Thursday's Sports in Brief

Updated Oct. 30, 2020 2:20 a.m. ET

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COLLEGE FOOTBALL

Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence has tested positive for COVID-19, putting into doubt whether the face of college football will be available to play the top-ranked Tigers’ biggest game of the season.

Clemson coach Dabo Swinney said in a statement released by the school that Lawrence is in isolation with mild symptoms.

Swinney said Lawrence would miss Clemson’s game Saturday against Boston College. The Tigers are scheduled to play No. 4 Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana, on Nov. 7.

Individuals who test positive for COVID-19 must isolate for a minimum of 10 days..

The junior from Georgia is a leading contender for the Heisman Trophy and potentially the top overall pick in next year’s NFL draft. He led the Tigers (6-0, 5-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) to a national championship as a freshman and back to the College Football playoff championship game last season.

BASEBALL

CHICAGO (AP) — Tony La Russa, the Hall of Famer who won a World Series with the Oakland Athletics and two more with the St. Louis Cardinals, is returning to manage the Chicago White Sox 34 years after they fired him.

The 76-year-old La Russa rejoins the franchise where his managing career began more than four decades ago. He takes over for Rick Renteria after what the White Sox insisted was a mutual agreement to split.

La Russa inherits a team loaded with young stars and productive veterans that made the playoffs for the first time since 2008, only to sputter down the stretch and get knocked out in the wild-card round.

He becomes the oldest manager in the major leagues by five years. Houston’s Dusty Baker is 71.

NEW YORK (AP) — New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio deflected questions about whether he wants to block the sale of the New York Mets to hedge fund manager Steve Cohen.

Asked about the proposed sale at a news briefing, de Blasio said the city law department is legally obligated to review the sale because Citi Field, where the Mets play, is on city land.

“It’s our land,” said de Blasio, a Boston Red Sox fan. “There is a legal requirement that if there’s an ownership change it has to be evaluated. Our law department is doing that evaluation based on the law.”

A provision in the city’s lease agreement says any new owner of the team cannot be someone who has been convicted of a felony or is an organized crime figure.

Cohen’s former company, SAC Capital Partners, pleaded guilty in an insider trading case in 2014 and paid $1.8 billion in fines. Cohen himself, though, was not charged in the case.

MILWAUKEE (AP) — The Milwaukee Brewers have declined to exercise a $15 million mutual 2021 option on veteran outfielder Ryan Braun as the franchise’s career home run leader ponders whether to continue playing. Braun became a free agent and is due a $4 million buyout.

The 37-year-old often said this year that this might be his final season. He has spent his entire career in Milwaukee and has a franchise-record 352 home runs.

Braun batted a career-low .233 with seven homers and 27 RBIs in 39 games this season while working through a back issue, though his .958 OPS in September helped the Brewers earn a third straight playoff berth. The back problem prevented him from playing the final game of the NL wild-card series loss to the eventual World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers.

Braun ranks second in Brewers history in RBIs (1,154), extra-base hits (809), total bases (3,525) and doubles (408). He ranks third in runs (1,080), hits (1,963), triples (49), stolen bases (216) and walks (586).

HOCKEY

BOSTON (AP) — Travis Roy, the Boston University hockey player who was paralyzed 11 seconds into his first college shift and went on to become an advocate for spinal cord injury survivors both in and outside the sports world, has died. He was 45.

His death was confirmed by the BU athletic department and the Travis Roy Foundation.

Roy was a 20-year-old freshman making his debut for the reigning NCAA champions in the 1995-96 season opener when he crashed headfirst into the boards after checking a North Dakota opponent. The accident left him a quadriplegic.

From his wheelchair, he gave as many as 40 motivational speeches a year. The message he shared: Do the best with what you have and don’t dwell on your misfortune.

Since he created the Travis Roy Foundation in 1997, it has raised more than $9 million — half for research, and half to provide equipment for those with spinal cord injuries. Roy, who was able to control the joystick that maneuvered his chair, regained little movement after the injury and had no feeling below the middle of his chest.

GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) — The Arizona Coyotes renounced their rights to their top 2020 draft pick after saying they learned more about his bullying of a Black classmate with developmental disabilities four years ago.

The team parted ways with Mitchell Miller after taking criticism for selecting him in the fourth round earlier this month despite knowing of his 2016 assault conviction. Arizona acknowledged it knew about the incident when it selected Miller 111th overall.

Miller pleaded guilty at age 14 to one count of assault and one count of violation of the Ohio Safe Schools Act. He and another teenager were accused of making 14-year-old Isaiah Meyer-Crothers eat a candy push pop after wiping it in a bathroom urinal, and surveillance video showed them kicking and punching him.

Meyer-Crothers told the Arizona Republic earlier in October he was stunned and saddened when he found out the Coyotes drafted Miller, who he said taunted him with racist language and repeatedly hit him when they were growing up in a suburb of Toledo.

Miller sent a letter to all 31 NHL teams acknowledging what happened and apologizing for his behavior. Meyer-Crothers’s mother, Joni, said Miller never personally apologized to Isaiah or their family other than a court-mandated letter.

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Trevor Lawrence

Clemson Tigers