A member of the Morehouse football team went viral this week, and not because of an amazing play on the field. Julien Turner, a sophomore linebacker for the Maroon Tigers, appeared on Good Morning America this week because of his homework. Homework? Yes, we are talking about homework.
Extra Credit
Turner created a music video called “XY Cell Life” which is his own personalized remake of Lil Uzi Vert’s, “XO Tour Llif3.” He published the video to YouTube on November 1, 2017, and within six days the video is approaching 722,000 views.
He was inspired to create the video to earn extra-credit in his Biology class taught by Dr. Dwann Davenport. She heard the buzz about the music video before she actually received the link from Turner.
“I saw all the likes and the retweets and I was like wait, this is my student, I was so excited. I didn’t expect anything less, he’s a great student,” Davenport told the Good Morning America crew.
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Filmmaker’s Dream
For the record Davenport says Turner didn’t need the extra credit because he’s already doing well in the class. But Turner is a marketing major who co-owns a film company with his younger brother Justen, Dreadhead Films, LLC. So pulling off a music video for Biology class was something he couldn’t pass on. He was inspired one night after a game while listening to Lil Uzi Vert’s song.
“All my cells are dead kept repeating in my head. So I scrambled to check my notes to make sure it had something to do with Biology and I started writing lyrics that were parallel with the song. I called up a few teammates and we made the video and it just blew up from there,” Turner told Robin Roberts.
Turner’s video has also been featured on MSNBC and TvOne in addition to GMA.
Julien Turner's @JuicyJu11 biology video goes viral. Check it out right now on @tvonetv #NewsOneNow
— rolandsmartin (@rolandsmartin) November 7, 2017
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Straight A Student
Turner, a Pickerington, Ohio native, has always been an outstanding student in addition to excelling in athletics. According to his website, he maintained a 4.0 GPA throughout high school while serving as the captain for both his football and track teams.
Justen, the younger brother, formed the film company in 2014 at 12 years old, and Julien joined with him in 2016. Two of Justen’s films have been honored and recognized at national film festivals. Both brothers are also avid musicians in addition to filmmakers, some of which they probably get from their father.
Kevin Turner is a professional jazz guitarist and Ohio State jazz professor. One could only imagine that education has been stressed in their home for a while, their mother, Dr. Cynthia Turner, is an Ohio State accounting professor.
This week’s exposure has been great for Morehouse when you look at the positive social media engagements, ensuing television appearances and GMA’s average viewership of 4.685 million people. Good work Julien.
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