The glare of TV cameras is gone, but Lerner still a playmaker

Max Lerner, whose life was once an open book on MTV's "Two-A-Days" reality series, doesn't get recognized on the street so much these days.

"I used to," he said. "It's kind of died down now."

Now a junior safety at Furman, Lerner was one of the featured characters in the show, which followed the Hoover High football team through Lerner's senior season in 2005. While there was certainly a bit of culture shock having cameras following him around, he said he was glad for the experience.

"It was pretty stressful, having to do all that before and after practice," Lerner said. "I'm glad I did it, because it exposed our football program and showed everything we worked for."

These days, the 5-foot-11, 200-pound Lerner operates outside the glare of the bright lights at Furman, an NCAA Football Championship Subdivision school in Greenville, S.C. Given room to run as a rover in the Paladins' defensive scheme, he's fourth on the team in tackles with 49 and shares the team lead in interceptions with two.

"I have a lot of freedom," Lerner said. "They let me go where I want to go. It's a pretty big responsibility."

It's not a bad plan for a player who always seemed to make the big interception in high school. He had nine picks and helped Hoover win three state titles during his three years with the Bucs, and also made game-changing interceptions in the North-South All-Star game as a junior and the Alabama-Mississippi High School All-Star Classic as a senior.

Auburn coach Gene Chizik, whose Tigers entertain the Paladins at 12:30 p.m. Saturday, said Lerner hasn't lost his touch.

"He's got a knack for the football, and you can tell that on film," Chizik said. "That's why he is one of their leading tacklers."

Lerner got offers from Oregon, Southern Miss and Middle Tennessee as a junior, but he wanted to play in the SEC. When those offers didn't come his senior year, and most of his other Division I-A suitors backed off, he made Furman his only visit.

Now, he's looking forward to the chance to play on a big stage again.

"It's always exciting to play a big school," Lerner said. "Coming back down, I get to see a lot of my friends and a lot of people who haven't seen me play since high school."