Houston Cougars: Why it’s a smart move for Ed Oliver to stay

The Houston Cougars football season ended with loud thud with their 33-27 loss at the Aloha Bowl.  With all of the changes that had occurred throughout the season, there had been one constant on the defense and that’s defensive end Ed Oliver.  Oliver could’ve departed a long time ago so let’s examine this further.

The Houston Cougars, although starting out the season in rather solid manner tended to teeter along the edges of mediocrity, backing their way into a postseason bowl bid.  There was tremendous uncertainty at the quarterback position, with the team never getting into rhythm offensively.

The season started out with Kyle Allen under center, then a early-season switch to Kyle Postma with D’Eriq King finishing 2017 up for the Houston Cougars.  King was yet another converted wide-reciever — similar to Greg Ward Jr. — that somehow got their offense just a tad bit potent than the other two guys that preceded him.  Allen has since declared himself ready for the 2018 NFL Draft.

Under the helm of Tom Herman, the Houston Cougars were in the Top 10 in terms of total offense in the NCAA FBS Division I rankings but they slid to 40th this season.  The drop-off was expected as this was Major Applewhite‘s first season but I hope to see more of an improvement this season as this is what past programs are known for, with guys like Ward and Case Keenum taking command.

But let’s talk about defensive end Ed Oliver.  According to the Houston Cougars, Oliver has announced his intentions to enter the 2019 NFL Draft:

Let’s be clear.  He’s not declaring for this year’s draft but for 2019.  Oliver feels that he’s not done yet and wants to make more an impact on the Cougars’ defensive front, being the shining star in largely dim supporting cast.

Why wait another season to declare?

If he had wanted to declare for the draft this season he still would’ve been a Top 15 first-rounder but it’s quite possible that he waits one more year, he’ll edge closer to being in the Top Five.  He’s amazing freak of an athlete with nothing much getting past him.  His bone-crunching, earth-shattering tackles and sacks had me still clamoring for more as I watch the Cougars progress

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through the season.

I’m thankful that I’ll get to see at least one more season of him in H-Town.  Plus, as you can see up in the tweet I shared with you, he LOVES being in Houston.  Why shouldn’t he?  We’re one of the best cities in the world — yes, I’ve traveled quite a bit — and it’s quite understandable that he feels this way.

This also notwithstanding that he’s the big fish in a small pond.  Oliver could’ve left for a Power 5 conference a long time ago to boost his profile.  But with his dominating level of play, that hasn’t seemed to matter because he stands out like a sore thumb for this football team.  He’s still recognized by many and that’s only going to elevate to larger scale as we enter the 2018 season.

With a list of accomplishments longer than the Bering Strait — including being a consensus All-American, the American Athletic Conference Defensive Player of the Year and a Outland Trophy Winner — he’s well on his way to another successful season, likely finding a way to improve on what was good technical defensive football to watch out of him.

It’s important to note that he is a tackling machine, having led the nation in tackles-for-loss at 1.56 per game.

I honestly can’t wait!

Next: Coogs Basketball: The best team nobody had been talking about

Oliver amassed 73 tackles, 5.5 sacks, 16.5 tackles-for-loss, three passes defensed, two forced fumbles and one fumble recovery through 12 games in 2017.

Go Coogs!