A first round NFL draft pick.

Michael joins us here in the studio. Mike, how (are) you doing, man?

I'm doing great. Thanks for having me.

My pleasure.

First, football question: you played under Hugh Freeze and now he was back at the SEC.

You played for him under Ole Miss at Ole Miss.

- Now he's back at Auburn. - Yeah.

Hugh has had some ups and downs in his career as well.

But in this book, you talk about how much you appreciate him that you're still friends to this day.

So tell me about your relationship with Hugh and how do you think he'll do at Auburn?

I think, personally, he'll do fantastic.

We could say all the way back to high school.

And he was my high school football coach.

And he was one of the first mentors I saw do it the right way; football-wise off the field, fundamentals, technique.

I learned from him that the coach is way more important than the player because I saw a bunch of guys who didn't quite have the talent beat a guy, beat a lot of guys who had tons of talent.

And that's where you know, fundamentals and technique became a big emphasis in, you know, how I approached the game of football.

But at all, he facetimes me all the time when he has a big-time recruiter in, you know, lets me talk to the big0time recruits.

But, I think he's a genius offensively and I think he'll do fantastic right away.

You played with some of the greats and you were on that Super Bowl team that ended Ray Lewis's storied and fame career.

You won the Super Bowl with the Ravens in 2012.

What was the fire from Ray? Like we saw what it was on screen. What was it like behind the scenes?

I still get chills watching his videos today.

Behind the scenes, you know, you come in, I came in, I think he was in year 12 or something.

So he was fairly into his career.

So, you know, we looked up to Ray Lewis, every guys like that like they were a Marvel character.

So, to have him be able to go out on the field pregame and just get us pumped up, man.

He could just look at us, (and) we'll get fired up, man.

So, no, it was tremendous out.

My locker was right next to him.

We used to hang out and just, I mean, to be around guys like that--

If he hadn't, me personally, if he hadn't said he was going to retire a few weeks before the playoffs started, I don't think we would have won the Super Bowl because for me, everybody locked in.

You think guys like that are gonna play forever?

You know, when he said, when he talked to the team, I told him, "Man, I thought you was going to retire with me."

So we couldn't believe it.

I think, everybody develop a sense of purpose, a sense of urgency and, you know, headed toward one goal and for him to retire on top. It meant a lot.

One theme from this book and some of the other interviews you've done is that what you see is not always the truth.

And that there's a lot of narratives out there that may not be even attached to truth.

And you mentioned Cam Newton in this, you were a teammate of his in Carolina.

You guys went to the 2015 Super Bowl, lost to the Denver Broncos.

But you said your interactions with him very different than how the public perceived him.

They thought he was a different guy.

What was the guy that you knew?

Well, I think I related... we relate because I'm, I feel that I'm misunderstood.

I feel Cam is, he's mis misunderstood.

You have to get to know someone personally and you can't just go off a picture or a video or a small clip.

I mean, Cam is one of the most genuine fun-loving guys I've ever been around. Jeez.

We spent a ton of time together, week in and week out, off days.

And, you know, just, when your character is, your character is everything, that's what you work for.

And when someone doesn't appreciate who you are as a person, I think, you know, that carries more weight than anything.

But me, personally, you have to get to know people, but Cam is, he's still a fantastic guy.

I talk to him every now and then.

And yeah, you definitely have to get to know people.

Michael Oher joins us here in the studio; author of the new book - "When Your Back's Against The Wall."

He wrote, "I beat the odds."

And you just said you feel like you've been mislabeled sometimes, misunderstood.

And I think at least from what I've read in the book, a lot of that stems from how you were portrayed in the movie, The Blind Side, and that people might have the wrong idea of your personality.

Number one that you were this kind of shy wallflower that you were timid and you had to be kind of like drawn out of your shell.

When in reality, you were a workaholic, you were hyper-organized and you were like, "Damn it, I'm making something of myself no matter what it takes after a rough background."

Is that the big one that you feel you were mislabeled as?

I think it took away the hard work and the dedication that I created from a child and going to school in the third grade, getting myself up, first one in the locker room, last one out.

And I think the biggest for me is, you know, being portrayed (as) not being able to read or write.

(In) second grade, I was doing plays and for in front of the school.

And I think that's one of the-- when you go into a locker room and your teammates don't think you can learn a playbook, you know, that weighs heavy on someone.

You know, you have to understand.

I understand that the movie has given me a position. I'm honored to have the position it's given me.

But, you know, you have to understand before I moved in with the family.

I was an all-American.

That's what I want the generations behind me to see in this book right here to understand that you don't have to come, have someone save you and rescue you to go out and be successful.

You got every tool in you, in this book right here is a playbook on life.

You know, looking yourself in the mirror when I was (a) 11, 12-year-old kid, telling myself,

"Hey, everyone around you is even in an even worse situation that you're in. So you're gonna have to get up and do this thing yourself and developing a routine right then,"

when I could have given up at 11, 12 year old as an 11 to 12 -year-old kid.

