Oliver striving to live up to MacIntyre's high praise
Colorado Coach Mike MacIntyre wasn’t bashful about proclaiming the praises of Buffaloes cornerback Isaiah Oliver prior to the start of preseason camp, continually describing the junior from Goodyear, Ariz. as one of the top players in the nation at his position.
Once camp started, the question became whether Oliver could live up to the hype, and prove his coach prophetic.
So far, he has.
New defensive coordinator D.J. Eliot probably didn’t know much about Oliver when he joined the program in January from Kentucky, but he does now after watching and evaluating him in the spring and the first three weeks of camp.
“Isaiah Oliver is an excellent cover guy,” Eliot told Mark Johnson, voice of the Buffs, recently. “What I didn’t realize (when I got here) is how physical he is. He’s also physical in the run game and a physical press corner as well.”
While Oliver could be somewhat of a mystery figure for casual Colorado fans, he’s undoubtedly familiar to opposing Pac-12 coaches. He comes into the season with 20 career passes defended (19 pass breakups, 1 INT), which ranks fourth among returning Pac-12 players. NFL scouts are aware of Oliver too as Pro Football Focus ranked him ranked him No. 8 on its list of top 10 players in the Pac-12 returning in 2017.
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Which Colorado DB gets the assignment of covering the opponent’s best receiver each week in 2017? Most likely, Oliver.
That’s exactly what he wants.
“I’ve always loved the challenge of covering the other team’s best receiver,” Oliver said. “If that’s an opportunity I get this year, I’ll gladly take it. If you’re covering the No. 1 receiver the whole game and they still don’t throw your way, you’ve done a pretty good job because that means they’re not getting the ball to their best players. That’s something I look forward to.”
Right now, though, Oliver is focused on making sure his younger defensive teammates remain focused on the task at hand with the much-anticipated season opener against Colorado State now two weeks away.
“We had a great season last year and went to a bowl game, but we didn’t finish the way we wanted to,” Oliver told Johnson. “This year, we have to do a little bit more than we did last year. That starts in fall camp. Everyday, we have to come out here and keep working harder than we did the day before so we can get better.”
Oliver intend to pass on the lessons he learned from the three defensive backs who left for the NFL.
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“Those guys were the leaders of the defense,” Oliver said. “When they saw something wrong, they fixed it themselves. That’s something we learned from them. So, this year, we can be the guys that are fixing things on the field. Myself, watching them lead the team last year, is something I’m trying to do now. We have new leaders on defense, but so far it’s been working well.”
Besides being an All-Pac-12 caliber defensive back, Oliver is also a superb track and field athlete specializing in the decathlon. As a sophomore last spring, he finished fourth at the Pac-12 Championships with 7,394 points (just 136 out of the lead), and he won the 100-meter (10.82) and 400-meter (48.15) dashes and the long jump (24-1 as he showcased his speed and leaping ability.
“It helps me tremendously,” Oliver said. “I’ve always been a firm believer that track will make me a better all-around athlete. Every spring, I go out and compete in track and I get faster, stronger and jump higher. All that translates to the football field, one way or another. Track is always something I’ve loved doing and I’ll keep on doing it. It has worked out.”
Listed at 6-foot-1, Oliver gained weight during the offseason and currently weighs 195 pounds. He finished last season around 187 pounds, so he has packed on about eight pounds of muscle to his frame.
“I’m a lot bigger, a lot faster and I feel good,” Oliver said.
Oliver promises to be a key figure for a Colorado defense that lost three NFL-caliber defensive backs in the first two days of late April’s draft, but his presence offers Eliot some level of comfort during his first season directing the Buffs defense.
“We’re right on track,” Eliot said. “We have some new faces, but we also have some old faces. Those veteran players have been able to lead and show the younger players how to practice and how to play and execute. I’m pleased with our progress.”
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Because some analysts are predicting the Colorado defense to take a step back this upcoming season following a stellar 2016 in which the Buffs ranked among the top Pac-12 teams in most major statistical categories, Eliot senses the 2017 defense believes they have something to prove.
“I would say this group has a chip on their shoulder,” Eliot said. “This group thinks they have something to prove. You have to play with emotion, so we have to find out what brings that out of them.”
