SEPTEMBER 15 • 2022 | 31
SPORTS
Gelb’s wish list until a few years ago.
He didn’t start playing football until
he was a junior in high school and had
grown too big to pursue baseball, his
first sports love.
He was a catcher, first baseman and
third baseman.
“I was about 6-2, 275 when I was
a junior in high school. I sent bombs
flying when I batted,” he said. “But I
wasn’t fast enough to be a big-time
baseball player.”
Gelb didn’t have any college football
offers after he graduated from high
school, so he attended football camps
put on by colleges.
Harbaugh liked what he saw from
Gelb at the U-M camp and invited Gelb
to join the Wolverines as a preferred
walk-on, a status Gelb maintains today.
“I grew up wanting to play for the
Michigan baseball team. I couldn’t do
that, but I was very happy to join the
football team,” Gelb said.
Gelb has two seasons of college foot-
ball eligibility remaining after this sea-
son. He doesn’t plan to use them at the
moment, but the option is there.
If he does continue his U-M football
career, Gelb could set a most unusual
and unofficial team record.
He’s worn four jersey numbers during
his four years at U-M.
He was No. 62 in his first two years,
No. 55 as a junior and now he’s No. 50
as a senior.
Why the numerical revolving door?
“Guys came in and wanted those num-
bers, and I was fine with that,” he said.
LOOKING TO THE FUTURE
Gelb’s career goal is to be a strength
and conditioning coach. To help him
on that path, he was an intern this sum-
mer in the U-M football team’s strength
and conditioning program.
“Mica did an exceptional job,” said
Ben Herbert, director of strength and
conditioning for the U-M football team.
“We demand a high level of commit-
ment and attention to detail from our
staff members, and Mica demonstrated
both. I’ve seen that on a daily basis
from him as a player. I hold him in the
highest regard,” Herbert said.
“Each of our staff members must
receive instruction, embrace instruc-
tion, and execute what needs to be done
with their God-given ability day in and
day out, seven days a week. Mica did
that.”
Unlike his sisters, who attended pri-
vate high schools, Gelb opted to attend
a public high school.
Despite the resultant academic strug-
gles when he got to U-M, he said it was
a great decision.
“Going to that public high school
made me who I am today,” he said. “I
made friends with kids who had to
fight for everything they got in their
lives, and I gained a lot of respect for
them. They didn’t have anyone holding
their hands.”
Amos Gelb, Mica’s father, has seen
how his son has benefitted from attend-
ing that high school.
“While his high school education
may not have been the best, Mica defi-
nitely grew socially during that time,”
Amos Gelb said. “He bonded with other
students you wouldn’t expect he’d be
friends with.”
Mica Gelb attended Woodrow Wilson
High School, which opened in 1935
and was renamed Jackson-Reed High
School this year in honor of Edna
This happy guy is Mica Gelb following
the U-M spring game earlier this year.
continued on page 32
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN