Results: The True Story of Michael Oher and The Blind Side-Before Michael Oher spent eight years in the NFL, he was the sole focus of The Blind Side. The movie, written and directed by John Lee Hancock, traced Oher's journey from homeless teenager to Football Star

The Blind Side. The movie, A smash hit that made over $300 million at the box office, the film won Bullock an Oscar but took some liberties with the particulars of Oher's life story. In some ways, the real story is even more amazing than what was shown in the movie. Before Oher spent eight years in the NFL, he was one of the subjects of acclaimed author Michael Lewis' 2006 book, The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game. Have you read the book and or seen the Movie.

With little adult supervision or stability, Oher barely made it to school — he repeated both first and second grade, attended nine different schools over the course of 11 years and missed dozens of school days per year even when he was passed along to the next grade. The most stable home he had was in a housing project called Hurt Village, where he lived from 11-years-old until he began high school. By the time he was 15, Oher was bunking up with a local athletic program director named Tony Henderson, who had an extra room in his house. Oher was already 6-foot-5-inches and 350 pounds. Would you take in a homeless teen and help him like this coach did?

He barely spoke during interviews, his reading comprehension level was closer to elementary school and tests showed he had an IQ that barely cracked 80. A chance trip to a prestigious private school changed his life… eventually Still, the school football coach was interested in Oher, not just as a prospect for the team but as a redemption story. This was a kid who'd never been given half a chance, he told the school president and principal, making the case for a very large exception to their typical admissions process. The principal, Steve Simpson, felt stirrings of sympathy and issued Oher a challenge: get his grades up in another private school and he could enter the far more prestigious Briarwood the next semester. Within a few months, Simpson had a change of heart and admitted Oher to his school. But entering Briarwood was no panacea and produced no immediate change. The kid was out of place, shy, awkward and way behind. Have you ever encountered someone and felt compelled to give them a chance?

This is where the movie and real life began to diverge. In reality, Oher couch-surfed at the homes of his fellow students and foster families for his first few years at school and played three sports — basketball, track and field and football — before ever meeting the Tuohy clan in 2003. In the movie, Oher — played by Quinton Aaron — is fully homeless and has nothing to do with athletics until the very wealthy and generous family took him in. after Sean first met Oher, he set up a standing cafeteria account for him so that he'd be able to eat lunch every day. Eventually, on Thanksgiving weekend, the family crossed paths with Oher, who was walking alone in the rain, wearing his only pair of shorts and going nowhere in particular. They took him in for the weekend, an arrangement that soon became permanent. Have you ever been in a situation where you did not have a fixed address and were couch surfing until something came through for you?

Oher was closer with the head coach, Hugh Freeze, than the movie suggests, having spent plenty of time with him and his family both on and off the field. He even once said Freeze's daughters were "like my sisters," a sign of just how many families were eager to take him in. Universities across the South showed up during the spring of 2004, hoping to recruit him. Prominent coaches later appeared in the movie as themselves, underscoring the huge interest in Oher's potential. He was a First Team Preseason All-American at left tackle, perhaps the most important non-quarterback position on the offensive side of the ball. Have you followed Michael Oher's Career?

He was an instant success — First Team Freshman All-American his first year, Second and then First Team All-SEC in his sophomore and junior years, and finally a First-Team All-American in his senior year in 2008. By that point, his backstory wasn't at all relevant to his playing skills, which clearly stood on their own. Lewis' book was published in 2006, while the movie hit theaters in 2009, just after Oher was drafted in the first round (23rd overall) by the Baltimore Ravens. If anything, the attention from the movie grew to frustrate him during his career. Making the NFL and sticking in the league is hard enough without the added pressure of a mega-hit, Oscar-winning movie about your life to draw international attention to your rookie season. Do you find it surprising that the movie's success was a hindrance to his NFL Career?

It's not that he didn't have his successes, of course — Oher won a Super Bowl as a starter on the Ravens in 2013 and went to another Super Bowl in 2016. He played eight years in the NFL, which is a great career for anyone, much less someone who came from his background. The Ravens got more than they could have ever wanted from a late first-rounder. Ultimately, Oher was released by the Carolina Panthers in the summer of 2017 due to his trouble with post-concussion syndrome, which ultimately wound up marking the end of his career in the NFL. He is now a public speaker and advocate. Do you see this life story as a good example of the American Dream, that anyone if given a fair chance and the right supports can succeed in his chosen career?