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Head Coach Mike Jacobs and the Rockets will hold their 15th and final spring practice at the annual Spring Game this Saturday at noon at the Glass Bowl.
Photo by: Bree Bee
Q&A With Head Coach Mike Jacobs
4/16/2026 1:44:00 PM | Football
First-year Rocket leader encouraged by the progress of his team this spring
The Toledo Rockets will wrap up their spring practice season with an open practice at the Glass Bowl on Saturday, April 18 at noon, the last of 15 sessions over the past month. First-year Head Coach Mike Jacobs and his staff have worked to build a team from a combination of returning players and transfer portal class that was ranked No. 1 in the Mid-American Conference by 247 Sports in January. Jacobs shared his thoughts as his team concludes spring practice with the Spring Game this Saturday.
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What do you think of your team so far?
Jacobs: I've been encouraged by how they work. They've come out, they've competed. We felt like it would be a highly competitive offseason just because there are a lot of unknowns. How will we blend in the returning guys who were here but maybe hadn't played a ton with the new guys coming in? I've been encouraged by their work ethic and the competition level at practice.
You've been coaching for a long time, but maybe this situation is unique as you more or less build a team from scratch. Has this spring seemed different than what you've experienced before?
Jacobs:Â No, not really. Once we got into the practices and a bit of a weekly routine, it feels back to normal. The fact that there's no spring portal window where you're wondering how many of these guys are going to walk out the door, that's been great because we know that we can continue to build them.
What's been the advantage of having 14 players join you from Mercer?
Jacobs:Â I think the biggest thing is they provide an instant credibility to what we do. Those guys had other choices, and they chose to follow us to Toledo. They know how practice ebbs and flows. They know what's expected. They also know that what we do works and hopefully will lead to championships. They can reaffirm and echo those things in the locker room when there are questions.
What have you learned about your team this spring?
Jacobs:Â I know that they'll compete and be physical. We can't talk about wanting to be physical, we can't talk about wanting to run the football and stop the run and not be physical. We get after it pretty good in practice. Not in a way that we're putting anybody in jeopardy, but you've got to practice the way you want to play.
What are the advantages to having more contact during spring practice?
Jacobs:Â We have roughly 51 players that were retained but many of them didn't get a ton of playing time. We need to see what they can do and the only way to do that is to put them in stressful situations, the types of situations that we expect to see in a real game.
Do you have a list of certain things you always want to achieve in the spring?
Jacobs:Â I love spring football because there's no stress of a game plan. And as I said, there's no stress necessarily of a second portal window. It's all about, how good can we get day-to-day? Are we better today than we were yesterday? I think there's something that's really fun about that. It's the purest part of what we do as coaches and as players.
Most of your staff from Mercer joined you here. That has to help make things like spring practice smoother than if you had to hire a whole new staff, which sometimes happens to new coaches.
Jacobs:Â It's similar to the players (who came from Mercer), they understand how I function. They know what my neuroses are and things that are pressure points for me as a head coach. The coaches who weren't with us before, those guys know a lot about Toledo football, what it is and what it has been. I think there's an understanding and a recognition of what it means to be a Rocket.
Everyone wants to know about the competition at the quarterback position. You've got a guy who's played here before and been successful, John Alan Richter. I'm sure you've watched the film on him, but now that you've seen him live in practice what are your impressions of him?
Jacobs:Â One of the questions we got was why we didn't go out and get a big-name quarterback in the transfer portal. It's because we felt pretty good about John Alan's talent. He can make every throw in the offense. He's proven to be a tremendous leader. He's been really great for our program. There's been excellent competition in that quarterback room. Walter Moses has made huge strides. Khamoni Robinson does something special just about every day, whether it's with his feet or with his arm and just moving around in the pocket. I feel like that room's been very competitive. I think we can win with any of the guys in that room.
At running back, you brought a couple of guys with you from Mercer in CJ Miller and Autavius Ison.
