University of Massachusets Athletics
Cobbs Receives Coca-Cola Gold Helmet
November 26, 2002 | Football
Nov. 26, 2002
BOSTON, Mass. - Redshirt freshman tailback R.J. Cobbs (Parsippany Hills, N.J.), a member of the University of Massachusetts football team, has been awarded the Coca-Cola Gold Helmet Award, as the top player in Division I player in New England, for games of Nov. 23. The Gold Helmet Award is voted on by the New England Football Writers Association. Earlier this week, Cobbs was also honored as the Atlantic 10 Conference Rookie of the Week.
Cobbs had an outstanding game on Saturday, in UMass' 48-21 victory at Rhode Island. He rushed for a career high 187 yards and five touchdowns on 30 carries against the Rams, to tie the Atlantic 10 single game record of five rushing touchdowns. Cobbs also tied the UMass single game records for rushing touchdowns (five), touchdowns scored (five) and points scored (30). In addition, he caught three passes for 14 yards, to finish the day with 201 all-purpose yards.
Cobbs concludes the 2002 season with 1,067 rushing yards and 14 touchdowns on 192 carries. With that performance, he recorded the third highest rushing total in Atlantic 10 history by a freshman, behind only Connecticut's Tory Taylor (1,262 yards and six touchdowns on 208 carries in 1995) and New Hampshire's Jerry Azumah (1,105 yards and eight touchdowns on 186 carries in 1995).
UMass finished the 2002 season with an overall record of 8-4, and placed third in the Atlantic 10 with a 6-3 record.
