Michael Sam: I Never Would Have Come Out The Way I Did

In this month's GQ Magazine, Michael Sam talks on life after coming out, and the fact that he would have never come out the way he did:

"I would have done the same thing I did at Mizzou. Which was to tell my team and my coaches and leave it at that. But since I did tell my team, word got out.… People think the word didn't get out. It did. Or it did and it didn't. They kept it confined within our family.

"But the recruiters knew, and reporters knew, and they talked to each other, and it got out. If I didn't have the year I did, nobody would have cared. But I did have that year. And a lot of people knew.

"Someone was gonna ask me, "I heard you told your team a secret.…" Well, I was comfortable with who I was, and I wouldn't have denied it. And then I wouldn't have been able to control the story.

"But I have no regrets. Some people can argue that I had the potential to go higher in the draft. But I think everything happens for a reason. It looks good to see me in the position I'm in now, because I can show the world how good I am and rise up the ranks. I'm at the bottom now. I can rise up, show I'm a football player. Not anything else. Just a football player.

"In St. Louis, they welcomed me, but I felt they were just putting smiles on their faces. It was because they didn't know my future. It was almost like the situation with a stray dog—you don't want to get too close. In Dallas, they were more welcoming."

Sam still inspires me.

And I agree with him about coming out. While it was thrilling that he did come out before the draft, the past year makes clear that the NFL wasn't ready and couldn't handle it.

Had Sam waited until he was drafted and playing in the NFL before telling his team, there's no doubt he would have been drafted earlier, and would be playing today.

Every day I sit down at my desk I hope to read he's been picked up by an NFL team. I believe it will happen.

Read the entire interview at GQ.