Michael Oher

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Michael Jerome Oher (born Michael Jerome Williams Jr. on May 28, 1986) is a college football player at the University of Mississippi. An offensive lineman, he is commonly regarded as a top prospect for left tackle in the National Football League.

1 Personal life
2 Football career
3 External links
4 References

[edit] Personal life

Oher's father was murdered while he was young, and his mother was addicted to crack cocaine. As a result, he received little constructive attention during his formative years. He repeated both first grade and second grade, and attended eleven different schools during his first nine years as a student. He also alternated between time spent in various foster homes and periods with no fixed address until he was sixteen years old.^[1]

That year, Oher enrolled in Briarcrest Christian School at the instigation of acquaintance Tony Henderson, with whom he was staying temporarily. Henderson was sending his son to the school in order to fulfill the dying wish of the boy's grandmother, and he decided that Oher might as well come along. School administrators did not feel that Oher was capable of handling the school's academic workload due to his scant educational background, but he was admitted after a misunderstanding removed him from the public education system.^[1]

A white couple with a daughter at the school, Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy, allowed Oher to move in with them and began taking care of his needs after becoming familiar with his difficult personal circumstances. They also connected him with a tutor, who worked with him for twenty hours a week, eventually bringing his low-D performance up to a 2.05 grade point average. A series of internet-based courses from Brigham Young University served as replacements for poor marks earned earlier in his academic career, enabling him to become eligible to play football in college.^[1]

[edit] Football career

Oher did not play organized football of any kind until his junior year of high school, and he did not play left tackle until his senior year. Despite this, he was extremely well regarded as a prospect once he came to the attention of scouts, due to his size and athleticism. ESPN football analyst Tom Lemming ranked him as the #1 offensive line prospect in high schoool in 2004, and also said, "Michael Oher’s athletic ability and his body — the only thing you could compare it to was Orlando Pace."^[1]

He received scholarship offers from many different institutions, but ultimately decided to attend the University of Mississippi, the Tuohys' alma mater, turning down offers from the University of Tennessee, Louisiana State University, the University of Alabama, and North Carolina State University, among others.^[2] His decision was not without controversy. The National Collegiate Athletic Association suspected that the Tuohys had taken Oher in and added him to their wills in order to secure his services as a player for their school, but an investigation did not affect his eligibility. Oher's high school coach Hugh Freeze also created the appearance of possible impropriety by taking a job as UM's assistant athletic director for external affairs twenty days after Oher signed a letter of intent with the school. Freeze claimed that the offer was not an example of quid pro quo for encouraging Oher to attend Mississippi, but rather the result of a pre-existing relationship with Mississippi offensive coordinator Noel Mazzone. ^[3] The NCAA later ruled that Freeze had committed secondary violations by contacting Memphis-area prospects on behalf of the school before he had officially become an employee.^[4]

Oher started in 10 games as a guard during his first season with Mississippi, becoming a first-team freshman All American. He shifted to his natural position of left tackle for the 2006 season, and was named to a variety of preseason All-Conference and All-American teams.^[5]^[6] He currently has a listed height of 6'5" and a listed weight of 330 pounds.^[7] He was named a second-team SEC offensive lineman after his sophomore season.

Oher is featured prominently in the nonfiction book The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game by Michael Lewis.