Jayden Daniels’ August has turned into a strange college football sideshow, and it has opened the door to a much bigger question: which stars actually deserve to have their numbers retired?
The spark came when Daniels’ lawyer asked LSU to prevent future players from wearing No. 5 and to hand over the school’s copy of the Heisman Trophy to Daniels. The request set off a wave of jokes online, but it also pushed jersey-retirement talk back into the spotlight. Daniels is hardly the only Heisman winner from the last 20 years whose number has continued to show up on other players.
That’s where David Pollack comes in. The former Georgia linebacker and ESPN analyst weighed in on a recent edition of "See Ball Get Ball," and he made the case that four Heisman Trophy-winning quarterbacks should have their numbers retired at their schools.
Tim Tebow is the clearest example on Pollack’s list. Florida won three national championships, and Tebow was central to two of them.
His production on the field was obvious, but Pollack’s case also leans on Tebow’s leadership and his humanitarian work away from football. Florida’s years since Tebow have only strengthened the argument, with the Gators going through multiple losing seasons, five different head coaches and a long stretch of shaky quarterback play over the last 16 seasons.
Johnny Manziel brings a different kind of case, one built on pure electricity. Pollack pointed to a player whose skill set college football had never really seen before and may never see again.
He could, as the source material puts it, show up on a Saturday and put up video-game numbers through the air and on the ground. His 2012 season also stands out as one of Texas A&M’s two best this century, capped by the Aggies’ road win over eventual national champion Alabama and an 11-win season in their first year in the SEC.
Marcus Mariota belongs in the conversation for Oregon. He is described as the most iconic quarterback from the Chip Kelly and Mark Helfrich offenses in the early 2010s, and while the Ducks had been climbing before he arrived, Mariota pushed them to the edge of a national championship.
His Heisman season was monstrous: 4,454 passing yards, 42 touchdown passes and only four interceptions, plus 770 rushing yards and 15 more scores. Oregon got similar production from Bo Nix in 2023, but Mariota’s case remains the stronger one until the Ducks win a national title.
Then there’s Cam Newton, who may have the most complicated one-year case of them all, but also the strongest. Auburn’s athletic department officially claimed seven more football national championships in 2025, but the title Newton delivered was the school’s first in 53 years at the time.
His size and athleticism were unlike anything else, and plenty of quarterbacks have been tagged as “The Next Cam Newton” since then without living up to it. Even in the context of Gene Chizik’s Auburn tenure, 2010 stands alone: the Tigers won eight games in the seasons before and after Newton and went 3-9 in 2012.
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Kent has responded by trimming weight and continuing to sharpen the details that matter most for a tight end, from movement to overall skill development. For Florida, the longer view is what matters here: a young player trying to carve out his place in the program while pushing back against the label others keep trying to put on him. [Read more 🡒]
Florida Fans May Finally Learn Where The QB Battle Stands
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Jon Sumrall is expected to bring some clarity soon, and the timing matters with roughly a week left before a starter has to be chosen. Jones and Aaron Philo have drawn different evaluations throughout camp, leaving the final call still cloudy even after another scrimmage has come and gone. [Read more 🡒]