Nick McDonald has seen the movie The Blind Side, but he didnt really need to.

He lived it.

If you know the story of Michael Oher, the Baltimore Ravens offensive tackle, then you know the basic outline of McDonalds life. The movie follows Oher, a homeless kid who was taken in by a woman named Leigh Anne Tuohy (played by Sandra Bullock) and her family.

Sure, there are differences. Oher grew up in Memphis, went on to play big-time college football at Mississippi and became a first-round draft pick in 2009. McDonald lived in Sterling Heights, Mich., played offensive line at tiny Grand Valley State and earlier this month made the Green Bay Packers as an undrafted rookie free agent.

Yet their hardships were much the same.

Oher had an absentee father and a mother who was an alcoholic and drug addict and bounced between foster homes and the streets before Tuohy took him in. McDonalds mother died of cancer when he was 14, and his dad flew the coop not long after, leaving four children to fend for themselves.

A woman named Gayle Joseph became McDonalds Leigh Anne Tuohy.

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Thank God for Gayle, said fellow Packers rookie Frank Zombo, a childhood friend of McDonalds. Shes a great woman and really raised him and took care of him.

McDonald was dating Josephs daughter Meghan when his mother died and his father abruptly moved to Louisiana by himself. Joseph didnt know exactly how bad McDonalds situation was at first.

I knew things werent going well at home just by little things that he said, Joseph said. The reality was that I was dropping this boy off at a home where there were four kids and no parent and no money and no phone. It was really hard for me, but I was a little reluctant (to take him in) because he was dating my daughter.

The four kids McDonald has an older brother, an older sister and a younger brother lived on their own for about six months until they were evicted from their modest three-bedroom ranch home in suburban Detroit. The older two siblings were out of high school, but Nick and his younger brother Chris (who now plays football at Michigan State) were still in school. Their father returned briefly to find homes for Nick and Chris, but Nicks living arrangement didnt work out.

Thats when Joseph knew she had to step in.

My motherly instincts just took over, Joseph said. I said, You know what, Im going to be his mother because he needs that. It was hard to watch the pain that Nick was going through. We talk about his mom, and I dont in any way try to replace her. She was a wonderful mom and has four wonderful kids. I dont think their dads been a good role model, but I do tell Nick, You know what, your dads messed up, but he does love you. I want Nick to know that because its hard for a kid to think theyve lost one parent and the other parent isnt there for them.

McDonald and Meghan Joseph eventually broke up, but he continued to live with the Josephs throughout high school and college. Meghan now has a daughter, and Nick is the godfather. He said he rarely speaks with his father, who is remarried. They spoke last December, when we kinda got into it a little bit, McDonald said.

I actually talked to him once real quick when he found out I made the team, McDonald said. But it was real quick. Other than that, our relationship is pretty distant.

So it should come as no surprise that the first person McDonald called when he found out he had survived the final cut and made the Packers roster was Joseph.

I had prepared myself for him to say, They released me, Joseph said. Then when he told me that he made the team, all the emotions came flooding out.

McDonald was perhaps the biggest surprise to survive the Packers final cut. He was an afterthought at the beginning of training camp. When he and Zombo were making the eight-hour drive to Green Bay for the start of training camp, they joked there was a chance one of them would get released before they made it to town.

McDonald, 23, didnt play in last weeks season opener at Philadelphia and probably wont be active on Sunday against Buffalo, either. His hold on a roster spot is precarious, considering the Packers depth and experience on the offensive line. But if the Packers can afford to keep him on the roster, theyd love to develop him. At 6-foot-4 and 316 pounds, he has good size although he needs to get stronger. He also has the versatility the coaches like. He played everywhere but center in college. In the preseason, he worked at guard and center.

What stuck out the most, though, was McDonalds approach to the game.

Pretty serious guy, Packers offensive coordinator Joe Philbin said. Im sure he has a lighter side that I havent seen a whole lot of, but hes pretty serious and takes his job seriously.

Those who know McDonalds story werent surprised when told of Philbins comments.

Nick is a prime example of lifes experiences and how that results in a persons character, said George Barnett, McDonalds position coach in college. The way he carries himself on and off the field is a tribute to the experiences hes been through. He would never openly talk about anything that he had gone through, but you could tell the experiences hes been through have affected him. Hes used those experiences in a positive way.

All this week, Joseph, 52, has been in Green Bay helping McDonald get settled in the apartment hes sharing with Zombo. She helped him buy his first car on Tuesday and cooked a few meals for him. When she takes her seat in Lambeau Field on Sunday, its unlikely there will be a prouder person among the 70,000-plus in the stadium.

The soft-spoken McDonald doesnt mind telling his story, but he doesnt advertise it, either. He has a tattoo on his chest with his mothers name, date of birth and date of death.

It was pretty rough at that age to go through it, McDonald said. Looking back on it, it kind of sucked because we were all split up, me and my brothers and sister. We were all living in different places, living with different families. But once we all went off and grew up a little bit, weve stayed pretty close.

No ones going to make a movie about McDonalds life, and hell probably never watch The Blind Side again because of how emotional it was for him and Joseph to watch together. But last Saturday, Barnett, who now coaches at Illinois State, was on a bus ride after a loss at Northwestern when someone on the team turned on that movie.

It makes you think about Nick in a hurry, Barnett said.