Michael Oher’s time at Ole Miss is back in the news this week after the former Rebel standout filed a petition to end Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy’s conservatorship, which had been presented as an adoption in the hit book and film “The Blind Side.” Oher further alleges that he never received any money from the film, which grossed more than $300 million.

Hugh Freeze, Oher’s former coach, shared his reaction during a Thursday media opportunity.

“I love Michael Oher. He’s like part of our family. I love the Tuohys,” Freeze told Auburn reporters. “I think it’s sad, and I certainly don’t claim to understand all the ins and outs of adoption, conservatory, all of that. But I know what I witnessed, and I witnessed a family that totally took in a young man. And I think without that, there is no story.

“I sure hope it can… I know this, I know if Michael called Sean right now and said, ‘Let’s work this out,’ Sean and Leigh Anne would be there in a hurry to hug his neck and tell him he’s loved. I hope he feels that. And certainly. I don’t claim to… until you walk in people’s shoes, I don’t claim to have all the answers to anything.

“I think it will all… whatever happens will happen, of course. The facts will come out. But, you know, I love both sides of it. Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy did something that most families… a lot of us talk about doing things, but they actually put the shoes on and pulled the boots up and got in the arena and did something. I think that’s admirable.”

Oher went to high school at Briarcrest, a private school in Shelby County, Tennessee. Freeze was the head coach at Briarcrest from 1995-to-2004. Freeze was hired to Ed Orgeron’s Ole Miss staff as an assistant athletic director for football external affairs in 2005, the same year that Oher joined the Rebels. Freeze remained on staff as an assistant coach through the 2007 season. Oher played for the Rebels from 2005-to-2008, earning All-SEC and All-American honors.

The Tuohy’s have responded to Oher’s petition, calling it a “shakedown.”