ATLANTA -- Houston defensive tackle Ed Oliver was chosen as the winner of the 2017 Outland Trophy as the top interior lineman in college football at the 2017 Home Depot College Football Awards.
Oliver is the first Houston player to receive the Outland Trophy, as well as the first sophomore to win the award since its inception in 1946. The 6-foot-3, 290-pound tackle was chosen over finalists Quenton Nelson, a senior offensive guard at Notre Dame, and Oklahoma junior offensive tackle Orlando Brown.
"I'm not surprised. He's the best lineman in college football - it is not even close," said Houston head coach Major Applewhite. "Ed is just a tremendous player. He has a lot of great physical skill. He works to hone those skills every day. He is a technician. He has a 3.2 GPA over his first semesters and you don't have to worry about him off the field."
In addition to his Outland Trophy selection, Oliver joined Memphis sophomore return specialist Tony Pollard as American Athletic Conference selections to the Walter Camp All-America first team. UCF head coach Scott Frost was named the 2017 Home Depot Coach of the Year.
Oliver is the fourth defensive tackle to win the Outland Trophy since 2007, following Pitt's Aaron Donald (2013), Nebraska's Ndamukong Suh (2009) and LSU's Glenn Dorsey (2007). A true sophomore in 2017, Oliver will return next season to the Cougars as a junior. In Atlanta, he was flanked by Applewhite and his brother Marcus Oliver, a senior starting offensive guard for the Cougars.
Oliver became the third American Athletic Conference player to be honored at the Home Depot College Football Awards. Former Memphis punter Tom Hornsey won the Ray Guy Award in 2013, and former Temple linebacker Tyler Matakevich won the Bednarik Award as the nation's top defensive player in 2015.
Oliver has established himself as arguably the nation's top defensive player as a sophomore playing the nose tackle position in the Cougars' three-man front. Oliver tallied 69 tackles in 11 games despite missing portions of two games due to injury. He recorded a career-high 14 tackles in the final game of the regular season against Navy, including a career-high tying 3.5 tackles for loss.
On the season, Oliver has 5.5 sacks, 14.5 tackles for loss, two forced fumbles, a fumble recovery, three pass breakups and seven quarterback hurries. Oliver was also one of five finalists for the FWAA's Bronko Nagurski Trophy as the nation's top defensive player. He is the first player from Houston to win the American Athletic Conference Defensive Player of the Year honor.
"Defensively, it all starts with their defensive tackle, Ed Oliver, who I think is probably the most impactful player in our conference, and one of the most impactful defensive linemen in the country," said Memphis coach Mike Norvell. "At any of the schools I've coached at, if we were playing this young man, I'd say he's one of the best defensive linemen, regardless of conference, regardless of where they are, he's a phenomenal player. And when you take a phenomenal player and you surround him with so many other explosive athletes that can create problems with their defensive scheme, it leads you to some sleepless nights."
The Outland Trophy, which has been awarded annually by the FWAA since 1946, is named after the late John Outland, an All-America lineman at the University of Pennsylvania in the late 1800s. The Outland Trophy is the third-oldest award in major college football behind the Heisman Trophy and Maxwell Award.