Rice Keeps Football Players Fueled, One Gummy Worm at a Time

An Owls strength and conditioning intern went viral in a video for handing out the sweet treat during a game, but the thought process behind the sideline snack is much deeper than it seems.

They say not all heroes wear capes.

That’s the case with Daniel Domian, a strength and conditioning intern for Rice. He wears a hat, sunglasses and a black glove on one hand with a plastic bag full of gummy worms in the other. He is Rice football’s gummy worm guy, and he keeps the Owls refueled during games—one small confectionery treat at a time.

Some say he has the most important job in football… #GummyWormGuy @BussinWTB pic.twitter.com/ATx094ppHy

— Aaron Smith (@Aaron_Smith95) October 19, 2023

Domian finished his postgame duties after the Owls played Tulsa in Week 8 and headed to the team bus to travel back home when he got a text that he was famous. He looked down at his phone to see he was blowing up.

“O.K, that’s kind of funny, a couple thousand views, and then we go to the airport like ‘Oh, the views keep climbing, O.K, that’s kind of cool.’ And then like two more angles pop up, like ‘This is a little weird,’” Domian said. “Then we get on the plane, we touch down back in Houston, and it’s up to like 15 or 30K views at that point. This is really weird, but I’m not saying no. It’s funny. It just kept kind of going from there as the days went on, you know?”

Barstool picked it up—so did ESPN—and pretty quickly, Domian was at the center of a viral hit for something he’d been doing all season. All it took was one fan with a camera to send him worldwide.

The video had the perfect mix for virality. Domian doesn’t look like he really belongs on a sideline, and you’re certainly not expecting to see someone handing out gummy worms midgame. But he’s indispensable when it comes to keeping the Owls fueled as the heat can sap their energy.

There is a history of sweet treats on college football sidelines. A few years ago, chocolate milk had its moment as a recovery drink du jour after workouts. But in game, the gummy worms help solve a few problems for the Owls. The balance was finding something that gave enough nutritional value but that the players would actually like to eat. Coordinator of nutrition Morgan Cote challenged the Rice strength staff to find something to help with taste fatigue. They were getting turned down by players who didn’t want applesauce or normal fruit snacks. What good is something, even if it has nutritional value, if the players don’t want to eat it?

After cycling through plenty of options, the program found its answer in sour gummy worms and have, as head of strength and conditioning Hans Straub said, made Costco very wealthy.

“It’s easy to break down in the blood system and the bloodstream and get it to where it needs to go and elevate blood sugar levels. It’s the same reason why we don’t give it to our kids before bed. … All hyped up, jazzed up. But it’s just, I mean, it could really be anything of any kind of simple sugar gummy,” Straub said. “That’s what we were using for snacks early on because they’re palatable but they’re also using the stomach. You’re not gonna get, like, gastric distress from eating a handful of gummies. Honey Stinger makes a gummy, but it’s insanely expensive. And for us, it was like we’re buying multiples of this product, how can we be cost-efficient with our budget and also get the same performance back from it?”

Domian has a system. Offensive linemen will get three or four at a time, especially after long drives, in addition to an applesauce or a pickle juice shot—the common cure for cramping on the sidelines. A running back may get only two. He won’t load up players who are just sitting and not getting much play time. Even coach Mike Bloomgren has been known to have a gummy or two. Other strength coaches around the country have caught on and reached out to Straub to see how the system works.

“He’s the Gummy Guy” 🪱

Just A Typical Practice for our #GummyWormGuy 🍬 pic.twitter.com/700F3tTuRP

— Rice Football (@RiceFootball) October 24, 2023

Initially, Domian was ripping packets individually, dumping out hundreds of the small bags into his massive Ziploc. But that’s set to change this week.

For this weekend’s game, Trolli, which produces the common sour gummy worms you’d buy at the grocery store, is sending more than 2200 ounces, or approximately 137 pounds, of worms so Domian doesn’t run out Saturday against Tulane. For the remainder of the season, the brand is planning to send another 1100 ounces, or approximately 68 pounds, of worms. The first 2,000 students at the game Saturday will also get free worms. Domian will also get a duffel bag to carry them in and a hat to wear so he’s easily identifiable.

Trolli hooked up Domian with merch for Rice’s next game / Courtesy Ferrara Candy Company

“He’s an inspiration and a hero to all of wormkind—every team should have a Trolli Worm Guy on the sidelines and every fan should have a Trolli Worm Guy in their living room,” Ferrara Candy Company senior director of media, content and PR Brian Camen tells Sports Illustrated.

It’s safe to say there’s no danger of the worm guy running out of his supply any time soon.