This story appears in the Aug. 13, 2018, issue of Sports Illustrated. For more great storytelling and in-depth analysis, subscribe to the magazine—and get up to 94% off the cover price. Click here for more.
College football’s best player stops talking when he hears them coming. He sets down a forkful of brisket and nods toward a group of teenagers on four-wheelers roaring down the street next to Burns Original BBQ. They’re tearing through Houston’s Acres Homes neighborhood, just like Ed Oliver used to when he was their age. Maybe in the evening, when it isn’t hotter than the blazes of hell, some of them might ride through again—on horseback, as people sometimes do in this neighborhood.