Running back finds inspiration in his dad, his coaches and his supporters
It could have been a very different life for Husky Football’s Jonah Coleman.
Growing up in Stockton, Calif., a city beset by poverty and crime, Jonah and his nine brothers and sisters learned to appreciate the little they had. A pair of shoes for Christmas. A roof over their heads. Food on the table. The hard life drove some of his siblings into gangs. But Jonah’s father saw a way out for his son.
“Dad started taking me to the park to play football when I was 7 or 8,” Jonah remembers. “He saw the potential of football for me and encouraged me to see how far I could go with it. He straightened himself out first to give me something to believe in. Then he made sure I was always staying on track in school.”
It worked. Jonah became the first person in his family to attend college when he earned a scholarship to the University of Arizona. When Head Coach Jedd Fisch left Arizona for the UW in 2024, Jonah was the first to follow him.
Jonah boasts a 3.93 GPA, is majoring in Education Studies: Sports and Education, and hopes to coach when his playing days end.
“It’s all about the student-athletes. Everyone here wants to put us in the best possible position to succeed.”
Robust academic support has played a huge role in student-athlete success off the field. Last season’s team earned one of the highest average GPAs in program history, and Jonah has the highest cumulative undergraduate GPA on the entire team.
He says academic staff “are fully committed to helping us,” especially with the new challenges of coast-to-coast travel and time zone fatigue.
The newly renovated, donor-funded Husky Football facility has been a game changer for Jonah and his teammates as they prepare for the rigors of Big Ten play.
“Everyone is maxing out everything — the new recovery room, new weight room, new equipment in the training room. Any injury is taken care of. Every stat on our performance is going up. We now have one of the best facilities in the country. We recognize it. Recruits do too.”
“We all know that it’s the donors behind the scenes who make this all possible,” Jonah says. “I’m grateful for everything I’m given.”
A star on the field and in the classroom
Recently, Football’s Jonah Coleman was named a finalist for the 2025 William V. Campbell Trophy, widely known as the “Academic Heisman.” With a 3.93 GPA in Education Studies: Sports and Education — a degree he will complete this December — Jonah is one of just 16 national finalists and one of only two representatives from the Big Ten Conference.
