In mid-July, Trustin Oliver announced that he had re-committed to Colorado, becoming CU's sixth commit for the Class of 2021. Oliver's journey to becoming a Division I, Pac-12 commit — which has featured stops at two community colleges — has been a winding road as opposed to a straightaway.

After initially signing with Mel Tucker's Class of 2019, by the late spring of that year it became apparent that due to academic-related reasons, he would be ineligible to join the Buffs.

The former Legend High School (Parker, CO) standout then embarked on the JUCO route, playing a season at Copiah-Lincoln Community College in Mississippi before transferring to Iowa Western Community College in Council Bluffs.

This past fall, he redshirted with the Reivers.

From then until now, Iowa Western DBs coach Eric Finney has seen a lot of growth in Oliver — not only on the gridiron.

“Off the field, you see a lot more maturity," he said. "We’ve got a 17-year-old young man when he got here. Not that he’s too much older now, but he’s had more exposure. He’s now been able to live on campus in the dorms and has been able to do the things that prevented him from going to Colorado in the beginning. You see a guy that’s a little more independent and more confident in his role and things he can do in life."

Oliver's growth has not only been outside of the football field, though. Finney noted that he's seen significant steps in the right direction from Oliver as a player, too.

"On the field, you see a guy that still has a lot of things he can improve on but his raw qualities are starting to develop," he said. "He’s starting to find out what kind of football player he is. If you turn on his film from high school, you see an athlete. You see a big, fast man running. He still has all those qualities but knows more about football. He knows about defenses a little bit more, he knows about offenses, he’s calling plays, he’s saying what techniques he’s going to use and what he needs to improve on before he goes to Colorado. "So I think both on and off the field, he’s become a much more mature man.”

All in all, it looks like taking a redshirt year has done much for Oliver, who has been able to develop the physical and mental parts of his game while preparing for a spring season (the NJCAA over the summer decided to postpone their traditional fall season to the spring) with Iowa Western.

“He’s the definition of why you redshirt young football players," Finney said. "The amount of progression he had during the redshirt year is exactly that you want. (He’s added) 20 more pounds of weight. He’s been able to see guys ahead of him in our program transfer to top level schools and him being able to compete against them — while he looks like a grown man and he is in terms of his physical stature — he had so much progression to do and really sit back and watch a little bit to learn how to work at that level. He is exactly what you want (after) a redshirt. I think the redshirt he took is going to pay dividends down the line for him.”

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For many JUCO players, their college football experience often features bumps in the road. Oliver's own journey is no exception, but in his time at Iowa Western, Finney has observed significant growth on and off the football field, while Oliver has never lost sight of his primary goal: getting back to Colorado.

“I think with him having to take the long route to get back to where he initially set his sights on, it created a hunger for him that he got stripped of originally coming out of high school," Finney said. "He started from ground zero — no one cared about his commitment or signing to Colorado when he went to junior college, so he had to work from the ground up."

"We treated him like any other freshman in our program. He had to prove not only to his coaches, but to his peers and to himself, that he could get back on track and number one, do it academically. We’re hoping for another big semester for him, but he has a 3.5 GPA. That’s what you want to see and that’s a 360 from high school."

Even with his season delayed to the spring, Oliver has continued to focus his energy on being the best possible player when the time comes to hit the field and compete.

On top of that, he's taken pride in being a leader for the Reivers.

"He’s in a position with the humbleness and confidence he has now — junior college right now, NJCAA — we’re slated to play in the spring," Finney said. "Trustin is slated to be a mid-year transfer to CU. He’s at all of our morning weight (lifts.) He’s at everything we do as a team, whether it’s virtual or in-person with me — whatever it is we’re doing, he’s involved, not only for his development but to fulfill that obligation to be a role model for the younger guys doing the same as he’s trying to do. He’s a leader and is great to have around.”

When Oliver does eventually join the Buffs, all indications point to Colorado getting a dedicated student, improved asset in the DBs room and in general, a student-athlete ready to compete and contribute.

"He’s more than a football player — he’s a guy that comes into your office and it’s not always about football — it’s about life," Finney said. "It’s about ‘hey, coach, did you watch that new episode of…’ or ‘hey, coach, I have some questions about ‘that.’” He’s inquisitive and is fun to be around. You love to coach him on the football field but you also love to have him in your room as a person.”