Tommy Blake Tommy Earl Blake , Jr . ( born January 15 , 1985 ) is a former American football defensive end who played at the collegiate level for Texas Christian University . Early life . Blake grew up in tiny town in Texas . After his mother died of pneumonia when he was 10 months old , his maternal grandmother and only parent he has ever known , Ernestine Chisholm , was left to care for the family . Nevertheless , Blake ' s family was " one big circle of love " and Blake became a devout Baptist and a " mama ' s boy " . Blake was a stand out athlete at Aransas Pass High School , earning 12 total letters ( 4 in basketball , 4 in track , 3 in football and 1 in baseball ) . He played running back for the Panthers , and as a senior ran for 2 , 101 yards and 25 touchdowns behind a stout offensive line led by an all South Texas Center . This performance earned him All - South Texas Offensive MVP honors from the " Corpus Christi Caller - Times " . He was offered football scholarships at Colorado , Arkansas and Vanderbilt but elected to stay closer to home to play at TCU in Fort Worth . Blake played on Aransas Pass High School ' s championship basketball teams , playing all four years on the varsity , and advancing to the UIL Texas State Playoffs all four years . The Panthers basketball team advanced to the class AAA Boy ' s Final Four his junior and senior year with Blake at the center position . Blake was named first team All State in basketball his senior year . College career . While redshirting as a freshman in 2003 , Blake was moved by TCU coach Gary Patterson from tailback to defensive end because of his mix of size and speed . As a redshirt freshman in 2004 , Blake earned Conference USA All - Freshman honors with 5 sacks , the most for a TCU freshman since Aaron Schobel in 1997 . In 2005 , TCU moved to the Mountain West Conference , and Blake earned first team All - MWC honors with 7 sacks and 13 . 5 tackles for loss . College Football News named Blake their Mountain West Defensive Player of the Year . Before his junior season in 2006 , Blake was named a preseason All - American by " The Sporting News " . He also appeared on the watch lists for the Bronko Nagurski Trophy , the Chuck Bednarik Award , the Lombardi Award , the Ted Hendricks Award and the Lott Trophy . During his junior season , Blake led the Horned Frogs with 54 tackles , 16½ tackles for loss and seven sacks . He also returned a fumble for a touchdown against UNLV . He was again named first team All - MWC , this time as a unanimous choice . On December 19 , Blake and his TCU team took on Northern Illinois in the Poinsettia Bowl . NIU was led by senior running back Garrett Wolfe , who led the nation in rushing with 1 , 900 yards coming into the game , but was held to just 20 yards by the TCU defense . College Football ' s Mystery Man . Heading into his senior year , Blake was named to the watch lists for both the Lombardi and Lott awards once again . He rose into the top five on some early 2008 NFL Draft boards and drew wide comparisons to Dwight Freeney for his burst off the ball and his straight - line speed . Dave Campbell ' s Texas Football featured Blake on its 2007 cover alongside Texas A & M quarterback Stephen McGee and Texas quarterback Colt McCoy . But Blake bolted the team on August 16 , 2007 and wound up missing five games with an undisclosed leave of absence that no one at TCU seemed to want to discuss . When he returned to the field for the final four games of the regular season , he didn ' t appear ready to play : he appeared overweight and at times visibly uninterested . His draft stock plummeted . Further , he played slow , collecting only four sacks and eight tackles for a loss among 21 total tackles . Following the regular season , he was invited to the East - West Shrine Game and checked in at 287 pounds . He played as a junior in the 255 - 260 range . After extended speculation during the 2007 college football season , Blake ' s agent Reggie Rouzan revealed in February 2008 that Blake was being treated for depression and social anxiety disorder , which privacy laws had prohibited TCU from disclosing publicly . It has been reported that the daily presence of scouts is what drove Blake off that practice field , but Blake believes what he estimates to be around 300 daily calls from prospective scouts brought about his mental illness . Initially , he did not seek professional help for his problems during his sabbatical from the team and instead spent his time in Akansas Pass eating and watching television with his family . More recently , and upon TCU head coach Gary Patterson ' s insistence , Blake has attended counseling sessions and begun taking medication . Instead of attending the NFL Scouting Combine , Blake underwent several psychological tests in a nearby Indianapolis hospital on February 24 , 2008 . He took his first metaphorical step toward rebuilding his NFL draft stock at TCU ' s pro day Thursday March 6 , 2008 when he showed up weighing 272 pounds and ran a hand - held time of 4 . 75 in the 40 - yard dash , the same time run by top Defensive End prospect Chris Long of the University of Virginia . He also had 23 reps in the 225 - pound bench press , better than The University of Miami ' s Calais Campbell ' s 16 reps or Clemson ' s Phillip Merling ' s 17 , and logged a 30½ - inch vertical jump and a broad jump of 9 feet , 3 inches . He now is rated as the 17th - best defensive end by NFLDraftScout . com . He was not drafted in the 2008 NFL draft and attended the Tampa Bay Buccaneers ' mini - camp as a Free Agent .