| Face-to-face time for LT Oher going into NFL draft |
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EDITOR'S NOTE: Michael Oher, the All-American left tackle from Mississippi, was considered a first-round draft pick almost from the moment scouts got a look at him as a junior in high school six years ago - though he'd played football for only a few months. As the April 25 NFL draft approaches, Oher will share his experiences with The Associated Press in a series of diary entries. By CHRIS TALBOTT Associated Press Writer Michael Oher was sitting in the Memphis airport Monday, waiting for the rest of his life to start. He had a ticket in hand to Baltimore, the first of at least nine trips he'll take to visit teams over the next two weeks. Oher, whose rags-to-riches story from homelessness as a teen to football stardom was chronicled by Michael Lewis in the best-selling ``The Blind Side,'' says he can't get over all the interest in him. ``The guy that was checking my bags through the scanner, he asked me how I was doing and stuff like that,'' Oher says. ``It still surprises me. It's still a shocker to me every time someone recognizes me. one. I kind of figured you'd have to go and visit a team here and there, but I'm definitely shocked by how many places I have to visit before the draft. ``You get an itinerary, you get to go to the building, take a physical, meet coaches. A lot of normal just football stuff, like the first day of football camp. You don't work out or anything like that. You just visit the facility and get a feel for everything. I think I meet the owner and people like that. I meet everyone in the organization. ``I'm just taking it one trip at a time. I'm just taking everything in because it's definitely a blessing for me, you know, having people wanting to fly me in, just to know you're on the radar.'' Oher has entered the second phase of his predraft preparations. The first phase ended last week when he worked out at Ole Miss' pro day in Oxford. The Memphis native is 6-foot-5 and 320 pounds but built more like a basketball player than your average left tackle. It's his athleticism that has scouts interested, but Oher turned in an average performance in February at the NFL combine in Indianapolis. He ran the 40-yard dash in 5.3 seconds and bench-pressed 225 pounds 21 times. He was able to improve on all his numbers during the Oxford workout. He left school a semester early to train for these workouts, which are key in any prospect's draft ratings. (Olympic) gold medalist. Then after the combine, I went down to Nashville and worked out with Kurt Hester (at D1 sports training), who got me a lot better in three weeks,'' Oher says. ``You just prepare for the 40, your bench press, your drills and your interviews, everything that you're going to go through. You just prepare to the best of your abilities. ``Pro day went great for me. I think I improved on my numbers dramatically. I think I opened a lot of people's eyes at pro day. I did 25 reps on the 225 bench press. I ran a 5.08 40, jumped 31 inches on the vertical and I looked great in my position drills, so I was really proud.'' Along with the personal workouts in front of scouts and executives, Oher has been fielding calls from assistant offensive line coaches and others in the league as the draft nears. ``I talked to offensive line coaches (from) the Cincinnati Bengals, the St. Louis Rams, and San Francisco 49ers, guys like that. ``I've always been the type of guy who always feels so blessed because of where I came from and the way that I grew up. It's always going to be a shocker to me (when someone calls) because this is a billion-dollar business. So it's big every time. ``It's just work right now. That's it. It's definitely something you've got to take serious, you know.'' |
