Football
- Title:
- Safeties
- Email:
- fbrecruiting@rice.edu
- Phone:
- 348-6900
Colin Spencer returns for his second season leading the Owls’ safeties. He was promoted to the position in the spring of 2021 after originally joining the Owls in February of 2018 as a defensive graduate assistant then moving into a defensive assistant's role in 2019.
His 2022 set of safeties will be led by sixth-year standout George Nykwol and 2021 standout Gabe Taylor. Nyakwol has been named to the East-West Shrine game preseason list and brings 41 games of experience to lead the defensive backfield. Taylor was named PFF’s C-USA Defensive Rookie of the Year and was named the C-USA Defensive Player of the Week for his standout effort in the Owls’ win at UAB.
Spencer joined the Rice staff after spending the previous two seasons as a defensive graduate assistant at the University of the Redlands in Redlands, California where he coached the cornerbacks. In 2016 Redlands won the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIA) title and in 2017, he coached senior Daniel Gonzalez to first team AFCA All-American honors. ` He lettered for two seasons at Redlands and was an All SCIAC performer as both a defensive back and punt returner as a senior in 2015. He began his playing career at Bakersfield College as a wide receiver in 2013.
He received his undergraduate degree in History from Redlands in 2016 and joined four of his teammates as members of the National Football Foundation's Hampshire Honor Society. He received his Master's in Higher Education from Redlands in 2018.