Jacobs:Â Our running back room is arguably one of the deeper ones in the conference, top to bottom. CJ Miller is a guy that ran for just a hair under 1,000 yards for us last year at Mercer. He's a blend of size and speed. He's almost 235 pounds and hit 23 miles an hour on the GPS tracking. He had some Power 4 offers so we feel good about having him. He has looked good this spring. (Penn State transfer) Corey Smith has looked good this spring. (Redshirt freshman) Noah Sanders is somebody to keep an eye on. (Senior) Mike Drennen, too. Connor Walendzak is just Mr. Consistent. He does everything right and he's made some big plays this spring. Autavius Ison is ahead of schedule (coming off 2025 injury) and he'll be back in the fall.
How would you assess the battle at wide receiver?
Jacobs:Â I think it's similar to our running back room. There's a bunch of talented kids, and the guys with the most production are guys who have transferred in with Kalvin Gilbert Jr. from Southeast Missouri and Adjatay Dabbs from Mercer. Rico Bond was an all-conference receiver as a freshman at Lindenwood. And there are some guys who were on the roster who are getting a chance. (Sophomore) Tashi Braceful has been really impressive. (Junior) Bryson Hammer has done a really nice job as well. (Mercer transfer) Trenton Jones has shown up a bunch on film. There's a lot of depth, a lot of kids who can make plays. We're excited about what that group can be.
How about at tight end?
Jacobs:Â There wasn't a lot left in the tight end room when we got here. (Butler transfer) Ethan Malafa has been a guy that's shown up at the line of scrimmage. (Akron transfer) Jacob Newell's played a lot. He's a guy that has played quite a bit and practiced at a high level. (Senior) Sam Lee has stood out quite a bit. He had a big day in our situational scrimmage.
Unlike some of the other positions, the offensive line is one position where you do have some returning guys who have been productive here.
Jacobs:Â I do feel good about the offensive line. (Senior) Stephen Gales has played a lot of football and is a linchpin at left tackle. (Seniors) Ibrahim Traore and Jonathan Harder have played and started games for us. (Sophomore) Grant Zimmerly is the guy that's coming off injury. He's going to get back and be in the mix. Then there's been some great competition on the inside. Ahmad Carwise from Gardner-Webb has been really impressive at right guard, maybe been the most consistent out of anybody. (Gardner-Webb transfer) Luke Rector has showed up at center, as has (Auburn transfer) Dylan Senda. (Sophomore) Jake Grimm is a young man that's made tremendous strides throughout the course of the spring and has really come along here in the last few practices.
On the defensive side, who has been standing out on the D-line?
Jacobs:Â (Mercer transfer) Andrew Zock is the guy with all the accolades, and we continue to see from him what he put on film all last year. He's ultra consistent. He plays with a great motor. He's disruptive. I think (UAB transfer) Zach Johnson is the guy that's flashed a bunch. He's been big and physical and done a great job in the run game. I think we are a bit of a committee on the inside. (Junior) Lucas Lambert-Pipkin, (Mercer transfer) Caden Camese and (senior) Nathaniel Chandler are a group of guys on the inside that I feel pretty strongly about.
At linebacker?
Jacobs:Â (Mercer transfer) Julian Fox has been a guy that's repeatedly shown up and made plays in the situational scrimmages. Langston Long is a guy that has shown up, and Damon Ollison II has come out quite a bit too.
Who has been making an impression in the defensive backfield?
Jacobs:Â There weren't a lot of defensive backs left from last year's team, so that position has been wide open. At cornerback, (Robert Morris transfer) Israel Petite has stood out. He's a kid that's come in and proved that he can disrupt the football. Another guy that showed up quite a bit on tape is (redshirt freshman) Tyrell Russell. He's an extremely fast young man and has made some big plays. At safety, (Mercer transfer) Kaleb Hutchinson and (junior) Nicholas Thompson have stood out at different points in the spring. (Ohio Dominican transfer) Mo Conteh has also made some plays and done a nice job.
On special teams you've got a solid kicker in Reice Griffith, who came with you from Mercer.
