Summer has a way of pushing college football fans into the deep archives, and ESPN leaned right into that earlier this month with a massive project ranking the best player ever to wear each jersey number from 0 through 99.
The list included a winner for every number, plus three runners-up apiece - 400 players in all. And when the dust settled, six players with Utah ties showed up on the board.
Three claimed their number outright. Three more finished just behind the top spot.
The headliners were hard to argue with.
Ty Detmer took No. 14 for BYU, and the case was built on a career that rewrote the school’s quarterback standard. David Hale pointed to Detmer’s 594-yard Holiday Bowl performance against Penn State in 1989 as the setup for what followed.
Then came 1990, when Detmer won the Heisman Trophy after smashing the single-season passing yards record, averaging 432 yards per game and helping BYU knock off top-ranked Miami with 406 passing yards and three touchdowns. He finished second nationally in passing touchdowns for three straight seasons from 1989 through 1991, led the nation in passing yards in 1990 and 1991, and left BYU holding NCAA records for pass attempts, completions, passing yards, touchdowns and passer rating when his career ended.
ESPN also noted that Detmer was a two-time consensus All-American, two-time WAC Offensive Player of the Year, a Davey O’Brien Award winner, a Maxwell Award winner and a College Football Hall of Fame honoree. The other names in the No. 14 mix were Miami quarterback Vinny Testaverde, Tennessee defensive back Eric Berry and Oklahoma quarterback Sam Bradford.
At No. 71, Utah State’s Merlin Olsen came out on top.
Heather Dinich wrote that Utah State named its football field after him, and for good reason: he was the first Aggie drafted in the first round of the NFL draft and left a lasting mark on the program. Dinich described Olsen as a “bruising, hard-hitting defensive tackle,” and his senior season backed that up.
He anchored a Utah State defense that gave up a national-best 50.8 rushing yards per game, and that team finished No. 10 in both the AP and UPI postseason polls - the only time that has happened in school history.
Olsen’s résumé also included the Outland Trophy, two All-American selections, two all-conference honors, Hula Bowl MVP recognition, and spots in the Utah Sports Hall of Fame, the USU All-Century Football Team and the College Football Hall of Fame. The runners-up at No. 71 were USC offensive lineman Tony Boselli, Nebraska guard Dean Steinkuhler and USC guard Brad Budde.
The third winner with Utah ties was Haloti Ngata at No. 96.
Adam Rittenberg said ESPN “debated No. 96 extensively” before settling on the former Oregon defensive tackle. Ngata piled up 151 tackles as a Duck, including 24.5 tackles for loss, and after earning second-team All-Pac-10 honors in 2004, he became the first defensive lineman in 18 seasons to be named Pac-10 Defensive Player of the Year.
He finished with 10 sacks and three forced fumbles, added seven blocked kicks on special teams and put together a 2005 season in which he led Pac-10 interior defensive linemen with 61 tackles. He was a finalist for both the Outland and Nagurski trophies, made the Pac-10’s All-Century Team and entered Oregon’s athletics Hall of Fame in 2016.
ESPN also listed Ngata as a Morris Trophy winner, first-team All-America selection, Pac-10 All-Century Team member and College Football Hall of Fame honoree. The runners-up at No. 96 were Miami defensive tackle Cortez Kennedy, Missouri defensive end Justin Smith and Miami defensive end Danny Stubbs.
The other three Utah-tied players landed just short.
Robbie Bosco was a runner-up at No. 6 for BYU, where Texas Tech/Oklahoma quarterback Baker Mayfield took the top spot. Jerome Bettis of Notre Dame and Alabama receiver DeVonta Smith were the other runners-up.
Jordan Gross finished among the runners-up at No. 69 for Utah. Minnesota guard Tom Brown won that number, while Texas Tech defensive lineman Gabe Rivera and Hardin-Simmons center Clyde “Bulldog” Turner joined Gross in the chase.
And at No. 95, BYU tight end Gordon Hudson was a runner-up behind Michigan State defensive end Bubba Smith. Sam Adams of Texas A&M and Bjorn Werner of Florida State rounded out that group.