In a football context, Houston defensive tackle Ed Oliver has long been described as a stud.
But in the world he grew up in, that takes on a whole different meaning, one he was happy to discuss at the Scouting Combine.
Via Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press, Oliver described himself as a “country boy” and talked at length about growing up around animals, which he said served him well when he started playing football.
“[That’s] why I’m able to go up [against] 6-5 and 300-pound guys,” Oliver said. “It’s a walk in the park. You fight with a 1,000-pound animal, I ain’t worrying about no 300 pounds.”
Oliver grew up in Houston, and said he fell in love with horses when he saw a man riding one down the street. So being around large animals never fazed him.
“I said, ‘Hey daddy, I want a horse,’” Oliver said. “Him growing up in the country, horses are not foreign to him. Probably about a month passed, and I had a horse. The first horse was named Caledonia and I loved that horse, and he got me another horse named Oreo. I got into riding Oreo, and I swear, that horse tried to kill me a couple of times.”
Now that he’s on the cusp of making life-changing money as a high first-round pick, Oliver said he hopes to turn his lifelong love of livestock into a future business.
“I don’t think I’m getting into like horse racing or nothing like that,” he said. “But I will have a barn with some horses in there with some stock there. Maybe some cows, you never know. I’ve never been a cow guy, but they got bulls that you can sell their semen and make a lot of money like that.
“No, for real. Get you a Wagyu bull, you make a little money.”
We now return you to your previously scheduled breakfast.