Trustin Oliver's college football journey is about to come full circle, as yesterday, after spending over a year at the junior college level — first at Copiah-Lincoln C.C. in Mississippi and currently Iowa Western C.C. in Council Bluffs, IA — he announced a commitment to Colorado.
Oliver becomes the sixth commit in Colorado's Class of 2021 and its first JUCO transfer. The former Legend High School (Parker, CO) standout initially signed with Mel Tucker's Class of 2019 but by the late spring of that year, he realized that he would be academically ineligible to play with the Buffaloes and thus had to take a different route.
“Knowing that I was going to take the junior college route towards the end of May (of 2019), I wasn’t necessarily embarrassed that people were going to look bad upon me because at the end of the day, you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do in order to be successful," he said. "I was willing to do anything. I moved away from my family to achieve my goals."
After a brief stint at Copiah-Lincoln, where he struggled at times to transition to the DB position, Oliver landed at Iowa Western, which better suited his needs.
"...Coach Eric Finney, my DBs coach and Jamar Johnson, the WRs coach — they’re amazing guys and told me ‘hey man, we want you to come check us out, we like you as a player, we like you as a person and we want you to come join the family.’”
"It did not look like a junior college at all — we just got this indoor, over $1 million facility — the coaches are amazing, the students and professors — it’s an amazing feeling and truly a blessing to be able to have these kinds of resources."
Oliver redshirted for the 2019 season and is set to graduate from Iowa Western in November, at which point he'll be primed and ready to enroll in classes at CU for the Spring 2021 term.
He'll rejoin the Buffaloes and begin lifting with the team as an early enrollee.
For Oliver, the last year of his life — bouncing around different junior colleges in pursuit of his dreams — has changed him a lot.
"I definitely had those times where I thought I wasn’t going to make it, but at the end of the day, I just leaned back on my support system: my dad, my mom, my uncle, my grandma and my friends, knowing that no matter what happened, they were always going to have my back," he said.
"Colorado was there every step of the way, telling me to make sure I was getting my grades up and doing this and doing that. I told them I was on top of it but it's just a long process. It made me stronger mentally and made me realize a lot about myself as a player and person. It made me accept things for what they are and just get it over with — that’s my mindset. If you do things (the) right (way) now, you will not have to do it again.”
Oliver has been able to get a feel for Karl Dorrell, Brett Maxie and Demetrice Martin and his relationship he's been able to build with his coaches-to-be played a major role in him rejoining the fold for Colorado.
“I’ve gotten pretty close with them in a short amount of time but they’re just phenomenal men, phenomenal husbands, phenomenal fathers and phenomenal mentors for a lot of people and especially for me," Oliver said. "...At least 80% of our conversations weren’t even about football. They would ask ‘hey, what’s your family like? What’s life like and what are you doing on a constant basis?’ They would talk about their experiences and what they’ve gone through, relating it to me and just getting to understand me."
"To me, that is the biggest thing about a player being able to be successful — and Dorrell has preached this in many interviews — but you have to have that chemistry and that trust with the players. I’d run through a brick wall for any of those coaches just knowing that they have my back and I have 110% of theirs. I have their support and they for sure have mine. There weren’t any other coaches who could give me this opportunity.”
There has been some buzz that Oliver is projected to play safety for Colorado, but accordingly to him, nothing is concrete as of now with respect to where he'll be envisioned within the Buffs' defense.
In particular, knowing Maxie's penchant for developing human Swiss army knives within the defensive backfield, Oliver could be tried out at multiple positions, something he's not afraid of.
“I don’t want to finalize and say (coaches) have told me this or told me that, but I’ve heard I might play safety, maybe corner — they might have me as a hybrid type in the box and shifting — they’ve told me a lot of things," he said. "But I always tell people that I play the game of football. It doesn’t matter where it is. I’m an athlete and willing to play any position to do what I need to do to be successful on the team and help my guys out."
"I’m never going to be picky about where I play — as long as I get that chance to be on the field and play with the guys and have a good time and win games, that’s all I’m interested in.”
FIN
Have to say, Trustin was one of my favorite interviews I've done in recent memory. So much maturity, reflection, pride, joy — this man has been reshaped and forged anew via his unanticipated quest he embarked on to get his grades up and polish his game enough to where he could get another chance at his dream of playing D1 football.
Talk about someone with a chip on their shoulder. And as a bonus, when I first got on the phone with Trustin to thank him for his time (I initially had made contact with his mother, whose # I found thinking it was his...she eventually gave me Trustin's and within a few exchanged texts, agreed to hop on the phone). But he had this to say to me after I told him how much I appreciated him talking for a few minutes:
"It’s truly a blessing for (reporters) to want to reach out and want to do a story and stuff like that — that means a lot and it takes a lot of hard work from your standpoint, so I want to thank you for reaching out to me.”
Again — I think Oliver is a young man who has matured immensely over the last year and is seeing the firsthand results of what can happen when one takes a concentrated effort to better themselves.
