Flashback: Michael has been in foster care with different families in Memphis, Tennessee due to his mother's drug addiction. Every time he is placed in a new home, he runs away. His friend's father, on whose couch Mike had been sleeping, asks Burt Cotton (Ray McKinnon), the coach of Wingate Christian School, to help enroll his son and Mike. Impressed by Mike's size and athleticism, Cotton gets him admitted despite a poor academic record. Later, Michael walks out of the school and is befriended by a boy named Sean Jr (Jae Head). "SJ" suggests that Michael smile at the other kids, knowing that he was trying to be friendly with them. SJ's mother, Leigh Anne Tuohy (Sandra Bullock), is a strong-minded interior designer and the wife of wealthy businessman Sean Tuohy (Tim McGraw). Leigh Anne notices Michael and ask SJ who is he is. SJ responds that he is "Big Mike.