exactly one NFL game. Asked when he first believed he had a future in the league, Turner can only pick a couple plays.

"I started one game my rookie year against the Chiefs and that was a real true test of what I could do, playing the whole game," he said. "And I played well. By next year, that's the year I had the long run (83 yards) against the Colts when they were undefeated. Things just went from there. Things got better every year."

His first day as a Falcon passed quietly. He was withheld from drills in the team's first mini-camp while still recovering from a shoulder procedure due to a minor injury in December. But in one neighborhood back in Chicago, the lesson learned from those back yard games endures today.

"He is a hard runner," Kevin Turner said. "The people are going to get a kick of how he plows into people. He plays hard. If he doesn't, he knows he can't call home."