Houston's star defensive tackle and likely high first-round draft pick Ed Oliver is expected to play in Friday's game at Memphis, according to ESPN. Oliver, an All-American, has been sidelined for the past month with a bruised knee he suffered in an Oct. 20 win at Navy. Officially, however, coach Major Applewhite is calling Oliver "day-to-day."
"It's just the same situation that we've had the last few weeks in terms of getting healthier every week, but he's still day-to-day," Applewhite said, via ESPN. "There have been practices in the last two to three weeks that he's been able to participate in. I wouldn't think that it would be bizarre if he was able to practice this week. Just gonna monitor and look at it day-to-day."
With Oliver considered one of the top overall prospects in the 2019 draft class according to the CBS Sports draft prospect rankings, there has been some question as to whether Oliver should play at all for the rest of the season. Houston's game against Memphis will determine the AAC West champion to play UCF the following week.
Oliver and Applewhite notably got into a heated argument during a Week 12 game against Tulane. Oliver was standing on the sideline wearing a jacket for cold weather games, which Applewhite asked him to remove as the jackets were reserved for active players. Oliver had to be restrained as he shouted at Applewhite while the team entered the locker room for halftime. The star defensive tackle did not return to the field for the second half. After the game, Applewhite and Oliver issued statements putting the incident behind them.
