INDIANAPOLIS — Jonah Coleman got his first set of grills in high school, his teeth covered by 18-karat gold, and he’s been wearing them during games ever since. Prior to his sophomore season at Arizona, Coleman upgraded to the VVS diamonds he flashed during his appearance at Thursday’s Big Ten Media Days.
“I wasn’t sure if I was going to wear the diamonds (to play) when I got ‘em,” he said. “Then I was like, ‘YOLO.’
“It’s just part of the drip, part of the swagger, part of me.”
So is the gleaming chain around his neck, purchased this offseason in Atlanta to denote his new jersey number — No. 1 — at his new school, where Coleman already has established as one of the Huskies’ most important players and personalities.
New coach Jedd Fisch recruited Coleman out of Stockton (Calif.) Lincoln as part of the Wildcats’ big-time 2022 class. Actually, Coleman committed all the way back in March of 2021, prior to Fisch’s first season in Tucson, which Arizona finished with a 1-11 record. They go back. That connection — plus Coleman’s relationship with running backs coach Scottie Graham, whom he refers to as “one of the smartest people I know” — is why Coleman became the first Arizona player to follow the coaching staff after Fisch’s move to Washington.
It’s also part of why Coleman was in Indianapolis this week as UW’s lone offensive representative. Fisch wanted to bring linebacker Carson Bruener and safety Kam Fabiculanan for their connection to the program’s past. He brought Coleman, he said, because the junior tailback would best explain how Arizona improved to 10-3 by Fisch’s third season there, “and why’d we all come here, and why did he pick up and come first.”
