“I looked in their eyes, and they just started shaking their heads — like, finally, he came out,” Mr. Sam said Sunday in an interview with The New York Times, the first time he had spoken publicly about his sexual orientation. (9:13) 
 
 Michael Sam, an All-American defensive lineman from Missouri and the Associated Press' SEC Defensive Player of the Year, said that he is gay in an interview with ESPN's "Outside the Lines" on Sunday. “I just want to make sure I could tell my story the way I want to tell it,” said Mr. Sam, who also spoke with ESPN on Sunday. “I just want to own my truth.” 
 
 But the N.F.L. I want to be a football player in the NFL." Sam stated publicly what his teammates and coaches at Mizzou have known since August: "I am an openly, proud gay man." Between now and the draft, Mr. Sam plans to attend the scouting combine, where players are put through a gantlet of physical and mental tests to judge their readiness for the N.F.L. "Coaches just wanted to know a little about ourselves, our majors, where we're from, and something that no one knows about you," Sam said. “Michael is a great example of just how important it is to be respectful of others,” Missouri’s football coach, Gary Pinkel, said in a statement released Sunday night. “I think there were, just like in society, there are people who don’t understand, and don’t want to understand, and aren’t accepting,” Mr. Ivey said. "I didn't realize how many people actually knew, and I was afraid that someone would tell or leak something out about me," he said. “But I never had a problem with my teammates. " 
 
 Asked what that moment felt like, Sam said, "I was kind of scared, even though they already knew. He had already confided in a few close friends, Sam recalled, and had dated a fellow athlete who was not a football player -- so while coming out to his Mizzou teammates last year was a key moment, it came almost as an afterthought, during preseason training camp.
– Is the NFL ready for its first openly gay player? All-American defensive lineman Michael Sam is set to make history after announcing that he is an "openly, proud gay man." Sam, whose coaches and teammates at the University of Missouri were already aware of his sexual orientation, is eligible for the NFL draft this May, though coming out before the draft may hurt his career in a league with an "overtly macho culture," the New York Times finds. Says Sam: "I'm not afraid to tell the world who I am. I'm Michael Sam: I'm a college graduate. I'm African American, and I'm gay. I'm comfortable in my skin." "I understand how big this is," Sam tells ESPN. "It's a big deal. No one has done this before. And it's kind of a nervous process, but I know what I want to be ... I want to be a football player in the NFL." Draft forecasters predict that Sam—the AP's SEC Defensive Player of the Year—will be chosen in the third round and he believes he won't have trouble being accepted in the locker room, despite homophobic comments some current NFL players have made. "If you've ever been in a Division I or pro locker room, it's a business place," Sam says. "You want to act professional." The NFL has issued a statement supporting Sam and praising his honesty and courage.