Ed Oliver Named Nation’s Top Player by ESPN
8/6/2018 12:31:00 PM | Football
Hometown product represents Houston on watch lists for five major national awards
HOUSTON – Already named the nation's top college football player entering the 2018 season by Sports Illustrated, Houston's Ed Oliver added another bullet point to his growing resume Monday when ESPN bestowed the same honor on the junior defensive tackle.
The Houston native is coming off a sophomore season that saw him become the first underclassman to win the Outland Trophy while also earning consensus All-America honors.
Through just two seasons playing nose tackle on a three-man front, Oliver has 39.5 career tackles for loss, topping the 19 from Pitt's Aaron Donald in the 2010-11 seasons.
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Oliver closed out the National College Football Awards Association's two weeks of preseason watch list announcements on July 27 with an appearance on a fifth major national award watch list as the Walter Camp Foundation released its list for the Walter Camp Award, presented annually to the nation's most outstanding player.
It marked the second consecutive year for the Houston native to earn a spot on the award's watch list. The 2017 American Conference Defensive Player of the Year, Oliver is one of only two players on the watch list to earn Walter Camp First Team All-America honors in 2017, joining Stanford running back Bryce Love.
With the Walter Camp announcement, Oliver is on preseason watch lists for five national awards after also being named to the Maxwell Award, Bednarik Award, Outland Trophy and Bronko Nagurski Trophy watch lists.
It's the second straight year the Houston native has appeared on preseason watch lists for all five awards.
The reigning Outland Trophy winner, Oliver will look to become only the second player in the Outland's history to win the award twice after becoming the first underclassman to win the award in 2017. Nebraska center Dave Rimington is the award's only two-time winner, claiming the award in 1981 and 1982.
The only returning player of the five finalists for the Nagurski Trophy in 2017, Oliver will look to become the first defensive tackle to win the award presented to the nation's top defensive player since Aaron Donald of Pitt claimed top honors in 2013. Donald was also the last defensive tackle to win the Bednarik Award, presented annually to the nation's college defensive player of the year.
Oliver will also look to become the first defensive player to win both the Maxwell and Walter Camp Awards since Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te'o accomplished the feat in 2012.
The Walter Camp Award watch list will be narrowed to 10 semifinalists in November. The 2018 Walter Camp Player of the Year recipient, which is voted on by the 129 FBS head coaches and sports information directors, will be announced live on ESPN on Dec. 6.
Ed Oliver | Jr. | DT
2017 Outland Trophy Winner as the first underclassmen to win the award … 2017 consensus All-American … has 39.5 tackles for loss in his first two years, second best in NCAA history among all players and best among all defensive tackles … leads all active players nationally with 1.56 tackles for loss per game … Houston's leading returning tackler after totaling 73 stops in 2017 … has 139 tackles through two years … while playing the nose spot in a three-man front, totaled 73 tackles in 12 games, despite missing three quarters of one game and being limited in the next four with a knee injury ... recorded an average of 6.1 tackles per game which ranked third nationally among all defensive linemen ... his 73 total tackles ranked eighth nationally among all defensive linemen, second nationally among defensive tackles and 16.5 tackles for loss were second among defensive tackles while his average of 1.38 tackles for loss per game led all defensive linemen in The American ... led UH in tackles for loss (16.5), sacks (5.5), quarterback hurries (7), forced fumbles (2) and blocked kicks (1) ... also had three pass breakups and one fumble recovery ... recorded two double-digit tackle games, part of seven games with at least five tackles ... also tallied five games with multiple tackles for loss and now has 13 career games with the distinction.
