Inside WR Isaiah Coulters unlikely journey from Rhode Island to the Texans -

The first time Rhode Island coaches were in the same place as their program’s lone NFL draft pick in more than three decades, they’d come for someone else.

Isaiah Coulter was more interested in basketball, anyway, and although he played football, he was a tight end in a triple option offense. His high school tape didn’t even include enough catches for a proper evaluation. But his older cousin Aaron Parker, the receiver whose home coaches had come to for a recruiting visit, insisted Coulter be on Rhode Island’s radar, too.

“He just looked like a natural athlete out there that we just needed to work with a little bit,” said Parker, who was a grade ahead of Coulter and identified his cousin’s speed when they were teenagers racing against kids in Maryland parks. “Now, his dreams turned into reality.”

But that new reality for Coulter — a fifth-round pick of the Texans, who are remaking their receiving corps — wasn’t in his sights at the time. According to his cousin, Coulter only began pursuing a football scholarship when a basketball one never materialized. On that day Rhode Island coaches came to visit Parker, Coulter wasn’t there trying to impress them. “He was just laying around the house,” Parker said.

Thanks to his pleading cousin, Coulter received instructions from Rhode Island coaches to come the school for a camp. Not yet a high school senior, Coulter logged a 4.51 40 time, the camp’s fastest. When players later alternated between offense and defense so coaches could scout them on both, then-Rhode Island receiver coach Ari Confesor turned to head coach Jim Fleming and said what they both knew: “He ain’t going on defense.”

Back in Maryland, Parker’s phone buzzed with a text from Confesor. Rhode Island planned to offer Coulter a scholarship, but Confesor figured his school wouldn’t be the only one — especially not once Coulter transferred out of that triple option offense and to Parker’s alma mater, Gwynn Park High School. With Coulter’s speed shining through in a more traditional receiver role during his senior year, other colleges emerged, including Maine, which made a late push. But as Parker put it, “if you’re going to come to the (Colonial Athletic Association), you might as well come with me.”

The two cousins are more like brothers. They spent summers camping together in West Virginia, where their grandmother lives, but to this point they’d never been teammates. For Coulter, navigating college football with the help of Parker, who’d already shined as a freshman at Rhode Island, was the clear choice.

“They would be supporting of each other, but also challenging of one another,” Fleming said. “If there was any kind of step off the gas by one another, they’d challenge each other to step their game back up.”

But really, Coulter was plenty motivated on his own. His brief taste of success as a high school receiver reset his priorities. He arrived on campus with a goal that would be lofty at Texas, let alone Rhode Island.

“He always told us, ‘I’m going to be three and out,’” Parker said. “Going to Rhode Island, the circumstances of being a (FCS school), I didn’t really believe.”

Why would he? The Rams hadn’t produced a NFL draft pick since 1986. Yet Coulter wouldn’t even need four seasons to reach the pros?

Odds seemed low, but Coulter’s speed was undeniable, and according to Confesor, he had “soft fingers” — no thumping when he caught a ball. He was immediately Rhode Island’s best receiver, coaches said. But being relatively new to the position, he needed time to develop a feel for it — how coverages affect releases at the line of scrimmage, and how route concepts play off one another.

Rhode Island incorporated Coulter into more of the playbook each year, and he displayed consistent improvement, finally exploding for 72 catches for 1,039 yards and eight touchdowns as a junior.

At 6-foot-2, 198 pounds, Coulter still struggled to make contested catches and break tackles, but his three-and-out vision appeared possible. In a loaded receiver draft, The Athletic’s Dane Brugler ranked him 22nd at the position, writing that Coulter “is a nifty athlete (who can) create before or after the catch and has yet to play his best football.”

Fleming, the Rhode Island head coach, thought Coulter would have benefitted from another collegiate season and a potential Senior Bowl invite. He was nervous when the receiver declared for the draft without knowing whether he’d have a spot in the combine. Coulter ultimately got his combine chance, though, and despite being called back twice, he logged a 4.45 40 — not in the 4.3s as his position coach predicted, but still plenty fast.

The Texans were interested and met Coulter at the combine. Fleming, who was Brown’s defensive coordinator when Bill O’Brien was a graduate assistant at the school, shared his praise for the prospect. With their intel, the Texans made Coulter the 25th receiver off the board.

“I know I’m coming from a smaller school and all, but I’m just ready to play,” Coulter said moments after he’d been drafted. “I feel like once you get on that level, you’ve got to prove yourself.”

In Will Fuller, Brandin Cooks and Kenny Stills, the Texans have multiple speedy veterans higher on the depth chart than Coulter, who played almost exclusively on the outside at Rhode Island. He might have to wait a year, until Fuller and Stills both might be gone, before he makes a real impact.

But that doesn’t sound so bad. Had Coulter stayed in school, the COVID-19 pandemic might have robbed him of a senior season. Instead, he is training in Maryland with Parker, who went undrafted but signed with the Cowboys.

The two cousins might never be teammates again, but they created three years worth of memories, including a big catch against Ohio by Parker, who was playing the slot. He said he’s “usually the one that’s out there getting gritty with people and blocking my ass off,” but on this play, Coulter sprung him free with a block and refused to shut up about it afterward.

It’d been years since Parker helped created an opportunity for Coulter at Rhode Island, and the younger cousin had, in at least one small way, finally repaid the favor.

(Photo by Michael Shroyer/Getty Images)

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