College Career
Though he received scholarship offers from Tennessee, LSU, Alabama, Auburn and South Carolina, Oher ultimately decided to play for Coach Ed Orgeron at the University of Mississippi, alma mater of his guardians, Leigh Anne and Sean Tuohy. His decision to play for the Ole Miss Rebels football team sparked an investigation by the NCAA. The first issue was that Oher's grade-point average (GPA) was still too low to meet the requirements for a Division I scholarship at the time of the offer from Ole Miss. That difficulty was corrected by graduation, when Oher completed online classes through Brigham Young University.
The second issue was the Tuohys' preexisting relationship with the school and the fact that Oher's high school coach, Hugh Freeze, was employed by Ole Miss twenty days after Oher signed his letter of intent. Freeze asserted that his position with Ole Miss was not an example of quid pro quo for encouraging Oher to attend the school, but rather the result of his preexisting relationship with Ole Miss offensive coordinator Noel Mazzone. The NCAA did not close its case on its suspicions of collusion. However, it ruled that Ole Miss had committed no NCAA violations in its recruitment of Oher. Freeze was found guilty of secondary violations for contacting other Memphis-area recruits before joining the Ole Miss staff.
Oher started in ten games as a guard during his first season with the Ole Miss Rebels, becoming a first-team freshman All American. After shifting to the position of left tackle for the 2006 season, he was named to various preseason All-Conference and All-American teams. Oher was named a second-team Southeastern Conference (SEC) offensive lineman after his sophomore season and a first-team SEC offensive lineman after his junior season. Oher was also successful academically at Ole Miss, and his tested IQ score increased 20 to 30 points between when he was measured in the public-school systems growing up and when he was measured in college.
On January 14, 2008, Oher declared that he would be entering the 2008 NFL Draft. However, two days later, he announced his withdrawal from the draft to return to Ole Miss for his senior season. After the 2008 season, Oher was recognized as a unanimous first-team All-American, made the honor roll for the second time (the first time being his sophomore year), and graduated with a degree in criminal justice in the spring of 2009.
Read more about this topic: Michael Oher
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