Richard Owens (born November 4, 1980) 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 ...

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 ...

. The

Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. The Vikings compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. Founded in 1960 as ...

acquired him as an

undrafted free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player or manager who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under a contract at present ...

in 2004. He played

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 ...

Louisville Louisville is the most populous city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, sixth-most populous city in the Southeast, and the 27th-most-populous city in the United States. By land area, it is the country's 24th-largest city; however, by populatio ...

. Owens was also a member of the

St. Louis Rams The St. Louis Rams were a professional American football team of the National Football League (NFL). They played in St. Louis, Missouri, from 1995 through the 2015 season, before moving back to Los Angeles, California, where the team had played ...

and

New York Jets The New York Jets are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Jets compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East division. The team p ...

Early years

As a defensive lineman at Middleburg High School, Owens was a first-team All-Area tight end and second-team All-Area. Owens caught 19 passes for 242 yards and recorded 46 tackles and four sacks as a senior, as well as averaging 14 yards per catch, had 51 tackles, three sacks and four blocked kicks as a junior. He was selected to athletic director's honor roll in his final two years. In 2006, Owens' high school number was retired before a Middleburg High School football game.

College career

While majoring in sports administration at the

University of Louisville The University of Louisville (UofL) is a public university, public research university in Louisville, Kentucky, United States. It is part of the Kentucky state university system. Chartered in 1798 as the Jefferson Seminary, it became in the 19t ...

, Owens played under former Vikings offensive coordinator

Scott Linehan Scott Thomas Linehan (born September 17, 1963) is an American football coach who serves as a senior offensive assistant for the New Orleans Saints of the National Football League (NFL). He recently was an offensive analyst at Montana. He was the ...

. In 1999, he was

redshirted Redshirt, in United States college athletics, is a delay or suspension of an athlete's participation in order to lengthen their period of eligibility. Typically, a student's athletic eligibility in a given sport is four seasons, aligning with the ...

as a freshman. The following year, Owens played in all 12 games, starting three. He was selected to Conference USA All-Freshman Team. Although he had just one catch, it went for a 10-yard touchdown in a shutout win over

Grambling Grambling State University (GSU, Grambling, or Grambling State) is a public historically black university in Grambling, Louisiana, United States. Grambling State is home of the Eddie G. Robinson Museum and is listed on the Louisiana African A ...

He also served as the team's backup longsnapper. In 2001, he played in thirteen games, and had three catches on the season, two of which went for touchdowns, including a nine-yard touchdown pass against Southern Miss and a 22-yarder against

TCU TCU may stand for: Education * Tanzania Commission for Universities, regulatory body for Universities in Tanzania * Texas Christian University, a private university in Fort Worth, Texas ** TCU Horned Frogs, the athletic programs of the school * Tok ...

. In 2002, Owens appeared in all thirteen games with starts in six of the last seven games. He was ranked sixth on the team with a career-high 20 catches for 182 yards and two touchdowns. He caught a career-high six balls for 72 yards and a score against TCU in his first start of the season, and had five catches for 39 yards against

Marshall University Marshall University is a public university, public research university in Huntington, West Virginia, United States. It was founded in 1837 and is named after John Marshall, the fourth Chief Justice of the United States, chief justice of the Uni ...

in the GMAC Bowl. In his senior year, he played in all thirteen games with four starts and finished seventh on the team with twelve catches for 121 yards and three touchdowns. Against

Temple A temple (from the Latin ) is a place of worship, a building used for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. By convention, the specially built places of worship of some religions are commonly called "temples" in Engli ...

, he caught two passes for twelve yards and a touchdown. He also had two receptions for 23 yards and a touchdown at

South Florida South Florida, sometimes colloquially shortened to SoFlo, is the Regions of the United States#Florida, southernmost region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is one of Florida's three most commonly referred to directional regions; the two others are ...

as well as grabbing two catches for 22 yards vs.

Tulane The Tulane University of Louisiana (commonly referred to as Tulane University) is a private research university in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. Founded as the Medical College of Louisiana in 1834 by a cohort of medical doctors, it be ...

. He also recorded a seven-yard touchdown reception at

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...

. Owens finished his career with 36 catches for 371 yards and eight touchdowns, while also serving as the Cardinals' long snapper.

Professional career

Minnesota Vikings

In his three-year career, he accumulated 16 catches for 123 yards and one touchdown. In 2004, Owens started two of the eight games he played in. He caught eight passes for 69 yards and made three special teams tackles. He joined

defensive tackle A defensive tackle (DT) is a position in American football that typically lines up on the line of scrimmage, opposite one of the Guard (American football), offensive guards; however, he may also line up opposite one of the offensive Tackle (gridir ...

Spencer Johnson and

long snapper In gridiron football, the long snapper (or deep snapper) is a Center (gridiron football), center on American football positions#Special teams, special teams whose duty is to Snap (gridiron football), snap the football over a longer distance, ty ...

