Signing Day Extra: Will Oliver

Name: Will Oliver
Position: Offensive Lineman
Rank: N/R(S) / N/R(R) / N/R(E)
Positional Need: 8/10
Outlook: Oliver flipped from Sac State only a few days ago, and there really is little very information on him out there.

He has what cannot be taught – size, and plenty of it – but his coach at Heritage High, Jeff Haagenson, told me a couple days ago that Oliver had a great senior year and really blossomed. Oliver didn’t play much as a junior behind three all-league starters but got all-league honors as a senior in high school.

A brief look at some of his film reveals that he is indeed a project, but one with a workable base. From an offensive lineman’s perspective, he keeps his pads too high, though at 6-foot-8, maybe that’s to be expected, and he relied a bit too much on his size last year.

But Bob Palcic is a great coach, and I think Oliver could really benefit under his tutelage.

Immediate Impact: 1/10 – Oliver is a project in the truest sense of the word.

Overall Impact: Who Knows?/10 – At 6-foot-8, and anywhere from 265-to-290 pounds based on reports, you have to like the size. Whether that can be developed is anyone’s guess.

Notable Quotables:
“Will is kind of a late-bloomer. He was 6-4 as a freshman, so it wasn’t like he grew a foot, but he was a little overweight at that time, and not just soft physically, but mentally. He was always bigger, he was never bullied, he never had to be a tough guy. Came into high school a little soft, played football and wrestled, got into much better condition. The only problem was, wrestling took him away from the weight room. But he’s been getting much better.
I don’t know if his heart was into football until after his junior year. He didn’t start, we were a really good line, three returning all-league guys. He sat for a year, didn’t get a lot of looks, but he had a great senior year, started a little slow but by the end, he was killing guys. This scholarship is probably based on the last three games of his career. We played Deer Valley, Pittsburg and De La Salle, and he was just crushing those guys. And those are solid defensive linemen. Once Fresno State was interested, Reno was in and word kind of spreads.” – Jeff Haagenson, Oliver’s coach at Heritage High.

Profiles:
Scout

Rivals

ESPN

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