Maybe you remember him as the Hefty Lefty or the Pillsbury Throwboy. Thanks in large part to his size, Jared Lorenzen was a football cult hero. But to his old teammates and coaches, those pithy nicknames gloss over what Lorenzen truly was — a rare talent and a rare spirit.



Hal Mumme, Lorenzen’s coach at the University of Kentucky, was sitting in the film room watching tape with his star quarterback Tim Couch when the lights flickered behind them. They turned around and saw a baby-faced young man filling the doorway.



“I wanted to meet you,” said Lorenzen, then a high schooler. “I’m gonna be your quarterback someday.”



Mumme noting Lorenzen’s massive frame — he sized him up at probably 6-4, 300 at the time — and thought, ‘You might be my left tackle someday.’



Lorenzen who passed away Wednesday at 38 after being hospitalized since Sunday with an infection, kidney and heart issues,...