The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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NOVEMBER 2023 ❱ THE WOLVERINE 19 BY JOHN BORTON R o m a n W i l s o n c e r ta i n ly doesn't lack credentials in his fourth season wearing the winged helmet. Some- times it takes a single play to thrust someone fully onto the national stage, and Wilson made that climb in a jaw- dropping moment in Lincoln, Neb. The senior wide receiver leaped high in the back of the end zone, eyeing the incoming pass from junior quarterback J.J. McCarthy like a hawk scoping din- ner while in flight. Only one problem arose. The ball ze- roed in on the back of Nebraska corner- back Isaac Gifford's helmet as he raced toward the leaping Wilson. It looked like a certain deflection, at the very least, if not a tipped-ball in- terception. But Wilson wasn't having it. He hung in the air, reached over the top of Gifford, and took everything with him — the ball, the helmet, and Gif- ford's hapless head inside it. Wilson then instinctively jammed his foot down inside the end line as he returned to earth, making certain the catch counted. It did, and Wilson's week ahead suddenly became a whole lot busier. Interview requests poured in, and his cellphone lit up like Times Square on New Year's Eve. "The phone's definitely been blow- ing up this week, more than every other week," Wilson acknowledged in the days directly after his catch was seen coast to coast. "I just don't respond to people anymore. It's just getting to a point …" His voice trailed off, but the message couldn't be mistaken. He's got bigger fish to fry — or to seize on a penetrating plummet from above. The senior and his squad aren't look- ing to let anything get in their way. No distractions from the mission. No letup in taking opponents down, one after an- other. They hit the midway point of the sea- son at 7-0, ranked No. 2 in the nation, and storming toward the back half of a hoped-for historic campaign. If Wilson's 9 touchdown catches — tied for first in the nation seven weeks into the season — and highlight grabs, or McCarthy's second-best nationally completion percentage (78.2) help in that effort, great. But the numbers they most care about involve those that keep the zero on the right-hand side of the win-loss ledger. Still, Wilson left the sort of impres- sion that lingers, now and in the future. ANATOMY OF A HIGHLIGHT-REEL RECEPTION Wilson ran a seam route on the fate- ful TD grab. He wasn't McCarthy's first option on the play, but he flashed free — at least in the beginning. "I was kind of open at first, but I don't think he got through his progression," Wilson noted of McCarthy. "He was working his way back across the field. He threw the ball, and it was low and behind the defender a little bit." The veteran Wolverine receiver didn't care how catchable it appeared. After three-plus years and 84 receptions in a Michigan uniform, Wilson has learned to regard nothing as uncatchable. "I could see the ball clear as day, so I just went up and grabbed it," he said. "At the time, I didn't realize I was taking the dude down with me. I thought he was just tackling me, and I had the ball clean. It just happened." It just happened to make highlight reels everywhere. It also gave a new, multi-look wrinkle to an inside weekly honor at Schembechler Hall. "That was incredible," head coach Jim Harbaugh acknowledged. "It spurred an idea. When somebody makes a great play, for a player-of-the-game kind of thing, we do a picture in our team room. Now we're going to do a three-in-one collage. That play needs three differ- ent pictures, to show how really good it was." Senior offensive lineman Zak Zinter celebrated it on the field at the time. He didn't fully appreciate it until getting a second, third and fourth look later. ❱ Wilson, comparing the Wolverines' changes in mindset from his freshman season to his senior campaign "It's the difference between wanting this school to be really good at football and a desire, a need for it to be really good."