Ron Bellamy remembers playing his last game at Michigan Stadium like it was yesterday. Except, maybe he doesn’t remember it as well as he thinks.
Initially, the Wolverines’ wide receivers coach was convinced it was versus Michigan State — a game in which he scored two touchdowns and had a career-high 124 yards on five catches. Then, he was informed that his last home game was actually against Wisconsin — when he recorded 22 yards on four receptions.
“Maybe I just remember the Michigan State game the most,” Bellamy consented with a chuckle at his Wednesday presser.
Perhaps some of this year’s Michigan football seniors will eventually confuse their last game at the Big House with their win over the Spartans a few weeks prior. But what they, like Bellamy, won’t forget are the impact their Wolverine careers had on them.
“This place, you come in as a boy, leave as a man,” Bellamy said. “The relationships that you make — it’s a special place. A lot of iconic players have played at that stadium, and a lot of great memories, some of the best memories of my life. And that’s the thing we tell our seniors is, embrace it, capture the moment and don’t make it too big. But understand that these are going to be the memories that you carry for the rest of your life.”
Bellamy has been with some of his Michigan players since their high school days, serving as head coach of West Bloomfield High School for 10 years prior to coming to Ann Arbor. Senior running back Donovan Edwards, graduate safety Makari Paige and sophomore wide receiver Semaj Morgan, to name a few, all developed under Bellamy’s tutelage and continued their relationship with him at the next level.
And Bellamy shares a special bond with all of the Wolverines’ seniors, having joined Michigan with them four years ago as a coach. The same highs and lows the seniors have been through over their Wolverine careers, Bellamy has experienced alongside them.
“The success we’ve had, and obviously this year hasn’t been as good as the previous three years, but it’s been unbelievable,” Bellamy said. “For where I came from, being a former player, I have a unique story. Being a former player and being in the high school for over a decade and then having some of my former players from the high school that I was at come to Michigan with me … for a coach, that’s a dream come true.”
In Bellamy and the seniors’ first three years with the Wolverines, they won three Big Ten titles and a national championship. While this season might not have gone to plan, that’s still a “pretty good resume,” as senior edge rusher T.J. Guy pointed out Monday.
Michigan’s last home game of the season this Saturday against Northwestern is Senior Day, the game in which each of the Wolverines’ seniors get to walk out of the tunnel for the last time as a player. And although Ohio State looms large the week after, the seniors are starting to feel the effects of their Michigan careers winding down.
“Four years, man, flew by definitely,” Guy said. “I’m definitely a different person now than I was four years ago, and I’m extremely grateful for the University of Michigan and everybody that I’ve crossed paths with that helped me grow. It’s kind of surreal. I don’t think it’s gonna hit me probably until I’m walking on the field with my mom.”
Guy and the rest of his class are sure to remember their Senior Day as a culmination of their careers. And 22 years later, even if they’ve forgotten the opponent, they won’t have forgotten their experience.
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