Oliver decides three will be enough
After his junior season, defensive tackle plans to leave early for NFL
University of Houston AllAmerican defensive tackle Ed Oliver made it official Monday: He’s leaving for the NFL after the 2018 season.
“I do plan on leaving,” Oliver said after the Cougars wrapped up the first day of spring practice. “I wish I could stay another year, but it’s my time to go.”
Oliver, a 6-3, 290-pound junior-to-be, becomes the first underclassman to declare for the 2019 NFL draft, where he is projected as a top-five pick.
“This was a dream of mine coming in,” Oliver said. “I knew I was going on a business trip, and whether my business trip was three years or four years, it just depend on how early I got on the field and how effective I was.”
At Westfield, Oliver was a fivestar prospect with offers from every major college in the nation. He decided to stay at home and play at UH, alongside his older brother, Marcus, for two seasons. In two seasons, Oliver has become one of the most dominant defensive players, if not overall, becoming the youngest winner of the Outland Trophy and the American Athletic Conference Defensive Player of the Year last season.
Even with opposing teams using double- and triple-team
blocks, Oliver has 39½ tackles for loss in 25 career games, a total the UH sports information office is trying to determine whether is the most ever for a player in his first two seasons out of high school. He’s also recorded 139 tackles and 10½ sacks, even after being slowed last season with a knee injury.
Pro Football Focus rated Oliver No. 1 against the run, missing just two tackles in 752 snaps last season.
“He’s a homegrown talent,” UH coach Major Applewhite said. “He’s just a testimony that if you make that decision, you
can come here and be an allconference player, you can be an All-American, you can be a national award winner, you can be a first-round draft pick, you can do all those things. It kind of puts a hole in the whole you have to go to a Power Five or certain school to get all those things done. It kind of ruins that theory.”
Entering his final season, Oliver said he still has goals. For starters, he wants to win the Bronko Nagurski Trophy as the nation’s top defensive player after being a finalist last season. He’s also being mentioned as a darkhorse for the Heisman Trophy.
“I want to compete for the Heisman,” Oliver said. “There’s a lot on my plate I want to achieve.”
Oliver said he weighed several factors in making his decision to leave after his junior year.
“Just see what’s best for you, what’s best for your family and what they have you rated as coming out,” Oliver said. “There are a lot of things (that go into the decision) beyond football.”
Oliver got a glimpse of his future last weekend, spending three days attending the NCAA Elite Student-Athlete Symposium in Indianapolis. As part of the trip, Oliver attended sessions designed to help college players make the transition to the pros, a discussion with the NFL Players’ Association on agent relations and behind-thescenes look at the NFL combine.
“It was three days jampacked with knowledge,” Oliver said.