Cullen Loeffler as the only rookie free agents to make the opening-day roster in 2004 and was one of eight Vikings rookies to start a 2004 regular-season game. Owens joined LS Cullen Loeffler in a game vs.

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

, opening at halfback and catching two passes for 16 yards. At

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

, he started his second consecutive game, catching three passes for 17 yards in the 36–28 overtime win. In week two of the 2006 season, Owens caught a 16-yard touchdown pass, his first career touchdown, on a fake field goal attempt, thrown by Vikings kicker

Ryan Longwell Ryan Walker Longwell (born August 16, 1974Ryan Longwell
NFLPA.com. Retrieved November 22, 2014.< ...

. On his way to the endzone, Owens dodged an attempted tackle by

Carolina Panthers The Carolina Panthers are a professional American football team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Panthers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC South, South division. The t ...

defensive end

Julius Peppers Julius Frazier Peppers (born January 18, 1980) is an American former professional football player who was a defensive end and linebacker in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the North Carolina Tar Heels, where he ...

. The Vikings won the game 16–13 in overtime.

New York Jets

Owens signed with the

on July 14, 2009, and was waived on August 3, 2009.

Coaching career

Following his playing career in the NFL, Owens joined

Bobby Petrino Robert Patrick Petrino (born March 10, 1961) is an American college football coach who is the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at the University of Arkansas. He served as the head football coach at Missouri State from 2020 to 2022. P ...

's staff at the

University of Arkansas The University of Arkansas (U of A, UArk, or UA) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Fayetteville, Arkansas, United States. It is the Flagship campus, flagship campus of the University of Arkan ...

prior to the 2010 season. Owens had previously played for Petrino while at Louisville. He spent two years as a

graduate assistant A graduate assistant serves in a support role at a university, usually while completing post-graduate education. The assistant typically helps professors with instructional responsibilities as teaching assistants or with academic research resp ...

working with the tight ends. In 2012, Owens was hired by Garrick McGee to serve as tight ends coach at the

University of Alabama at Birmingham The University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) is a public research university in Birmingham, Alabama, United States. Founded in 1969 and part of the University of Alabama System, UAB has grown to be the state's largest employer, with more than ...

. After one season, Owens was promoted to

offensive coordinator An offensive coordinator (OC) is a Coach (sport), coach responsible for a gridiron football team's offense (American football), offense. Generally, the offensive coordinator, defensive coordinator and special teams coordinator represent the second ...

and wide receivers coach. In 2014, he reverted to tight ends coach for one season. In 2015, Owens was hired by the

University of South Alabama The University of South Alabama (USA) is a public research university in Mobile, Alabama, United States. It was created by the Alabama Legislature in May 1963 and replaced existing extension programs operated in Mobile by the University of Alaba ...

as the tight ends coach before being promoted to

offensive 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 ( ...

coach for 2016 and 2017. In 2018, Owens was hired by

as the tight ends coach. Following one season with Louisville, Owens rejoined UAB as the offensive line coach in 2019. He maintained the position for three years. In 2022, Owens was hired by

Georgia Southern University Georgia Southern University (informally known as Southern or Georgia Southern) is a public university, public research university in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. The largest campus is in Statesboro, Georgia, Statesboro, with ...

as the offensive line coach and run game coordinator. In 2023, Owens began his second stint with Louisville as the offensive line coach.

Personal

He is married to his high school girlfriend, Tina. Owens volunteered with the

Salvation Army The Salvation Army (TSA) is a Protestantism, Protestant Christian church and an international charitable organisation headquartered in London, England. It is aligned with the Wesleyan-Holiness movement. The organisation reports a worldwide m ...

during 2004 season and has earned numerous state and national awards for his work with

Toys for Tots Toys for Tots is a program run by the United States Marine Corps Reserve which distributes toys to children whose parents cannot afford to buy them gifts for Christmas. It was founded in 1947 by reservist Major Bill Hendricks. The Marine T ...

Habitat for Humanity Habitat for Humanity International (HFHI), generally referred to as Habitat for Humanity or Habitat, is a U.S. non-governmental, and tax-exempt 501(C)(3) Christian nonprofit organization which seeks to build affordable housing. The international ...

, and FHA/HERO.

References

External links

Louisville profile

Georgia Southern profile

UAB profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Owens, Richard 1980 births Living people American football tight ends Arkansas Razorbacks football coaches Georgia Southern Eagles football coaches Louisville Cardinals football coaches Louisville Cardinals football players Minnesota Vikings players New York Jets players South Alabama Jaguars football coaches St. Louis Rams players UAB Blazers football coaches Coaches of American football from Florida People from Middleburg, Florida Sportspeople from Clay County, Florida Players of American football from Florida