I Beat the Odds_ From Homelessness, to the Blind Side, and Beyond - Michael Oher [62]
All in all, it wasn't too bad for a kid no one had any hopes for. I had accomplished more than anyone else in the world (other than me) ever expected I could--and even I was surprised sometimes! After that final game in red and blue, I knew that the time was right for me to move on to my professional career, and I was so glad I hadn't stopped short. It's never been about football, but about becoming the best and fullest person I could be. And to think that I went from the kid with a GPA in the basement to going to college on a football scholarship--I was thankful and humbled by how far I'd come in just a few years. I knew that miracles really do happen.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
The Draft
When a college athlete gets ready to go pro, one of the first and most important things he or she does is to pick an agent. Not only does your agent help you to make promotional deals and help you to expand your public image, but more important, they handle things like contract negotiations and draft visibility, and they help you in walking through the crazy world of professional sports. They are also trained in how to handle legal stuff and money management. In short, they are incredibly important.
There are a lot of very good agents out there, but, unfortunately, there are some not-so-good ones, too. If you've ever seen the movie Jerry Maguire, you know that there are some agents who really care about their clients and there are some who are all about the money--just as there are some athletes who only play for a check. I didn't want to be one of those players and I definitely didn't want one of those agents representing me, so I worried a little about which agent I should hire.
A number of my teammates were looking at going pro (a total of nine Ole Miss players ended up signing with NFL teams that year), and lot of my friends decided to hire one particular agent who had a reputation for being a very ethical guy, who had several high-profile football players as his clients. This was an emotional decision for me because Sean and Leigh Anne had a longtime friend in Memphis, Jimmy Sexton, who is also a great, ethical agent with a lot of high-profile clients. (And conveniently, his office is located less than three miles from the Tuohys' house).
It was important to me that the decision be my own, though, and I was glad that my family understood that. In the end, I decided to sign with the agent many of my close friends chose. They were very positive people in my life and I wanted to stick with them. It was important to me that we all share something that would keep us connected and supported even as we went our separate ways after the draft.
Unfortunately, it soon became clear to me that even though the agency was really solid, it just wasn't the right match for me. In order to get ready for the NFL Combine in February, before the draft in the spring, agents send their players to workout facilities to do some intense preparation. I was sent to a facility in Texas run by Michael Johnson, the four-time Olympic gold medalist in sprinting. It was an amazing training center, and Johnson is obviously an incredibly talented athlete. The thing is, for my field position and body type, I didn't need to work on my sprints as much as I did my strength. I felt like I was being turned into a different kind of player.
However, I did pretty well at the NFL Scouting Combine. It was a great experience going to Lucas Oil Stadium, though being in Indianapolis in February made me really happy I had chosen a college in a much warmer and less snowy place.
The Combine is kind of like an audition for professional teams to check out the players who are eligible for the NFL draft. It's an invitation-only event, and all the athletes