URI Football’s Cole Brockwell is a Throwback Following in His Father’s Footsteps

University of Rhode Island linebacker Cole Brockwell is a throwback to a time when college football players spent their first two years learning and hoping to get on the field, their third season playing on special teams and perhaps as a backup, and their fourth, finally, as a starter.

But Brockwell is also a product of his time. He is in his sixth year with the Rams — thank you, redshirt and COVID bonus years. He already has a degree in finance and is finishing a three-semester MBA program.

Best of all, he is starting for the first time and playing like one of the best linebackers in the nation, which he is — second in the Coastal Athletic Association and 12th in the Football Championship Subdivision with 66 total tackles, 30 solo, and 9.4 tackles per game.

Cole is a throwback in another sense. He wears the same number, 39, plays the same position, is about the same size — 6 feet, 228 pounds — and is a team leader as his father Mark Brockwell was for the 1984 Yankee Conference champion Rams.

This story was reported by The Public’s Radio. You can read the entire story here.