Badgers' Breakout WR Malachi Coleman Opens Up About What Held Him Back at Past Schools

Coleman has always had the talent — and he's putting it all together in Madison.

Wisconsin Badgers wide receiver Malachi Coleman. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Wisconsin senior wide receiver Malachi Coleman is an impressive young man.

He's quite an impressive football player, too. The former consensus top-60 recruit in the country has always oozed talent. At 6-5 and with serious wiggle and legit wheels, he's the kind of wide receiver you design in a lab.

Through the first three years of his career, however, all of those physical gifts were largely for naught. Through two seasons at Nebraska and one season at Minnesota, Coleman totaled 13 catches for 222 yards and one touchdown. He made a small impact at both schools, but never became a staple of either offense.

In Week 1 against No. 4 Notre Dame, his first game with the Badgers, Coleman's career appeared to turn a corner. He played 40 snaps at wideout and made the most of them, notching four catches for 76 yards and a score, leading Wisconsin in receiving and was the only Badger to score a touchdown Sunday night.

While the above stat-line is solid but certainly nothing mind-blowing, it was more about the eye test with Coleman. He ran beautiful routes at 6-5, snatching the ankles of multiple Notre Dame defensive backs in the process.

But again, Coleman is also an impressive human being — the maturity, self-awareness and level-headedness he displayed during his game-week availability really stood out.

Coleman's maturity shines

Wisconsin Badgers wide receiver Malachi Coleman. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

The question with the receiver has always been, "What's holding you back?" He was very forthcoming talking about just that with reporters this week.

"I matured a little bit, I was a little immature when I was at Nebraska. I was a freshman, I was playing, all that stuff. Then I came in my sophomore year off that shoulder surgery. My mindset was a little messed up, I was a little down on myself. I gotta be able to pick myself up outta that and move on. Over these last couple years, I was able to grow, build my confidence up," he said.

"My mama always told me ‘fake it ‘till you make it,’ I faked my confidence until it became real.”

Skill was never a question with Coleman. The receiver revealed that it was more his mindset and maturity, or lack thereof, that held him back earlier in his career. Now, he oozes both confidence and humility in addition to the obvious football talent.

At his game-week presser, head coach Luke Fickell praised Coleman for being in the football facility at 6am. That quote got some traction, but the receiver immediately downplayed it when asked about it this week, saying there was probably 20 or 30 other players already in the building as well.

That's the kind of mature, selfless mindset Coleman said he didn't necessarily have at Nebraska and Minnesota. Now, as a starting receiver on what appears to be a much-improved Badgers' offense, there's no telling what Coleman could accomplish this fall.

“I looked at the offseason like, this is it. I finally felt like everything was gonna click. I had a lot of conversations with God, a lot of conversations with my family, and I just felt like I couldn’t fail this year. That’s how I still feel," he said.