Justin Turner, who has spent his entire stint with the Los Angeles Dodgers fervidly giving back to the community where he grew up, has been named recipient of the prestigious Roberto Clemente Award, which annually honors players for their philanthropic efforts.
Turner, the Dodgers’ Clemente Award nominee in five of the past six seasons, is in Philadelphia to be commemorated alongside the Clemente family and Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred ahead of Game 3 of the World Series on Monday. Turner is the third member of the Dodgers to win the award, after Steve Garvey in 1981 and Clayton Kershaw in 2012.
The award is in many ways a culmination of Turner’s time in Los Angeles. When he arrived with the Dodgers as a free agent in February 2014, he was a 29-year-old journeyman infielder struggling to carve out a defined role in the major leagues. He overhauled his swing, established himself as an every-day third baseman, made two All-Star teams, won a World Series championship and started the Justin Turner Foundation.
Turner is 37 now and suddenly uncertain about whether his time with the Dodgers has come to an end. The team holds a $16 million club option for 2023 and has yet to announce whether it will exercise it.
“Everything in my life really feels like it has taken off since the day I put the Dodger uniform on,” Turner said on a conference call. “Obviously, it’s very special to me, growing up in Southern California, getting to wear that jersey and getting to be a part of an organization that has so much history and has so many people who have impacted the game in so many different ways. I’m just trying to do my little part.”
Turner’s foundation, started alongside his wife, Kourtney, began in 2016 with a desire to support homeless veterans, children and families battling life-altering diseases and illnesses. In recent years, Turner has become intimately involved with the Dream Center, an L.A.-based resource center focused on supporting the homeless through community outreach programs. He and Kourtney have also provided more than 70,000 toys and 14,000 bicycles to children in L.A. and have donated more than $100,000 for Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, where Turner now sits on the board of directors, according to a release from MLB.
The Los Angeles City Council previously recognized Turner’s philanthropic efforts by declaring Jan. 22, 2019, “Justin Turner Day.”
Turner, made available over the weekend, said he was still in “wait-and-see mode” as to whether he’d return to the Dodgers next season but added that his charitable efforts would continue long after his time with the team has concluded.
“I think that’s something that will always be part of Kourtney and I’s DNA,” Turner said. “Obviously, we don’t know what it will look like when eventually I am done playing, and when the events come together and what’s going to happen on that front. But I think it’s something that we will always continue and always be giving back to help people in need.”
Oklahoma defensive tackle David Stone entered the NCAA transfer portal Friday, sources told ESPN.
Stone, a former five-star recruit and the No. 6 overall player in the ESPN 300 for the 2024 class, made the surprising decision to enter the portal after playing in all 13 games as a true freshman with the Sooners. The 6-foot-3 313-pounder saw limited playing time, playing 88 snaps and recording 6 tackles, 2 tackles for loss and 1 sack.
Stone was expected to compete for a more significant role as a sophomore, and Oklahoma coach Brent Venables recently praised him as the Sooners’ most improved defensive tackle this offseason.
The Oklahoma native finished his high school career at IMG Academy in Florida and was a significant recruiting victory for Venables and his coaching staff in August 2023. Stone chose the Sooners over Texas A&M, Oregon, Florida, Miami and Michigan State.
The SEC does not grant immediate eligibility to players who transfer within the conference during the spring transfer window, so Stone would need to sit out the 2025 season if he moves on to another SEC program.
Oklahoma returns its top three defensive tackles from 2024 in Damonic Williams, Gracen Halton and Jayden Jackson. It also added Trent Wilson, the No. 164 recruit in the ESPN 300 for 2025, as an early enrollee this spring.
Browne committed to rejoining the Boilermakers on Friday after entering his name in the NCAA transfer portal Wednesday.
The 6-foot-4, 210-pound redshirt sophomore started two games for Purdue in 2024 but moved on amid the program’s head coaching change and went through spring practice under new Tar Heels coach Bill Belichick.
North Carolina landed a commitment from South Alabama transfer quarterback Gio Lopez on Thursday.
Browne and freshman Bryce Baker were North Carolina’s lone scholarship quarterbacks available for spring practice and were competing with three walk-ons while sixth-year senior Max Johnson recovers from a broken leg.
Browne threw for 636 yards, rushed for 240 yards and scored four touchdowns while appearing in nine games as Hudson Card’s backup over the past two seasons at Purdue, earning starts in losses to Illinois and Oregon.
Michigan quarterback Bryce Underwood showed glimpses of the growing pains he will experience as a freshman and flashes of the promise that made him the nation’s top-rated high school football recruit in the Wolverines’ spring game Saturday.
Underwood was 12 of 26 for 187 yards with a scrimmage-ending, 88-yard pass to tight end Jalen Hoffman on a reverse flea-flicker in a 17-0 win for the Blue over the Maize.
He also recovered his fumble, had a pair of delay-of-game penalties, several errant throws – high and wide – and some dropped. Underwood lost 12 yards on two sacks and gained 17 yards on three runs.
“He did well,” coach Sherrone Moore said. “Made some really, good throws and had some things we need to clean up and get better at.”
As the Wolverines wrapped up spring football in front of about 40,000 fans at the Big House, all eyes were on Underwood and he has become comfortable with that.
“It’s just the pressure that came with my arm,” Underwood told The Detroit News earlier this spring. “I can’t stop that.”
Underwood was sacked on his first snap and his first completion went for a loss. He did throw some darts, usually in the flat, and was quick enough to escape collapsed pockets to pick up yardage with his feet.
Underwood is expected to compete with sophomore Jadyn Davis and Fresno State transfer Mikey Keene for playing time ahead of the season-opening game on Aug. 30 at home against Fresno State.
“It’s a battle,” Moore said. “It’s going to go all the way to fall camp.”
Underwood is motivated to start and kick off a legacy-building career with lofty goals.
“A couple of Heismans and at least one natty,” Underwood said last month in an interview on the Rich Eisen Show.
Underwood knows there will be people doubting he can live up to the hype.
‘He’s just a freshman. He won’t be good enough,'” Underwood said. “I might keep that chip my whole three years.”
He attended at Belleville High School, which is about 15 miles east of Ann Arbor, and flipped his commitment to Michigan after telling LSU coaches last year he intended to play there.
Tom Brady, a former Wolverine and seven-time Super Bowl winner, talked with Underwood during the school’s recruitment via FaceTime and Oracle founder Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest people, also connected with him.
Jay Underwood told the Wall Street Journal that his son is expected to make more than $15 million at Michigan, but that doesn’t guarantee he will take the first snap next fall.
“He wants to earn everything,” Moore has said. “He doesn’t want to be given anything.”
Hoffman said Underwood has simply blended in with his teammates.
“He’s really humble, like not a big head, ego, nothing like that,” he said. “Comes into work and every day, he wants to get better every day. He’s not riding off his success in high school. He’s really trying to be one of those top players in college football.”
Underwood participated in practices with the team before it beat Alabama in a bowl game, enrolled in classes in January and gained a lot experience in 14 private practices before a public scrimmage.
“Football is football,” he told MLive.com. “School is a little bit more overwhelming now.”