Michael Oher attended Briarcrest Christian School in Memphis, Tennessee for high school. He played football during his freshman year at a public high school in Memphis, and then applied for admission to Briarcrest Christian School at the suggestion of Tony Henderson, an auto mechanic with whom he was living temporarily. The school initially refused to admit him due to his problematic academic journey, but eventually accepted him after he raised his grades. Ohers unstable situation at home saw him go under foster care before his 11th birthday, and he bounced from one residence to another before living with Tony Henderson. Henderson wanted to fulfill his deceased mother’s wish to enroll his son, Steven, at a “Christian school,” and he brought Oher to Briarcrest Christian School in Memphis, Tennessee. The school’s football coach, Hugh Freeze, was interested in Oher and pushed him to be admitted to the private, coeducational institution.