ESPN’s latest look at the bottom of college football came with an unexpected side trip through one of the sport’s stranger off-field storylines.
Ryan McGee unveiled his ranking of the 10 worst teams in FBS on Wednesday, putting Middle Tennessee, ULM, Sacramento State, Charlotte and Sam Houston among the programs that landed on the list. But there was a twist: McGee left the fifth spot empty.
He did it, he said, to avoid getting accused of taking No. 5 from Jayden Daniels.
“No sooner than I could write Jayden Daniels and Coveted Fifth Spot in the same sentence, I had already received a cease-and-desist letter from his lawyer and an angry lunchbox note from his mom,” McGee wrote.
The joke was a direct nod to the reports that surfaced a week earlier, when Daniels’ legal team sent a letter to LSU to stop cornerback DJ Pickett from wearing No. 5 in 2026. That letter sparked the viral reaction around Daniels’ camp and its apparent sensitivity about the number.
LSU has not retired No. 5, and no player has worn it since 2023, but the school had promised it to Pickett as part of getting him on campus.
The number dispute wasn’t the only issue Daniels’ lawyer raised with LSU. The lawyer also asked the university to return its copy of Daniels’ Heisman Trophy, even though Daniels already has his own version of the award.
On the field, Daniels’ 2023 season was a monster. He threw for 3,812 yards, 40 touchdowns and four interceptions, then added 1,143 rushing yards and 10 more scores.
Even with that production, LSU never quite hit the heights it reached with its previous two Heisman winners. The Tigers went 20-6 with Daniels as their starting quarterback, and the defense was a problem in both 2022 and 2023.
There’s also a bigger college football wrinkle behind all of this: the transfer portal has complicated the idea of jersey retirement. Daniels came to LSU from Arizona State in the 2022 offseason, and three of his five college seasons were spent with the Sun Devils.
That kind of movement has made it harder for programs to decide how to handle players who hit historic marks after transferring, and it could turn jersey retirement into something closer to a fading trend.
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At LSU, though, the pull was about more than loyalty. Weis Jr. had an opportunity that came with a three-year contract reportedly worth $7.5 million, a figure that topped what Ole Miss was willing to put on the table. For LSU, it was another reminder of how aggressively the program can recruit proven coaching talent, and for Weis Jr. it was a chance to make a new move without leaving behind the influence that helped shape his career. [Read more 🡒]
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LSUs Edge Rotation Could Get Even Scarier For 2026
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For LSU, the possibility matters because the position already features a blend of transfers and returning contributors, giving the staff real flexibility but also a crowded chart to sort through. Pyburn has not made an official decision, and any move will likely hinge on where his NFL opportunity leads, but his return would add another experienced body to a rotation that was already trending toward being a strength. [Read more 🡒]