By Ann Green, The Greenville News
In a span of five hours this week, Max Lerner went from lowly freshman on the Furman University football practice field to TV star.
Lerner, a safety from Birmingham, Ala., has a big role in MTV's latest reality series, "Two-A-Days: Hoover High."
The network that mined huge success in reality television with the debut of "Real World" in 1992 went prospecting for its latest nugget in the world of Alabama prep football.
A crew followed the Hoover High Buccaneers during their 2005 season. The first episode featured intense summer workouts in preparation for a season-opening game to be televised on ESPN and football player/cheerleader relationships.
On Wednesday, the same day he completed two-a-days before a handful of fans at Furman, Lerner made his debut before millions of MTV viewers.
The show introduces him as "Max, No. 24," the player coming back from shoulder surgery and trying to keep his relationship going with his girlfriend, a freshman at Auburn University.
Lerner watched the show (it airs at 10:30 p.m. Wednesday with eight episodes scheduled), then felt the wave of instant celebrity washing over him.
"My phone was blowing up," Lerner said. "I was getting so many text messages and calls saying, 'You looked cute on MTV' or 'I didn't know you were going to be on MTV' or messages from just random people.
"I never knew it would be to that point. I hadn't seen any footage, then it comes out. All my teammates loved it."
In the first episode, Lerner is shown drawing heavy fire from his coaches, who worry that he 's slacking off after surgery. He interacts with his mom and stepfather at the supper table after a particularly rough day on the practice field. He has a tender moment with his girlfriend. And he comes up with a big performance in the ESPN-televised game, drawing praise from coach Rush Propst.
Furman coach Bobby Lamb said the show's debut ran past his bedtime, so he only watched about 10 minutes. But he liked what he saw.
"Everybody's excited about it," Lamb said. "The part I saw I thought Max did a good job, and the reviews I've gotten were that he did a good job."
Hoover High is a football powerhouse known as Hoover U. in Alabama. The first show introduced viewers to Hoover as a place where football "isn't just a sport; it's a way of life" and follows the Buccaneers in pursuit of their fourth state championship in five years.
The team went 14-1 in 2005 and won state championships in all three of Lerner's varsity years. Hoover is ranked No. 1 nationally by USA Today this week.
As the show was filmed in 2005, Lerner's days as a high school senior were under a microscope.
"Sometimes it was frustrating. At practice, there was always a camera in your face. And they'd call you out of class to do interviews. It was pretty overwhelming, but when it was over, you were pretty glad you did it," he said.
Lerner said he can't talk about what happens in the upcoming episodes, noting that he hasn't seen the entire series and doesn't know what was edited out. "I know my story, about football and how I overcome shoulder surgery and pressure and that sort of thing," he said.
He also said that he and girlfriend Anna Pate are still together despite the long-distance relationship with him at Furman and her at Auburn.
"She's a real cool girl," he said.
Lerner, a two-time all-state performer at Hoover, is one of Furman's top recruits. He had 85 tackles and three interceptions in 2005, but with Furman deep at safety this season, he likely will redshirt, Lamb said.
Lerner said he doesn't mind. "I just came in open-minded. If I redshirted or if I didn't, I'd be happy," he said.
In a way, his new teammates prepared him for what was to come in dealing with fame.
"They've been giving me grief since the beginning of summer when they found out. They've been calling me 'Hollywood,' " Lerner said.