Happy returns: Robert Turbin’s football academy continues to grow
Sports – #6 Robert Turbin
As he stood above the Utah State ‘U’ at the 50-yard line inside the Stan Laub Indoor Training Center Saturday, you could have confused Robert Turbin for a conductor on a Broadway stage.
In this, the return of the Robert Turbin Football Academy to Utah State University after a year hiatus, the participants needed that conductor now more than ever. The camp experienced its largest turnout with more than 80 participants — nearly quadrupling the inaugural year’s mark.
With whistle in hand, Turbin orchestrated coaches, alumni and players through various drills and workouts focusing on agility, speed and explosiveness.
Turbin played for Utah State from 2007-2011. He appeared in 38 total games for the Aggies, finishing his career with 3,315 yards rushing and 40 touchdowns on 565 carries. He also caught 67 passes for 845 yards and 11 more touchdowns. He has spent the last four years in the NFL.
Turbin said when he was just a young player growing up in Oakland, Calif., he never had the opportunity to attend a professionally hosted football camp — “I want to give them an opportunity I never had,” he said.
With the camp significantly growing from its first appearance back in 2014, the response this year came with the presence of a diverse group of former Aggie players from across generations.
“I wanted to bring all the alumni back,” Turbin said. “From the guys who played in the ’80s, ’90s and 2000s right up to the guys that played with me. We all have something to teach and something to give.”
The medley of alumni included Paul Igboeli, Matt Austin, Kerwynn Williams, Joey DeMartino, Matt Austin, Rashard Stewart, James Brindley, Vaea Fiefia and Emmett White — to name a few — who brought with them a willingness to give back to a community they once called home.
“Some of these guys haven’t had their names and faces on a poster in a long time,” White said. “But regardless, this community and this school is a family. It doesn’t matter how you left, when you left or what mark you made here, you still have to give back to the people who supported you for years.”
From the first whistle to the final huddle, the kids were dismissed with a “dream big” cheer — a concept Turbin has continued to preach throughout the years.
“I just want kids to believe in themselves 100 percent,” Turbin said. “There isn’t a dream, there isn’t a goal that’s unachievable. Look at me, look at any of these guys, we all overcame great odds to get to the top of our game. If I can convince these kids of anything, it’s that anything is possible.”
Turbin’s life has been marred with adversity and obstacles. He grew up in a single-parent household with a mother who was rarely in the picture. He saw his sister Trina, die of multiple sclerosis when he was just five and only weeks before he was drafted, his brother, Lonnie, was shot and killed. His older sister, Tiffany, was born with cerebral palsy and has been confined to a wheelchair her entire life. Turbin has assisted his father, Ronald, in caring for his older sister since he was just five years old.
On the field, Turbin hasn’t avoided adversity either. Turning down scholarships to schools like Oregon and Washington, he choose to attend Utah State — a team in which the year before Turbin’s arrival went 1-11. After helping to jumpstart the program, an ACL injury sidelined the upstart running back for his junior year. Bouncing back in 2011, Turbin captured all-Western Athletic Conference honors while leading the Aggies to their first bowl appearance since 1997.
Turbin was selected by Seattle in the fourth round (106th pick overall) of the 2012 NFL Draft and played in Super Bowl XLVIII in 2014, when the Seahawks defeated the Denver Broncos, and Super Bowl XLIX the next year, when they lost to the New England Patriots. He was signed by the Colts as an unrestricted free agent this past March.
The camp drew participants ranging from ages 8-18, some of whom donned one of Turbin’s replicate no. 6 or no. 22 jersey. The entrance fee of $100 per camper went entirely to Turbin’s foundation which supports children with disabilities, such as the ones which plagued his family.
“It’s all for a good cause,” Igboeli said. “This isn’t just about football, this about changing lives the best way we know how. These kids get the opportunity to learn a game they love, but someone out there gets another chance, another day of life.”
Turbin is looking forward to returning to Cache Valley in 2017 for another installment of his football academy.
“We’ll be back, we’ll be better, we’ll be bigger, we’ll be more organized, we’ll have more kids, we’ll have more food, we’ll have more coaches, we’ll have more alumni and it will be a blast,” Turbin said.