Former Houston Cougars defensive tackle Ed Oliver is now officially a member of the Buffalo Bills. With the Bills selecting Oliver with the No. 9 overall pick in this year's NFL Draft, it hardly came as a surprise that the former collegiate standout came off the board so early — at least to one of his former high school coaches, anyway.
“It was definitely his freshman year of high school,” said Oliver's high school defensive coordinator A.J. Blum, via Matthew Fairburn of The Athletic. “I worked with him when he was in junior high, but seeing him move around during the fall camp of his freshman year, doing the different D-line drills we did, you could see the change of direction. He was a lot bigger his freshman year than he had ever been at any other time. He was almost 300 pounds. Just his movement. You knew if things stayed on the right track, you just had a feeling. It was a unique situation because we had so many good defensive linemen at Westfield High School, and he came in and it was like, oh wow, this guy is in a league of his own. You could tell.”
The 21-year-old defensive lineman stands at 6-foot-2 while weighing just under 290 pounds. With the prolific Oliver seemingly have no problem taking over the college game due to both his size and versatility, it certainly wasn't a huge surprise that the Bills took a flyer on him with a top 10 pick last month in Nashville, Tennessee.
Now, it will be up to Oliver to help turn the Bills back into a playoff contender. That will be easier said than done, but Oliver is ready for the challenge.
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