Excited to see him on campus again and he's definitely a player that's easy to root for.
Oliver becomes the sixth commit in Colorado's Class of 2021 and its first JUCO transfer. The former Legend High School (Parker, CO) standout initially signed with Mel Tucker's Class of 2019 but by the late spring of that year, he realized that he would be academically ineligible to play with the Buffaloes and thus had to take a different route.
“Knowing that I was going to take the junior college route towards the end of May (of 2019), I wasn’t necessarily embarrassed that people were going to look bad upon me because at the end of the day, you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do in order to be successful," he said. "I was willing to do anything. I moved away from my family to achieve my goals."
After a brief stint at Copiah-Lincoln, where he struggled at times to transition to the DB position, Oliver landed at Iowa Western, which better suited his needs.
"...Coach Eric Finney, my DBs coach and Jamar Johnson, the WRs coach — they’re amazing guys and told me ‘hey man, we want you to come check us out, we like you as a player, we like you as a person and we want you to come join the family.’”
"It did not look like a junior college at all — we just got this indoor, over $1 million facility — the coaches are amazing, the students and professors — it’s an amazing feeling and truly a blessing to be able to have these kinds of resources."
Oliver redshirted for the 2019 season and is set to graduate from Iowa Western in November, at which point he'll be primed and ready to enroll in classes at CU for the Spring 2021 term.
He'll rejoin the Buffaloes and begin lifting with the team as an early enrollee.
For Oliver, the last year of his life — bouncing around different junior colleges in pursuit of his dreams — has changed him a lot.
"I definitely had those times where I thought I wasn’t going to make it, but at the end of the day, I just leaned back on my support system: my dad, my mom, my uncle, my grandma and my friends, knowing that no matter what happened, they were always going to have my back," he said.
"Colorado was there every step of the way, telling me to make sure I was getting my grades up and doing this and doing that. I told them I was on top of it but it's just a long process. It made me stronger mentally and made me realize a lot about myself as a player and person. It made me accept things for what they are and just get it over with — that’s my mindset. If you do things (the) right (way) now, you will not have to do it again.”
Oliver has been able to get a feel for Karl Dorrell, Brett Maxie and Demetrice Martin and his relationship he's been able to build with his coaches-to-be played a major role in him rejoining the fold for Colorado.
“I’ve gotten pretty close with them in a short amount of time but they’re just phenomenal men, phenomenal husbands, phenomenal fathers and phenomenal mentors for a lot of people and especially for me," Oliver said. "...At least 80% of our conversations weren’t even about football. They would ask ‘hey, what’s your family like? What’s life like and what are you doing on a constant basis?’ They would talk about their experiences and what they’ve gone through, relating it to me and just getting to understand me."
"To me, that is the biggest thing about a player being able to be successful — and Dorrell has preached this in many interviews — but you have to have that chemistry and that trust with the players. I’d run through a brick wall for any of those coaches just knowing that they have my back and I have 110% of theirs. I have their support and they for sure have mine. There weren’t any other coaches who could give me this opportunity.”
There has been some buzz that Oliver is projected to play safety for Colorado, but accordingly to him, nothing is concrete as of now with respect to where he'll be envisioned within the Buffs' defense.
In particular, knowing Maxie's penchant for developing human Swiss army knives within the defensive backfield, Oliver could be tried out at multiple positions, something he's not afraid of.
“I don’t want to finalize and say (coaches) have told me this or told me that, but I’ve heard I might play safety, maybe corner — they might have me as a hybrid type in the box and shifting — they’ve told me a lot of things," he said. "But I always tell people that I play the game of football. It doesn’t matter where it is. I’m an athlete and willing to play any position to do what I need to do to be successful on the team and help my guys out."
"I’m never going to be picky about where I play — as long as I get that chance to be on the field and play with the guys and have a good time and win games, that’s all I’m interested in.”
FIN
Have to say, Trustin was one of my favorite interviews I've done in recent memory. So much maturity, reflection, pride, joy — this man has been reshaped and forged anew via his unanticipated quest he embarked on to get his grades up and polish his game enough to where he could get another chance at his dream of playing D1 football.
Talk about someone with a chip on their shoulder. And as a bonus, when I first got on the phone with Trustin to thank him for his time (I initially had made contact with his mother, whose # I found thinking it was his...she eventually gave me Trustin's and within a few exchanged texts, agreed to hop on the phone). But he had this to say to me after I told him how much I appreciated him talking for a few minutes:
"It’s truly a blessing for (reporters) to want to reach out and want to do a story and stuff like that — that means a lot and it takes a lot of hard work from your standpoint, so I want to thank you for reaching out to me.”
Again — I think Oliver is a young man who has matured immensely over the last year and is seeing the firsthand results of what can happen when one takes a concentrated effort to better themselves.
Excited to see him on campus again and he's definitely a player that's easy to root for.
