Houston’s Ed Oliver announces on the first day of spring practice that he’ll head to the 2019 NFL Draft

Ed Oliver’s headed to the NFL Draft.

No, not the one in a little over a month. He’s headed to next year’s NFL Draft, but took the unusual step of announcing his intentions before the 2018 season. In fact, he did it on Day 1 of spring practice.

Oliver will likely be a top pick as a dominant defensive tackle, and Draft hoopla would surround him whether he made his intentions publicly known or not. This serves the purpose of taking some of the pressure off for him and his teammates because dealing with a “will he or won’t he” scenario until next January isn’t exactly the most exciting storyline for the Houston team.

“This was a dream of mine coming in,” Oliver said in a statement released by the school. “I knew I was going on a business trip, and whether my business trip was three years or four years it just depended on how early I got on the field and how effective I was.”