So that's what I'm trying to paint the message in this book right here.

And looking through everything that I went through and finding a positive in it.

And it wasn't that you don't have gratitude to the family that took you in. That's really not the message.

Very grateful, very grateful for every family that helped me throughout this journey.

It's a lot of people that deserve a lot of credit.

For me, I want to show the young people in everyone behind me that "Hey, you deserve some credit for your hard work. You can get it done and that's really the goal."

So for those that don't know, you grew up in a really difficult situation, no one in your family had aspired to really have a career.

Many didn't want a job, the people that you were around didn't have anything to do most days.

Poverty, homelessness, the projects in Memphis, you were just surrounded by a culture of, there's really nothing to life, there's no way out,

but you somehow figured out that you needed to see something else.

I think you described it as like standing in front of an ocean when you walk to the edge of the projects that there was a whole something out there that you had no idea about.

How do you gain a perspective in a cycle that usually doesn't allow that?

I think I was blessed with being on the streets from the time I was three years old, in and out of foster care from 3 to 10.

- On the streets for a year - You're blessed.

Yes.

On the streets for a year.

After running away from foster home at 10 years old and being placed in a mental hospital and running away from there a few weeks later.

And the state has gaven up on me and gaven back custody and the struggles that I had early on being inside of in and out of homes on the streets.

I needed a routine.

That's when I developed a routine.

11, 12 years old, going to school on my own in the third grade and from their own.

And your family, not to interject, but a lot of crack addiction amongst your family and your parents, you didn't know your dad.

That was the norm at the time. That's the way we grew up.

But you grow up so fast, like I said, you understand what's right and what's wrong.

So from that point on, when I started going to school on my own, I was gonna do the right thing.

Because I knew what the wrong thing was and I didn't want to be there and I saw what it did to my family and I saw the situation that we (were) in.

So, you know, I was gonna put it in my mind and imagine a, a future and go chase that.

That was better than what I was around.

So I think that was the most important thing was having those struggles early on and being so tired as an 11-year-old kid,

and forcing myself to man, just go to school every day and just be away from that environment and picture myself somewhere else.

So I think routine, discipline and being consistent is the key to everything without a routine, man.

Everyone I know who doesn't have a routine (is) no life in shambles.

So that's everything to me.

I think the struggles, it blessed me and it helped me get off the streets a lot earlier than some others would.

Michael Oher joins us in the studio.

He had such an interesting observation here in the book and that was that you can read in people's eyes, especially young people that have been through foster care.

What internally their thinking or their reaction to you.

And you said you developed that when you were young because you read body language because it means survival when you're young and on the street, how that happened?

Well, it's just that knowing body language, knowing that you're on couch to couch and someone else--

When you're in that situation, the next person can't, they can't feed themselves, so some extra mouth can't be around, can't stay too long.

So, you know, the first couple of days it's just like when you see somebody, your new friend, you know, you're happy to see him, "Hey, what's going on," and blah, blah, blah.

And then after a day or so he becomes, "Hey, what's up?"

So that's my curious time to go because I've worn out my welcome.

So I know body language, I can try to continue to be positive. Whenever I see you, I try to be the same personality wise, same energy and it gets--

Mentally, I wouldn't wish it on anybody because you continue, you have to, you know, you have to be at war, you have to be on cure at all times because you, you don't know when someone's gonna tell you your time's up.

You talk about food insecurity in this book as well.

Not knowing if you're gonna open up the fridge and anything is gonna be in there.

How devastating is that to young people that deal with this because they can't afford to go out and buy their own food.

And you talk about, you walk through grocery stores and convenience stores and wonder is today the day I starve or is today the day I steal food.

Now, I, I was never gonna starve, I was always too competitive.

I'm going in the store, I'm going to get what I need.

I'm getting out of there.

So that's not gonna happen.

Trust me on that one.

But it leads to bigger things as you grow older.

Those are just petty crimes.

Me stealing as a kid surviving and putting food in the refrigerator.

That's just something I had to do.

But what it leads to, it leads to poor, poor academics in the classroom, behavior problems.

And then a few years later, those crimes become armed robberies and a lot more dangerous crimes.

So, you know, that's what hunger does.

It's a bigger problem than just, you know, trying to survive as a kid.

What food does a ten-year-old kid swipe to make it through the day?

Hey, I was a nice size kid.

So, man, I didn't go swipe chips and candy bars, man, I went and stole chicken and pizzas.

I got the big stuff, man.

I'm not going to get a candy bar at the store, man.

Let's be real here.

I'm trying to eat for a couple of days.

But that's what it was all about surviving though.

So, anything that I could get, you know, I was trying to get it.

I'm thinking about Michael Oher like supermarket sweep, pushing a bunch of candied hams through the exit door.

"Hey, see you guys tomorrow."

I put a ham in a coat.

Thanksgiving's coming up, man. We got to eat.

Come on, man.

We starving out here, man.

Thank you so much for watching.

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