The former Houston standout answered all questions at the combine
UH's Ed Oliver aiming to "change the whole defense" when drafted
Mar 3, 2019, 7:26 am
The former Houston standout answered all questions at the combine
"Just the different swag I could bring to a d-line could probably change the whole defense honestly."
The words of Ed Oliver his next team will hope ring true with every snap he takes in the NFL. Speaking Saturday at the NFL Scouting Combine, Oliver covered everything from the rumors of a position change to his relationship with both of the former Cougars head coaches.
The reports surfaced early Saturday Oliver had been asked to work out at linebacker in addition to his defensive line workouts. The future top-ten pick didn't shy away from the additional challenge.
"I've asked myself to play linebacker too," Oliver joked. "I'm a very athletic defensive tackle. You never know. I might end up playing linebacker in the league. I'm not going to object to it. I feel like I'm a d-lineman. I feel like I'm a 3-technique, but if they pay me to play linebacker that's what I'm gonna be doing, playing linebacker."
The Tennessee Titans asked Oliver to play outside linebacker in his meeting with the team.
While his positional future is up in the air his past came up. Oliver was seen in a shouting match with then Houston head coach Major Applewhite in the team's defeat of Tulane on national TV last season. What does he say when NFL teams ask him about the dust up?
"I answer like I've always answered," he said. "I answer 100 percent truthfully. It was what it was, it was a misunderstanding, we hashed it out a day later. I still keep in touch with Coach Applewhite, and he was my head coach."
Oliver said he still stays in touch with his first head coach at Houston, Tom Herman, the now Texas head coach.
"When (Herman and his staff left) I was proud of him," he said. "As a man you always want to better yourself and he left to better himself."
Oliver has been working to better himself towards an NFL career for years. Just last year he was projected to be the first overall pick in this year's draft but the chances of that are nearly gone.
"You're not the number one pick until you're drafted number one," he said. "I pretty much knew the size thing was going to come up so I never got into it."
Regardless of where he goes and who plays for or against Oliver plans to showoff his playing style which he detailed as fast and violent.
"I do everybody the same way," Oliver said. "Rather your TSU (Texas Southern) or Oklahoma my first game of college football. I play every game the same way just as violent just as fast just as hard."
The Oliver family will take in the draft from home despite the chance he could be one of the first players out of the green room if he attended the draft in Nashville. He said they will "rock out together as a family."
His family is what got him into horses at a young age. He saw someone riding a horse and requested one from his dad. Weeks later he had a horse of his own and still has a couple. He's also got a clear investment plan that aligns with his love of animals.
[ia_video https://s3.amazonaws.com/roar-assets-auto.rbl.ms/runner%2F9316-IMG_9661.MOV source="https://s3.amazonaws.com/roar-assets-auto.rbl.ms/runner%2F9316-IMG_9661.MOV" caption="Ed Oliver retirement plan" attribution="Cody Stoots" videoControls=true shortcode_id=1551571562263 expand=1 ]NFL teams are probably hoping Oliver is as ferocious as his eventual money-making steers.
Opening Day is just days away for the Astros, and the biggest storyline leading up to the season has been Cam Smith. Smith put together an impressive spring, but many wondered if that would be enough to make the big league roster. Well, we don't have to wonder anymore.
Manager Joe Espada announced that Smith will start in right field against the Mets on Opening Day. And it gets even better, the Astros captured the moment Smith found out he made the club on video.
Be sure to watch the video below as Smith's mother breaks the exciting news to Houston's new slugger!
The call up. #BuiltForThis pic.twitter.com/5d1HxEFk0l
— Houston Astros (@astros) March 25, 2025