James Cowser (born September 13, 1990) is a former

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

outside linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and typically line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and so back up the defensive linemen. They play closer to the lin ...

and current

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

coach. He is the

defensive end Defensive end (DE) is a defensive position in the sport of gridiron football. This position has designated the players at each end of the defensive line, but changes in formation (American football), formations over the years have substantially ...

s coach for

Weber State University Weber State University (pronounced ) is a public university in Ogden, Utah, United States. It was founded in 1889 as Weber Stake Academy and earned its current name in 1991. As of fall 2023, the student population reached 30,536 students, cons ...

, a position he has held since 2024. He played

Southern Utah Dixie is a nickname for the populated, lower-elevation area of south-central Washington County, the southwest corner of the State of Utah, bordering nearby Arizona to the south, and Nevada to the west. The area lies in the northeastern Mojave ...

. Cowser was Football Championship Subdivision Defensive Player of the Year (2015). He held the official NCAA all-time sack record (42.5) until it was broken by Division II Slippery Rock’s Marcus Martin (56) in 2017.

Professional career

Cowser signed with the

Oakland Raiders The Oakland Raiders were a professional American football team based in Oakland, California, from its founding in 1960 to 1981, and again from 1995 to 2019 before Oakland Raiders relocation to Las Vegas, relocating to the Las Vegas metropolitan ...

after going undrafted in the

2016 NFL draft The 2016 NFL draft was the 81st annual draft of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible American football players. As in 2015, the draft took place at the Auditorium Theatre and Grant Park in Chicago. The draft beg ...

. On September 3, 2016, he was waived/injured by the Raiders and placed on injured reserve. On September 10, he was released from the Raiders' injured reserve. He was signed to the practice squad on October 4, 2016. He was promoted to the active roster on November 26, 2016. On September 1, 2018, Cowser was waived by the Raiders. He was re-signed to the practice squad on October 22, 2018. He was promoted to the active roster on October 30, 2018. He was waived on November 5, 2018, and was re-signed to the practice squad. He was waived on November 13, 2018, and later re-signed to the practice squad. Cowser signed a reserve/future contract with the Raiders on January 1, 2019. He was waived during final roster cuts on August 30, 2019.

Coaching career

In the spring of 2021, Cowser joined

Weber State Weber State University (pronounced ) is a public university in Ogden, Utah, United States. It was founded in 1889 as Weber Stake Academy and earned its current name in 1991. As of fall 2023, the student population reached 30,536 students, cons ...

as a defensive assistant under head coach Jay Hill. Cowser was promoted to a full-time position of

s coach for the 2022 season. Following Hill's departure, Cowser joined Utah Tech as the

defensive line In gridiron football, a lineman is a player who specializes in play at the line of scrimmage. The linemen of the team currently in possession of the ball are the offensive line (OL), while linemen on the opposing team are the defensive line (D ...

coach and

tight end The tight end (TE) is an offense (sports), offensive position in American football, arena football, and Canadian football. It is a hybrid that combines the characteristics and roles of both an offensive lineman and a receiver (football), receiv ...

s coach under head coach

Paul Peterson Paul Joseph Peterson (born October 18, 1964), also known as St. Paul Peterson, is a singer and musician best known for his memberships in the bands The Family and The Time. Life and career Born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Peterson was the you ...

. Following Peterson's firing, Cowser returned to Weber State, again as the defensive ends coach, this time under head coach

Mickey Mental Michael Mental (born July 6, 1985) is an American college football coach and former player. He is the head football coach at Weber State University in Ogden, Utah, a position his had held since the 2023 season. Mental was a three-year starting ...

Personal life

Cowser served as a missionary for the

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a nontrinitarian restorationist Christian denomination and the largest denomination in the Latter Day Saint movement. Founded durin ...

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

and

Macau Macau or Macao is a special administrative regions of China, special administrative region of the People's Republic of China (PRC). With a population of about people and a land area of , it is the most List of countries and dependencies by p ...

from 2009 to 2011. Cowser is fluent in

Mandarin Chinese Mandarin ( ; zh, s=, t=, p=Guānhuà, l=Mandarin (bureaucrat), officials' speech) is the largest branch of the Sinitic languages. Mandarin varieties are spoken by 70 percent of all Chinese speakers over a large geographical area that stretch ...

and did an internship in NFL's China office in Shanghai.

References

External links

Weber State profile

Utah Tech profileSouthern Utah Thunderbirds bioOakland Raiders bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cowser, James 1990 births Living people American football defensive ends Oakland Raiders players Utah Tech Trailblazers football coaches Southern Utah Thunderbirds football players Weber State Wildcats football coaches 21st-century Mormon missionaries Coaches of American football from Utah Latter Day Saints from Utah People from Kaysville, Utah Players of American football from Davis County, Utah