Branden Oliver

Branden Oliver

refer to caption

Oliver playing for Buffalo in 2013.
No. 43 San Diego Chargers
Position: Running back
Personal information
Date of birth: (1991-05-07) May 7, 1991
Place of birth: Miami, Florida
Height: 5 ft 7 in (1.70 m)
Weight: 208 lb (94 kg)
Career information
High school: Miami (FL) Southridge
College: Buffalo
Undrafted: 2014
Career history
 * Offseason and/or practice squad member only
Roster status: Active
Career highlights and awards
Career NFL statistics as of 2015
Rushing attempts: 191
Rushing yards: 690
Rushing touchdowns: 3
Receptions: 49
Receiving yards: 383
Receiving touchdowns: 1
Player stats at NFL.com

Branden Oliver (born May 7, 1991) is an American football running back for the San Diego Chargers of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Buffalo.

Early years

Oliver was born in Miami, Florida and attended Miami Southridge High School, where he played football and ran track.[1] At Southridge, Oliver was a two-time captain and two time letter winner for head coach Rodney Hunter. As a senior, he rushed for 1,159 yards on 194 carries (6.0 ypc) and scored 15 touchdowns, and also had three catches for 61 yards and a score. He was selected to play in the North Florida vs. South Florida All-Star Classic and the Dade vs. Broward All-Star Game. Oliver has said that growing up in the competitive football environment of South Florida motivated him to perform to his full potential for fear of being overlooked. Buffalo was the only school to offer him a football scholarship out of high school.[2]

In track & field, Oliver competed in sprinting, jumping and even throwing events. In sprints, he recorded a PR of 11.26 seconds in the 100-meter dash at the 2009 Sam Burley Hall of Fame Meet, where he placed 11th.[3] In jumps, he cleared 13.5 meters in the triple jump. He was also a member of the 4x100m (42.81s) relay squad.[4]

College career

Oliver played college football at the State University of New York at Buffalo from 2010 to 2013.[5] He set the school record for career rushing yards, breaking a record previously held by James Starks.[6] Starks had predicted that Oliver would break his record in 2009 when Starks was a senior and Oliver was still in his redshirt year.[2] He ended his career with 4,094 career rushing yards and 33 rushing touchdowns.

2010 season

Oliver earned the starting running back job as a redshirt-freshman during the preseason. His season high rushing performance came in a road loss against the Baylor Bears in September.[7]

2011 season

He finished his sophomore season gaining 1,395 yards and scoring 13 touchdowns on 306 carries. Oliver also caught the ball 38 times for 365 yards and no touchdowns. On October 8, the Bulls tailback gained 179 rushing yards and 43 receiving (221 total). He also scored 3 times in a 38–37 win over the Ohio Bobcats. On November 19, Oliver ran 29 times, totaling a career high 235 yards in a 51–10 win over the Akron Zips. In the final game of the season, Buffalo lost to the Bowling Green Falcons 42–28. However, Oliver surpassed NFL running back James Starks for the Bulls single season record for most carries, rushing yards and all-purpose yards.[8] He also became the first Bulls running back to gain at least 100 yards eight times in a season.[8]

Prior to the 2012 season, Oliver was named to the Doak Walker Watch List, the Walter Camp Watch List, and Maxwell Award Watch List.

2012 season

Oliver suffered a grade-two MCL tear in a game against Kent State which caused him to miss five games and hindered him for four other games in the 2012 season.[2] He was only able to gain 821 yards on 148 carries. Buffalo lost four of the five games he missed and ended the season with a 4–8 record. In a 56–34 win over the Morgan State Bears, Oliver rushed for 238 yards on 25 carries and 2 touchdowns.

2013 season

Oliver ran for 216 yards and a touchdown in a 32–3 victory over UMass. He rushed for 185 yards on 31 carries and a career best 4 touchdowns in a 41–21 win over Kent State. He also rushed for 249 yards and 2 touchdowns to lead Buffalo to a 30–3 victory over the Ohio Bobcats. He finished the season with 1535 rushing yards, 15 rushing touchdowns, while averaging 5.0 yards a carry. The Buffalo Bulls finished the year with an 8–5 record and a bowl berth to the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl.

Records

Buffalo career records

Professional career

Pre-draft

Pre-draft measurables
Ht Wt 40-yd dash 10-yd split 20-yd split 20-ss 3-cone Vert Broad BP
5 ft 7 in 208 lb 4.62 s 1.56 s 2.63 s 4.22 s 7.04 s 33.5 in 9 ft 9 in 26 reps
All values from University at Buffalo Pro Day[9]

San Diego Chargers

After Oliver went undrafted in the 2014 NFL Draft, he agreed to a three-year contract with the San Diego Chargers.[10]

2014 season

On September 21, 2014 against the Buffalo Bills, Oliver recorded his first stats running for 11 yards on 3 carries.[11] On October 5, 2014, he had 19 carries for 114 yards and 1 rushing touchdown and 4 receptions for 68 yards and a receiving touchdown against the New York Jets, who had the number one rushing defense in the league coming into the game.[12] During the Jets game Donald Brown the starting running back of the Chargers at that time suffered a concussion, resulting in Branden Oliver starting for the week six match up versus the Oakland Raiders. At the Raiders game Oliver had another great game, rushing again for over 100 yards and scoring the last minute one-yard touchdown to help win the game. In week seven, against the Kansas City Chiefs, he ran for 67 yards on 15 attempts. Four days later the Chargers played the Denver Broncos where Oliver struggled to get the run game going, rushing for only 36 yards. In the comeback win against the 49ers Oliver ran 53 yards. In the last game Oliver ran 71 yards and scored a touchdown against the Chiefs. Oliver finishes the season leading all Chargers running backs, running 582 yards in a 160 attempts, scoring 3 rushing touchdowns, and 1 receiving touchdown.

Personal

His parents are Edwin Oliver and Alena Lee. Though he is the cousin of former NFL wide receiver Roscoe Parrish, he has attempted to but never been able to establish contact with him.[1][2] Oliver is also a fervent Miami Heat fan and devout Christian - he points to the sky after touchdowns as a gesture to God.[2] He is commonly referred to by the nicknames "Bo," "B.O." and "BoDozer."[2][13] During the 2015 spring semester, Oliver returned to Buffalo to complete his bachelor's degree in sociology.[14]

References

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Thursday, March 10, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.