Khalil Oliver Finds New Home with @MizzouFootball
9/6/2018 12:03:00 PM | Football
Grad transfer from Oregon is pursuing a Master's Degree in Public Health
Khalil Oliver is the new guy. And like any newcomer, the transfer safety from Oregon wants to prove himself.
"I think the biggest things were just, kind of trying to prove to my teammates first that I could play. They see Oregon and they think 'he's either good or he's transferring for some other reason.' I needed to show them that I could play and I wasn't leaving because I couldn't play, I was leaving to come get a better opportunity, and that's what I did to come here," Oliver said.
"He's a vet, you can tell that he's been on the field before. He knows what he's doing," said senior safety Cam Hilton.
Oliver could have easily leaned on his own history. He saw it all in his first four years of college football.
"My freshman year, I got to be on the travel squad with the team that went down for the Rose Bowl and the team that went to the National Championship. Getting the start against Nebraska in front of 95,000 people, that was pretty big. [I] had a game winning interception against Cal, against Jared Goff. I had a pick against Virginia my redshirt sophomore year," Oliver said.
Those experiences are priceless for a player. Oliver is here to pass his wisdom along and mesh with the rest of a Tigers defense that has some stalwarts of its own.
We asked him, "what's that like when you do get chances to just kind of chew it up with another player who understands the game on the same level that you do?"
"It's easy. The whole defense, when you've got Terez [Hall], you've got Cale [Garrett], you've got Cam [Hilton], you've got Adam [Sparks], you've got [DeMarkus] Acy back there in the back, it's easy. You're not worrying about doing somebody else's job, you're not worrying about a run breaking through the middle. You're worried about just your job and finishing your job and it becomes easy," Oliver said.
And this isn't just a one-year fling. Oliver received a medical hardship waiver from the NCAA, meaning he has two years of eligibility with Mizzou. Two years to get better, two years to work on his master's degree in public health. Two years to make more memories on the field.
"It's a good opportunity because, you know, I get to really develop a relationship with a lot of these guys. It's not like I'm here for a season and then it's like, 'see you later,'" Oliver said.
We asked him, "anything else that you're really hoping to get out of this experience at Mizzou?"
"Seeing Mizzou return back to 2013-2014 they were the team that was, you know, up-and -coming. I want to help bring it back."
