We assess the ability of three different approaches based on high-order discontinuous Galerkin methods to simulate under-resolved turbulent flows. The capabilities of the mass conserving mixed stress method as structure resolving large eddy simulation solver are examined. A comparison of a variational multiscale model to no-model or an implicit model approach is presented via numerical results. In addition, we present a novel approach for turbulent modeling in wall-bounded flows. This new technique provides a more accurate representation of the actual subgrid scales in the near wall region and gives promising results for highly under-resolved flow problems. In this paper, the turbulent channel flow and periodic hill flow problem are considered as benchmarks for our simulations.