Michael George Wilson (born February 23, 2000) is an American professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

wide receiver A wide receiver (WR), also referred to as a wideout, and historically known as a split end (SE) or flanker (FL), is an eligible receiver in gridiron football. A key skill position of the offense (American football), offense, WR gets its name ...

for the

Arizona Cardinals The Arizona Cardinals are a professional American football team based in the Phoenix metropolitan area. The Cardinals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC West, West division. The ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL). He played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

for the

Stanford Cardinal The Stanford Cardinal are the college athletics in the United States, athletic teams that represent Stanford University. Stanford's program has won 138 National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA team championships, the List of NCAA schools ...

Early life

Wilson is the son of Orville and Ngaire Wilson. His father was born in Jamaica and his mother, Ngaire, was born in

Wellington Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...

, New Zealand, and Wilson is the nephew of Maureen Jacobson, who played for the

New Zealand women's national football team The New Zealand women's national football team represents New Zealand in international women's association football, football competitions, and is governed by New Zealand Football (NZF). They are nicknamed the Football Ferns. The New Zealand n ...

. Wilson grew up in

Simi Valley, California Simi Valley (; Chumashan languages, Chumash: ''Shimiyi'') is a city in Simi Valley (valley), the valley of the same name in southeastern Ventura County, California, United States. It is from Downtown Los Angeles, making it part of the Greater ...

and attended Chaminade College Preparatory School. As a junior, he caught 70 passes for 1,278 yards and 12

touchdowns A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Scoring a touchdown grants the team that scored it 6 points. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchd ...

. Wilson was rated a four-star recruit and committed to play

at Stanford after considering Notre Dame.

College career

Wilson played in all 13 of Stanford's games during his freshman season. He became a starter as a sophomore and led the Cardinal with 56 receptions and 672 receiving yards while scoring 5 touchdowns. Wilson caught 19 passes for 261 yards and one touchdown in the first four games of his junior season before suffering a foot injury. Wilson missed the beginning of his senior year due to the foot injury that he suffered in the previous season. He returned for the final four games and had 19 receptions for 185 yards. Wilson used the extra year of eligibility granted to college athletes in 2020 due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

and returned to Stanford for a fifth season. He caught 26 passes 418 yards and four touchdowns in six games before suffering a season-ending injury.

Professional career

Despite not playing a full season of College Football due to injuries since 2019, Wilson was drafted by the

in the third round, 94th overall, of the

2023 NFL draft The 2023 NFL draft was the 88th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible players for the 2023 NFL season, 2023 season. The NFL draft, draft was held outside of Kansas City Union Station, Union Station i ...

. In Week 4 of the 2023 season, he had two receiving touchdowns in a loss to the

San Francisco 49ers The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners and nicknamed the Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member ...

. As a rookie, he had 38 receptions for 565 receiving yards and three touchdowns in 13 games and 12 starts.

NFL career statistics

Regular season

Personal life

Wilson married professional soccer player Sophia Smith, whom he met when both attended Stanford, in January 2025 after getting engaged in June 2024.

References

External links

Arizona Cardinals bioStanford Cardinal bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilson, Michael Living people Players of American football from Simi Valley, California American football wide receivers Stanford Cardinal football players 2000 births Arizona Cardinals players Chaminade College Preparatory School (California) alumni American people of New Zealand descent American sportspeople of Jamaican descent