Michigan Wolverines

Colin Kaepernick named honorary captain for Michigan spring game

Published Mar. 31, 2022 2:24 p.m. ET

Inviting current or former NFL players to serve as honorary captains has become common practice for college football programs across the country. But inviting a former NFL player to serve as an honorary captain for a school he didn't attend is certainly a unique approach.

That is exactly what Jim Harbaugh and the Michigan Wolverines are doing as the school announced that former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick has been named an honorary captain for Michigan's annual Maize and Blue spring football game on Saturday.

Michigan's football program shared the news on social media with a post accompanied by photos of Kaepernick with Harbaugh and Michigan players.

Harbaugh shares a close relationship with Kaepernick from their time together in San Francisco. The former NFL signal-caller played under Harbaugh from 2011-14 and helped lead the 49ers to a Super Bowl appearance during the 2012 NFL season.

Kaepernick last played for the 49ers in 2016, the same year he began kneeling during the national anthem as a sign of protest against racial injustice.

The 34-year-old Kaepernick has been working to get back into the NFL since then, hosting several workouts as of late, including a recent one in Seattle.

Michigan's spring football game is set to begin at noon ET on Saturday.