Michael Oher

Michael Jerome Oher (; né Williams Jr.; born May 28, 1986) is a former American football tackle who played in the National Football League (NFL) for eight seasons. He played college football at the University of Mississippi, where he earned unanimous All-American honors as a senior, and was selected by the Baltimore Ravens in the first round of the 2009 NFL Draft. Oher spent his first five seasons with the Ravens and was a member of the team that won Super Bowl XLVII. He later played one season for the Tennessee Titans and his final two for the Carolina Panthers. Oher's life through his final year of high school and first year of college is one of the subjects of Michael Lewis' 2006 book, The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game, and was dramatized in the 2009 film adaptation. Early life Oher was born in Memphis, Tennessee; he was one of 12 children of Denise Oher. His mother suffered from alcoholism and crack cocaine addiction, and his father, Michael Jerome Williams, was frequently in prison. He received little attention or discipline during his childhood. He repeated first and second grades, and attended eleven schools during his first nine years as a student. He was placed in foster care at age seven, and alternated between living in various foster homes and periods of homelessness. Oher's father was murdered in prison when Oher was a senior in high school. Oher played football during his freshman year at a public high school in Memphis. He applied for admission to Briarcrest Christian School at the suggestion of Tony Henderson, an auto mechanic with whom he was living temporarily. Henderson was enrolling his son at the school to fulfill the dying wish of the boy's grandmother and thought Oher might enroll as well. The school's football coach, Hugh Freeze, submitted Oher's school application to the headmaster, who agreed to accept him if Oher could complete a home study program first. He did not finish the program, but was admitted when the headmaster realized that his requirement had removed Oher from the public education system.