Auburn football coach Hugh Freeze coached Michael Oher in high school and had a bird’s-eye view of the offensive lineman’s rags-to-riches ascent into college and pro football.
Oher was the subject of “The Blind Side,” a 2009 Oscar-winning movie that told the story of his relationship with Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy, who nurtured him as a teenager.
Oher filed a lawsuit against the Tuohys, saying they kept money from him. The family said the player was trying to shake them down, ESPN reported.
Freeze said he admired all parties involved from his time at Briarcrest Christian School outside Memphis, TN. Freeze went on to coach at the University of Mississippi, and Oher signed with the team.
“I love Michael Oher,” Freeze told Auburn reporters Thursday, according to CBS Sports. “He’s like part of our family. I love the Tuohys. I think it’s sad, and I certainly don’t claim to understand all the ins and outs of adoption, conservatory, all of that. But I know what I witnessed, and I witnessed a family that totally took in a young man. And I think without that, there is no story.”
Oher was a 2009 first-round draft pick of the Baltimore Ravens and also played for the Carolina Panthers and Tennessee Titans.
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EXTRA POINTS
— Texas A&M standout safety Demani Richardson explained this week why he came back for a fifth season in College Station instead of leaving for pro football.
“Injuries played a big role in it also record,” Richardson said, according to Sports Illustrated. “I felt like I didn’t make enough plays. I felt like I could do better, so those three things are like the main reason I came back for the team, help out the seniors as much as I can.”
— ESPN says former Indiana coach Lee Corso, who picks games on the network’s “College GameDay” show, will return this season.
Kirk Herbstreit, his GameDay partner, said the 88-year-old coach has missed weekends in recent years because of his health.
“He had a stroke about 12 or 13 years ago and really couldn’t speak,” Herbstreit said. “We all wondered, ‘Is he gonna be OK?’ and he was determined with his speech therapist. If you ever know of anybody who’s had a stroke, that’s sometimes very hard to overcome, and he still is working on that to this day. So it’s not just that he’s 88. It’s that he had a stroke.”
— The Pac-12 conference continues to fall apart, losing members to other conferences after turning down $30 million per school in a proposed new TV deal. Reports circulated this week that Arizona State President Michael Crow wanted $50 million per school.
