Speaking of which, a while back a buddy and I had wondered about who Hollywood would get to play Orgeron in the movie about Ole Miss offensive lineman Michael Oher. Turns out, Orgeron is going to play the role himself. Next week he's slated to go to Atlanta to do his scene with Sandra Bullock, the star of the movie.
"How amazing is that?" he said as he flipped over a copy of the movie script that had been FedExed to him.
It is pretty surreal. Now it's not like he's playing Hamlet, but it's still quite a thought to imagine some Hollywood type, going, 'OK, OK, good, but now, do it with more feeling.'
This brings back images of an ESPN photo shoot we did with Orgeron down in Mississippi a couple of years ago. It was pretty entertaining to see the interaction between he and the freelance photographers that came in from New York. The photogs weren't exactly football fans, but Orgeron seemed to connect with them. Anyhow, it was all pretty playful but still totally bizarre, and ended up with the camera guys running 40 yard-dashes in the Ole Miss indoor practice facility while an assistant timed them.
-Bruce Feldman