CADILLAC — The Michigan Wolverines are making their final preparations this weekend for Monday’s National Championship game.
Michigan is led in part by wide receiver Roman Wilson.
And Wilson’s mom, Colleen, is a St. Ignace native.
Colleen Colegrove has had a front row seat to watch her son Roman go from the football fields of Hawaii, to the Rose Bowl, and now the College Football National Championship.
There are few bonds in this world stronger than that between a mother and son.
For St. Ignace native Colleen Colegrove, the bond with her son, Wolverine’s star wide out Roman Wilson has always centered on the game of football.
“He was always like going to class. And then he’d be studying game film and putting time in the weight room. It was just what he did and they had a very successful program there. They only lost one game his whole high school time,” said Colegrove.
Roman arrived on the U of M campus in 2020, a season where the wolverines won just two games in a COVID shortened campaign.
“So to come there and have that horrible year, I think it was a good motivator to make them turn that program around and from now to be, you know, winning the Rose Bowl, going to the national championship is just like, pinch me. I think I need a wake up, feel like it’s like a movie. I’m like, I can’t believe it,” said Colleen.
Fast forward four years, and the Wolverines find themselves playing for their first national title since 1997 after an overtime Rose Bowl win, with Wilson making two of the biggest catches of the game.
“We were like really shocked like how high he jumped up to catch that ball. He came through. He always seemed to do well in big games and clutch situations. And it was nice. It was right there in front of us. It was so exciting,” said Colegrove.
A bond between a mother, and her son, ready for one more ride, on college football’s biggest stage.
“It’s great to see Roman meeting is of dreams. This whole experience with Michigan Football has been just amazing. It’s gone by way too fast. Like it’s very bittersweet to see that Roman could graduate and move on at this point and, you know, to realize like he made it to where he wants to be is just surreal,” said Colleen.
Colleen will be at NRG Stadium when the Wolverines take on the Washington Huskies, and she says she has a lot of people, including plenty in St. Ignace, cheering on Roman.
