Michael Sam won the 2013 SEC Defensive Player of the Year. He totaled 11.5 sacks, 19 tackles for loss, and 2 forced fumbles on the season.

Michael Sam is also gay.

On February 8 the former star defensive end for Missouri announced to the world that he was gay. While this news came as a huge surprise to most Americans, coaches and players for Missouri were aware of his sexual orientation since training camp last August.

Sam told his entire team and coaches during a team building session, and the team’s reaction was almost as admirable and courageous as Sam’s decision itself.

Rather than dividing the squad against each other, Sam’s announcement brought them together and helped to lead Missouri to one of their best seasons in recent memory. In fact, they were only one win away from the BCS National Championship.

“The kid is a beast, so if he’s making plays, it doesn’t matter if he’s gay or not,” said Evan Gregory (11), White Station’s offensive lineman.

Even though the announcement’s timing was questionably close to the draft, most NFL teams knew about his sexual preference prior to his announcement.

If 127 college football players can rally behind and respect Sam, any high school, college, or professional team can do the same. It may take years for teams to adjust to playing with openly gay players, but eventually teams will get used to it.

In comparison, the first black players entered the league in 1946, and it took decades for teams to accept them. Fast forward to today and America is now fully accepting and even embracing this integration.

According to Sports Illustrated, Sam’s decision to come out will hurt his draft stock in May. Many NFL executives and coaches believe that this will cause a huge distraction for their team. Another NFL executive said that he doesn’t think football is ready for an openly gay player, and almost every general manager dropped him on their draft boards.

If a player physically or sexually abuses his spouse or mistress, who cares? He’s still great at football. If a player gets into multiple bar fights, who cares? He’s still great at football. If a player uses performance enhanced drugs, who cares?

But if a player decides to announce who he is attracted to, well, we can’t allow him on our team because it will ruin our team chemistry. Really?

No, not every NFL team has this mindset, but it remains that an openly gay player, who can certainly play football, is being discriminated because of his sexual preference. On the other hand, the NFL has recorded 685 arrests since the year 2000, and many of these players were welcomed back with open arms.

What would Gregory do if he were one of Sam’s teammates? “I wouldn’t discourage them in any way. I would just support them, but I wouldn’t treat them any differently,” Gregory said.

Will Sam’s presence on a professional football team stir up problems in the locker room or bring the team together? The answer is unclear, but one thing is for sure: Sam has broken unchartered barriers in the NFL and opened doors for gay football players in the future.