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Michigan wide receiver Roman Wilson runs with the ball during the Wolverines’ 35-7 win over UNLV on Sept. 9 at Michigan Stadium. Wilson, who grew up in Kihei before attending Saint Louis School on Oahu, and the top-ranked Wolverines take on No. 4 Alabama in the Rose Bowl — a College Football Playoff semifinal — on Monday. Michigan Photography via University of Michigan Athletics photo

From playing for the Kihei Dolphins Pop Warner team in Kalama Park to his Monday assignment in the Rose Bowl for No. 1-ranked Michigan, the football journey for Roman Wilson has been remarkable.

Wilson is a senior wide receiver for the Wolverines who was born and raised in Kihei before attending high school at Saint Louis School on Oahu, where he helped the Crusaders win four straight Open Division state titles.

Monday will mark the third straight College Football Playoff appearance for Michigan and Wilson when the Wolverines take on No. 4 Alabama in a semifinal game in Pasadena, Calif.

“For me, it feels like it’s something out of a movie,” Wilson said via phone from Southern California on Friday morning following other media obligations. “… It’s just been unreal to go from being a kid who grew up on Maui and being at a school like Michigan now.”

The decision to go to Saint Louis came after his two older brothers struggled to find a foothold in football after promising stints in high school on Maui.

Roman Wilson makes a leaping catch in the end zone for one of his three touchdowns during the Wolverines’ 30-3 win over East Carolina on Sept. 2. Michigan Photography via University of Michigan Athletics photo

“When I was growing up, my dad, the things that happened with my brothers, he didn’t want that to happen to me, so Saint Louis, we kind of learned about it,” Roman Wilson said. “It was a very good school for us. We met a couple alumni who went there, too, and they kind of convinced my dad to send me there.

“I wasn’t a big fan of going there at first. I wanted to stay home.”

Things worked out for Wilson at Saint Louis, vaulting him to his remarkable career at Michigan, where he has become a star who will likely be playing in the NFL in eight months or so.

The 6-foot, 192-pound senior was a second-team All-Big Ten Conference selection this season by media and coaches, an academic All-Big Ten selection in 2021 and has started 22 times in 44 career games for the Wolverines.

His speed — he posted a time of 4.37 seconds in the 40-yard dash out of high school — is a major reason he’s likely to be a second- or third-day selection when the NFL draft rolls around in April.

Roman Wilson speaks to reporters during a Rose Bowl press conference Friday. AP photo

He was a Reese’s Midseason All-American and a Pro Football Focus Midseason All-American this season. He currently has 41 catches for 662 yards and 11 touchdowns, leading the Wolverines in receiving yards and scores.

He will never regret the family decision to send him to Saint Louis for high school.

“It did, it definitely did, it’s a great school, it got me ready for everything that’s been happening in my life,” Wilson said.

Although his family has moved away from Maui, the island will always be home for Wilson. He was born here and grew up in Kihei before his move to Saint Louis.

“My family is not from Hawaii, but I am,” he said. “It kind of feels like that’s who raised me, that’s who I grew up with around me, growing up with the aloha spirit and that culture and the people who live there was just unreal. It’s an unreal place to be from.”

Roman Wilson remembers being a youngster, running around War Memorial Stadium as brother Ro Wilson, eight years older, was a star wide receiver for Baldwin High School, earning Maui Interscholastic League Offensive Player of the Year honors in 2009.

“You know how he was when he played, he was unreal,” Roman Wilson said of his brother. “That’s who I grew up watching, that’s who I wanted to be like — and I’m trying to do my best job.”

Michigan wide receivers coach Ron Bellamy has been impressed with Wilson, especially considering his journey from South Maui to Ann Arbor.

“It’s been awesome, a kid coming from Hawaii all the way to the University of Michigan,” Bellamy said. “And just to watch Roman’s development from the 2020 season all the way to now, being a leader on the football team, being a productive football player and just being a leader on the football field for the University of Michigan has been impressive to see, see such growth in Roman.”

Bellamy has been with the Wolverines for three seasons after 11 years as a highly successful high school coach in the state of Michigan. He said Wilson has developed into an NFL prospect in the last couple seasons — Wilson lines up in the slot and wide for the Wolverines depending on the team’s needs.

“He’s changed his game in every facet,” Bellamy said. “He has become a more polished receiver, route refinement, a playmaker with 11 touchdowns this year, leading the team in yardage and whatnot. The thing I think that’s most impassive is his blocking. We have him going in there, he’s one of the smaller receivers, but we have him going in there, blocking safeties, linebackers, defensive backs — it really shows his passion for this football team.”

At the same time, it’s easy for Bellamy to tell where Wilson is from.

“You can see he still has the Hawaii vibes in him, the Maui vibes,” Bellamy said. “He’s always chill, he has that mentality. He’s a dog, but he has that relaxation. Roman, he has brought that culture to our room and it’s been awesome.”

Wilson said there is a lot of unknown talent here.

“Growing up and just being in Hawaii, separated from the Mainland, it’s not easy to get exposure now,” Wilson said. “Unless you’re an absolute dog, you’ve got to be a little bit lucky, it’s going to be a little bit hard to get recruited and really try to elevate your game.”

Wilson takes immense pride in the fact that he is possibly opening doors for Hawaii players coming behind him. And after he is done playing, he plans to help even more.

“When my career is said and done, I’m going to take a lot of responsibility for making sure my people and my generation of kids who are going to grow up there, grow up and get to be able to accomplish all of their goals,” Wilson said. “Do the things they want to do and not be held back just because they’re right in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.”

In Ann Arbor, Wilson relishes the opportunity to share his island roots.

“In Michigan, it’s completely different when someone recognizes me as a kid being born and raised in Hawaii and making it this far,” Wilson said. “They tell me that I make everybody proud back home, it just feels good, man. It gives me a lot of happiness.”

* Robert Collias is at rcollias@mauinews.com.

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