Season openers can be memorable for a lot of reasons — a first touchdown or a late touchdown, a memorable win or a painful loss, the beginning of a career or the start of a farewell tour.

And then there's James Rogers, who tumbled into a memory his teammates won't soon forget.

The former Michigan cornerback was running onto the field before last year's season opener against Connecticut — the senior's final opener in a winged helmet — and leaped to touch the banner, something Wolverines players do before every game.

This one wasn't quite as routine.

"It was Jonas (Mouton), he caught Jonas’ legs," recalled senior linebacker Brandon Herron on Wednesday, hardly articulating the words as he choked on his laughter. "He was going up, and I guess his leg caught Jonas’ leg. He fell forward, and didn’t touch the banner, and everyone just kind of stumbled over him."

Brandon stopped three times to laugh at his former teammate's expense.

"I remember the coaches rewound it," he continued. "Just looking at it … you thought he was just being clumsy, but really, Jonas did trip him up.

"We have athletic teammates, so some did jump over him a little bit."

Herron recalled the memory three days before his final season opener, this one coming against Western Michigan (3:30 p.m., ABC).

For coach Brady Hoke, it's the first of what he hopes to be many openers in Ann Arbor.

What's his favorite season-opening memory? Well, it happened in Ann Arbor.

"Probably the Virginia game as an assistant here, and the way that thing finished," Hoke said of his first game as a Michigan assistant and Lloyd Carr's first game as the school's head coach.

It came in 1995, and Mercury Hayes caught a winning touchdown pass in the game's final seconds to complete a 17-point comeback, the largest in school history at the time.

"I mean, Mercury's catch in the end zone, and it was my first game at Michigan, I mean, that's a pretty wild game. Pretty good comeback.

"And they had a good football team."

This year's season opener will be hard-pressed to match that one for Hoke.

Will he lose sleep over this year's matchup with Western Michigan?

"As a coach, you get a little paranoid about how your team’s going to play," Hoke said. "I think it’s natural, happens every week. But just making sure we’re dotting our i’s, crossing our t’s and ready to go play football.

"I think there’s always that uncertainty out there, especially the first year. They’re still getting to know you a little bit in a game-setting situation, and we’re all different. We all have our quirks, I guess is the best word as any, that we bring with us. Different ways you like to eat pregame meals, different ways you handle Friday.

"I'm not a big sleeper anyway," he later added, "but game week's always different. I grind my teeth, so I don't sleep very well. It's not very good for your teeth, I've been told."

Kyle Meinke covers Michigan football for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at 734-623-2588, by email at kylemeinke@annarbor.com and followed on Twitter @kmeinke.