Michael+Oher

Michael Jerome Williams, Jr. was born on May 28, 1986 to Michael Jerome Williams, Sr. and Denise Oher. He was born in Memphis, Tennessee and from the start was almost guaranteed a poor childhood. His father was in and out of jail while his mother was addicted to crack coccaine. Michael, as well as his twelve other siblings, were forced to go to foster care with Michael having more than ten foster parents.

Michael attempted to do the best he could under his given circumstances; however, he had to repeat both the first and second grades and struggled during his freshman year in high school. While living with one of his foster parents, Tony Henderson, during his freshman year in high school, Michael was encouraged to enroll into the private high school Briarcrest Christian School despite his 0.6 overall GPA. Michael was accepted; however, he had to complete a home study program.

During his home study program, Michael was in and out of foster care and often had no place to stay for the night until one day he met Leigh Anne and Sean Tuohy. Although he did not complete the home study program, Oher was still permitted to attend Briarcrest. After twenty months of being with numerous foster parents and staying with some of his football teammates, the Tuohy's invited Michael to stay with them. The Tuohys invited Michael into their home and made sure that he not only played football but also kept his grades up. Michael obtained a personal tutor who worked with him for 20 hours a week, and, by the time he graduated high school, had boosted his overall grade point average to a 2.65.

[|Michael Oher Highlights]

So where does an athlete like Oher plan to go to college? While he had scholarship offers from the University of Tennessee, the University of Louisiana, and the University of South Carolina, Oher decided to go to the Tuohys' favorite college, the [|University of Mississippi]. This decision was met with much arguments from the NCAA, however. They believed the Tuohys had brainwashed Michael into going to the University of Mississippi by providing shelter for him in an extremely biased nature. After an in-depth investigatio was conducted, Oher was allowed to attend college at University of Mississippi.

Michael completed three years of college before deciding to enter the 2008 NFL Draft. Two days later, however, he withdrew his claim in order to complete his senior year of college. Oher graduated from the University of Mississippi in the Spring of 2009 with a degree in Criminal Justice, and entered the 2009 NFL Draft. The [|Baltimore Ravens] drafted Michael Oher with the 23rd pick in the first round of the 2009 NFL Draft, and is currently in a 5-year, $13.8 million contract with the Baltimore Ravens. Oher is also the star of the 2009 movie, //The Blind Side//, which was based off the 2006 book //The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game// by Michael Lewis

[|The Blind Side Trailer with Interviews]

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