Jacobs:Â Reice is a proven kicker who has been ultra-consistent and pounds it into the end zone on kickoffs. (Redshirt freshman) Anthony Ruggles has also proven to have a strong leg and has looked good. At punter we have (senior) Emilio Duran. He has been limited this spring (rehabbing from injury). Hunter Probst is a freshman who enrolled early who we feel strongly about. Markus Meincke from Germany is another young man who's got a big leg and just needs to work on his consistency. I feel good that there are three guys in that room who are pretty talented. At kickoff return, we've got a bunch of guys competing for that opportunity. (Junior) Bryson Hammer is back for us at punt return. He was an all-conference player last year.
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What do you think of your team so far?
Jacobs: I've been encouraged by how they work. They've come out, they've competed. We felt like it would be a highly competitive offseason just because there are a lot of unknowns. How will we blend in the returning guys who were here but maybe hadn't played a ton with the new guys coming in? I've been encouraged by their work ethic and the competition level at practice.
You've been coaching for a long time, but maybe this situation is unique as you more or less build a team from scratch. Has this spring seemed different than what you've experienced before?
Jacobs:Â No, not really. Once we got into the practices and a bit of a weekly routine, it feels back to normal. The fact that there's no spring portal window where you're wondering how many of these guys are going to walk out the door, that's been great because we know that we can continue to build them.
What's been the advantage of having 14 players join you from Mercer?
Jacobs:Â I think the biggest thing is they provide an instant credibility to what we do. Those guys had other choices, and they chose to follow us to Toledo. They know how practice ebbs and flows. They know what's expected. They also know that what we do works and hopefully will lead to championships. They can reaffirm and echo those things in the locker room when there are questions.
What have you learned about your team this spring?
Jacobs:Â I know that they'll compete and be physical. We can't talk about wanting to be physical, we can't talk about wanting to run the football and stop the run and not be physical. We get after it pretty good in practice. Not in a way that we're putting anybody in jeopardy, but you've got to practice the way you want to play.
What are the advantages to having more contact during spring practice?
Jacobs:Â We have roughly 51 players that were retained but many of them didn't get a ton of playing time. We need to see what they can do and the only way to do that is to put them in stressful situations, the types of situations that we expect to see in a real game.
Do you have a list of certain things you always want to achieve in the spring?
Jacobs:Â I love spring football because there's no stress of a game plan. And as I said, there's no stress necessarily of a second portal window. It's all about, how good can we get day-to-day? Are we better today than we were yesterday? I think there's something that's really fun about that. It's the purest part of what we do as coaches and as players.
Most of your staff from Mercer joined you here. That has to help make things like spring practice smoother than if you had to hire a whole new staff, which sometimes happens to new coaches.
Jacobs:Â It's similar to the players (who came from Mercer), they understand how I function. They know what my neuroses are and things that are pressure points for me as a head coach. The coaches who weren't with us before, those guys know a lot about Toledo football, what it is and what it has been. I think there's an understanding and a recognition of what it means to be a Rocket.
Everyone wants to know about the competition at the quarterback position. You've got a guy who's played here before and been successful, John Alan Richter. I'm sure you've watched the film on him, but now that you've seen him live in practice what are your impressions of him?
Jacobs:Â One of the questions we got was why we didn't go out and get a big-name quarterback in the transfer portal. It's because we felt pretty good about John Alan's talent. He can make every throw in the offense. He's proven to be a tremendous leader. He's been really great for our program. There's been excellent competition in that quarterback room. Walter Moses has made huge strides. Khamoni Robinson does something special just about every day, whether it's with his feet or with his arm and just moving around in the pocket. I feel like that room's been very competitive. I think we can win with any of the guys in that room.
At running back, you brought a couple of guys with you from Mercer in CJ Miller and Autavius Ison.
Jacobs:Â Our running back room is arguably one of the deeper ones in the conference, top to bottom. CJ Miller is a guy that ran for just a hair under 1,000 yards for us last year at Mercer. He's a blend of size and speed. He's almost 235 pounds and hit 23 miles an hour on the GPS tracking. He had some Power 4 offers so we feel good about having him. He has looked good this spring. (Penn State transfer) Corey Smith has looked good this spring. (Redshirt freshman) Noah Sanders is somebody to keep an eye on. (Senior) Mike Drennen, too. Connor Walendzak is just Mr. Consistent. He does everything right and he's made some big plays this spring. Autavius Ison is ahead of schedule (coming off 2025 injury) and he'll be back in the fall.
