Inside The Huskies

Taking Stock of Senior Bowl-Bound Jonah Coleman's Football Career

The hard-running back finished with more than 3,000 yards in four seasons at the UW and Arizona.
Dan Raley|
Jonah Coleman gets free on a 25-yard run against Boise State.
Jonah Coleman gets free on a 25-yard run against Boise State. | Dave Sizer photo

Rightly so, Jonah Coleman's final carry as a University of Washington running back was a 6-yard touchdown scamper against Boise State with 10:46 left in the LA Bowl, which was won by the Huskies 38-10.

Once he reached the end zone, Coleman received enthusiastic and congratulatory chest bumps from wide receivers Dezmen Roebuck and Denzel Boston, with everyone fully aware of what this compact ball-carrier meant to the UW.

With that elusive fourth-quarter run, the 5-foot-9, 220-pound senior from Stockton, California, closed out his college career with 552 carries for 3,054 yards for a 5.5 per carry average and he scored 37 touchdowns overall at Arizona and the UW, a highly productive showing for sure.

His 12-carry, 85-yard rushing effort in the LA Bowl pushed him over the 3,000-yard marker.

On Tuesday, Coleman, who fought through a late-season knee injury to finish up strong, began the next chapter in his football career by accepting a Senior Bowl invitation, which means he will accompany senior cornerback Ephesians Prysock to the Jan. 31 game in Mobile, Alabama.

Dezmen Roebuck (81) and Denzel Boston (12) sandwich Jonah Coleman at the LA Bowl after he scored.
Dezmen Roebuck (81) and Denzel Boston (12) sandwich Jonah Coleman at the LA Bowl after he scored. | Dave Sizer photo

Their involvement offers proof of the positive direction of the UW rebuild, with Coleman and Prysock the first Huskies in three seasons to participate in what arguably is the most important college all-star game, considering the number of NFL scouts who turn it into a job fair.

These Huskies are two of 77 players to accept invitations, with former UW wide receiver Germie Bernard, who is finishing up at Alabama, another with Montlake ties to RSVP.

If asked to show his complete resume, Coleman can reveal that he played in 50 games for the UW and Arizona combined and started 29 of them.

In each of the last three seasons, he was named All-Big Ten honorable mention, All-Big Ten third team and All-Pac-12 honorable mention, not to mention becoming a UW captain.

Coleman finished with nine 100-yard rushing games, with his 11-carry, 179-yard outburst for Arizona against Colorado his personal best and his 24-carry, 177-yard effort against Colorado State his Husky high-water mark.

Jonah Coleman makes his final carry a touchdown for the UW.
Jonah Coleman makes his final carry a touchdown for the UW. | Dave Sizer photo

For each of his schools, he cracked 100 yards rushing against vaunted USC, going for 143 yards against the Trojans for Arizona and for 104 for the Huskies.

So versatile, he caught 87 passes for 838 yards and 2 TDs in Tucson and Montlake.

For good measure, Coleman logged a tackle at Arizona.

In each of his four seasons, he had long runs of 43, 69, 59 and 64 yards, and came up with a career-long catch of 69 yards for the Huskies.

Now it's time to find an NFL home.

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Dan Raley
DAN RALEY

Dan Raley has worked for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, as well as for MSN.com and Boeing, the latter as a global aerospace writer. His sportswriting career spans four decades and he's covered University of Washington football and basketball during much of that time. In a working capacity, he's been to the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals, the MLB playoffs, the Masters, the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship and countless Final Fours and bowl games.

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