Shhh! Movie’s Started
Ravens rookie Michael Oher only skimmed the book about him and won’t see the new Hollywood film—his focus is to build on his awesome NFL potential
At a far corner of the locker room at the Ravens’ Owings Mills, Md., practice facility, Michael Oher is intent on setting the record straight. At issue is a comment about Baltimore’s rookie tackle made by Houston Nutt, his coach at Ole Miss last season. When Nutt was asked by a reporter two weeks ago to identify the aspect of the game in which Oher improved the most under his tutelage, the Rebels’ coach cited toughness. “I don’t know if timid is the right word,” Nutt told SI, “but he seemed like he could be more aggressive. We wanted to pull that out of him.”
Oher has often heard that assessment—people seem inclined to draw their own conclusion about the hulking 23-year-old—but he’s having none of it these days. “That’s the one thing I hate, because I’ve always had the same mentality,” says Oher, his 6’4″, 309-pound frame stiffening and his brown eyes gleaming with intensity. “You can’t get a person to be tough. You either are or you aren’t, and I always have been.”
si.com
11/30/09