How would you assess the battle at wide receiver?
Jacobs:Â I think it's similar to our running back room. There's a bunch of talented kids, and the guys with the most production are guys who have transferred in with Kalvin Gilbert Jr. from Southeast Missouri and Adjatay Dabbs from Mercer. Rico Bond was an all-conference receiver as a freshman at Lindenwood. And there are some guys who were on the roster who are getting a chance. (Sophomore) Tashi Braceful has been really impressive. (Junior) Bryson Hammer has done a really nice job as well. (Mercer transfer) Trenton Jones has shown up a bunch on film. There's a lot of depth, a lot of kids who can make plays. We're excited about what that group can be.
How about at tight end?
Jacobs:Â There wasn't a lot left in the tight end room when we got here. (Butler transfer) Ethan Malafa has been a guy that's shown up at the line of scrimmage. (Akron transfer) Jacob Newell's played a lot. He's a guy that has played quite a bit and practiced at a high level. (Senior) Sam Lee has stood out quite a bit. He had a big day in our situational scrimmage.
Unlike some of the other positions, the offensive line is one position where you do have some returning guys who have been productive here.
Jacobs:Â I do feel good about the offensive line. (Senior) Stephen Gales has played a lot of football and is a linchpin at left tackle. (Seniors) Ibrahim Traore and Jonathan Harder have played and started games for us. (Sophomore) Grant Zimmerly is the guy that's coming off injury. He's going to get back and be in the mix. Then there's been some great competition on the inside. Ahmad Carwise from Gardner-Webb has been really impressive at right guard, maybe been the most consistent out of anybody. (Gardner-Webb transfer) Luke Rector has showed up at center, as has (Auburn transfer) Dylan Senda. (Sophomore) Jake Grimm is a young man that's made tremendous strides throughout the course of the spring and has really come along here in the last few practices.
On the defensive side, who has been standing out on the D-line?
Jacobs:Â (Mercer transfer) Andrew Zock is the guy with all the accolades, and we continue to see from him what he put on film all last year. He's ultra consistent. He plays with a great motor. He's disruptive. I think (UAB transfer) Zach Johnson is the guy that's flashed a bunch. He's been big and physical and done a great job in the run game. I think we are a bit of a committee on the inside. (Junior) Lucas Lambert-Pipkin, (Mercer transfer) Caden Camese and (senior) Nathaniel Chandler are a group of guys on the inside that I feel pretty strongly about.
At linebacker?
Jacobs:Â (Mercer transfer) Julian Fox has been a guy that's repeatedly shown up and made plays in the situational scrimmages. Langston Long is a guy that has shown up, and Damon Ollison II has come out quite a bit too.
Who has been making an impression in the defensive backfield?
Jacobs:Â There weren't a lot of defensive backs left from last year's team, so that position has been wide open. At cornerback, (Robert Morris transfer) Israel Petite has stood out. He's a kid that's come in and proved that he can disrupt the football. Another guy that showed up quite a bit on tape is (redshirt freshman) Tyrell Russell. He's an extremely fast young man and has made some big plays. At safety, (Mercer transfer) Kaleb Hutchinson and (junior) Nicholas Thompson have stood out at different points in the spring. (Ohio Dominican transfer) Mo Conteh has also made some plays and done a nice job.
On special teams you've got a solid kicker in Reice Griffith, who came with you from Mercer.
Jacobs:Â Reice is a proven kicker who has been ultra-consistent and pounds it into the end zone on kickoffs. (Redshirt freshman) Anthony Ruggles has also proven to have a strong leg and has looked good. At punter we have (senior) Emilio Duran. He has been limited this spring (rehabbing from injury). Hunter Probst is a freshman who enrolled early who we feel strongly about. Markus Meincke from Germany is another young man who's got a big leg and just needs to work on his consistency. I feel good that there are three guys in that room who are pretty talented. At kickoff return, we've got a bunch of guys competing for that opportunity. (Junior) Bryson Hammer is back for us at punt return. He was an all-conference player last year.
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