The Jayden Daniels-LSU No. 5 dispute has made for one of the stranger offseason storylines in college football, but it also throws a spotlight on how Miami handles jersey retirements.
The Hurricanes have never been eager to hand out that honor. Even with five national championships, 79 All-Americans, 12 College Football Hall of Famers and 11 Pro Football Hall of Famers in their history, Miami has retired only five football numbers.
Those five were Jim Dooley’s No. 42, George Mira Sr.’s No.
10, Ted Hendricks’ No. 89 and Vinny Testaverde’s No. 14, all retired when the school established its Ring of Honor in 1997. Then Miami went 26 years without adding another number before finally retiring Gino Torretta’s No. 13 in 2023.
That same year, the program set a formal standard for the future: a player has to be at least 10 years removed from his final game at Miami, National Player of the Year recognition is the baseline, and any exception has to go through the athletic director and Ring of Honor Committee. The school also allows that standard to be waived for extenuating circumstances or a player’s overall contribution to the program.
So who’s next?
Ken Dorsey has a strong case with No. 11.
He went 38-2 as Miami’s starting quarterback, set the school record with 86 career touchdown passes and finished second in program history with 9,565 passing yards. He also won the 2001 Maxwell Award, guided Miami to a 12-0 national championship season as a junior and then took the Hurricanes back to the title game the next year.
No. 78 Bryant McKinnie belongs in the conversation too.
He won the 2001 Outland Trophy, was a consensus first-team All-American and finished eighth in Heisman Trophy voting as an offensive tackle. Over two seasons, he never allowed a sack, and Miami went 23-1 during that stretch.
Dan Morgan’s No. 44 looks like a natural fit. He remains Miami’s career tackles leader with 532, is the only Hurricane with at least 100 tackles in four different seasons and made history in 2000 by becoming the first player in college football to win the Bednarik, Butkus and Lombardi awards in the same year.
Ed Reed’s No. 20 is another obvious candidate. He piled up 21 interceptions, earned consensus first-team All-America honors in both 2000 and 2001 and was one of the key figures in Miami’s championship run.
Warren Sapp, wearing No. 76, turned in one of the most dominant seasons in program history in 1994. He won the Lombardi Award and Bronko Nagurski Trophy, finished sixth in Heisman Trophy voting, posted 84 tackles and 10.5 sacks and anchored a defense that finished first nationally in total defense, scoring defense and pass defense.
Russell Maryland’s No. 67 has a clean résumé as well. He was Miami’s first Outland Trophy winner, collected 279 tackles, 25 tackles for loss and 20.5 sacks, played on two national championship teams and went No. 1 overall in the 1991 NFL Draft.
Bennie Blades made his mark with No. 36. He won the 1987 Jim Thorpe Award, was a two-time first-team All-American, helped Miami win the 1987 national championship and held the program’s interception record with 19 until Reed passed him.
Sean Taylor’s No. 26 carries plenty of weight after he was a consensus All-American, the 2003 Big East Defensive Player of the Year and a Thorpe Award finalist after leading the nation in interceptions.
Ray Lewis, wearing No. 52, finished with 388 career tackles, including the two highest single-season totals in Miami history: 160 in 1995 and 152 in 1994.
Miami currently has 31 Ring of Honor members, including 28 former players, and 23 of them still do not have a retired number. That group includes Ottis Anderson, Don Bosseler, Bernie Kosar, Burgess Owens, Edgerrin James, Jim Kelly, Cortez Kennedy, Jim Otto, Bennie Blades, Eddie Dunn, Steve Walsh, Jerome Brown, Russell Maryland, Michael Irvin, Ray Lewis, Ed Reed, Warren Sapp, Sean Taylor, Chuck Foreman, Ken Dorsey, Andre Johnson, Bryant McKinnie and Dan Morgan.
The Hurricanes could probably retire another dozen numbers and make a strong case each time. But that restraint is exactly why the five already honored matter so much. It also keeps Miami from becoming a program where the rafters are overloaded and the numbers run thin for the players on the field today.
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