Jayden Daniels Drama Has Me Thankful for Notre Dame's Retired Number Policy

There is more drama today surrounding retired numbers in college football, and I'm just thankful Notre Dame doesn't participate

Sep 1, 2024; Paradise, Nevada, USA; Former LSU Tigers quarterback Jayden Daniels poses with the 2023 Heisman Memorial Trophy during a game between the Tigers and the Southern California Trojans at Allegiant Stadium. | USA TODAY Sports via Reuters Connect

In today's college football news that makes you just want to get to actual games being played, former LSU star Jayden Daniels is upset because somebody else is now wearing the No. 5 he wore when he won the 2023 Heisman Trophy.

He's so mad in fact, well, him or his mom that is, that he's demanded that LSU no longer use his name, image, or likeness as a result.

Excuse me, what?

It's not like the jersey number has been retired by LSU, it's just that Daniels, or his camp, feel it shouldn't be worn again.

All it does is make me thankful that Notre Dame football doesn't play along with this stupidity.

Notre Dame's Lack of Retired Numbers the Right Call

You can cover-to-cover through the Notre Dame football history books and you won't find a single uniform number that is retired.

No. 3 remains there for the wearing despite the heroics Joe Montana had in leading the Fighting Irish to the 1977 national championship.

No. 81 can be worn despite Tim Brown being the most recent Fighting Irish star to win the Heisman Trophy in 1987, before he went onto a Hall of Fame career in the NFL.

And No. 5, despite being worn by Heisman Trophy winner Paul Hornung, and legendary linebacker Manti Te'o, is slated to be worn by both wide receiver Cam Williams and edge defender Boubacar Traore this season.

If any college football program historically could retire a slew of numbers, it'd be Notre Dame. Instead, every number from 0 through 99 is available to be worn each and every season.

And that makes a lot of sense when you see the stupidity surrounding jersey numbers in college football anymore.

Nick Shepkowski's Quick Thoughts

Jayden Daniels and LSU are just the latest in a long line of players and programs to have drama surrounding retired numbers.

Not all that long ago, former USC quarterback (2004 Heisman Trophy winner Matt Leinart) made it known that he had been contacted by the Trojans to see if he'd unretire his number, in order for a star recruit to be able to wear it.

Leinart declined.

At Colorado, quarterback Shedur Sanders had his No. 2 jersey number retired after helping lead the Buffaloes to a 9-4 record in 2024, a season it lost its only two games against ranked teams that it played.

OK, I'm kidding, Sanders didn't have his jersey retired for that. He had it retired because the Colorado head coach is Deion Sanders, a walking and talking PR company that cares more about publicity than winning football games.

Notre Dame has more former players in the College Football Hall of Fame than any other program all-time. If anyone could have a dozen or so numbers to justifiably retire in the blink of an eye, it'd be Notre Dame.

Yet I sit here thrilled that it continues to not feel the need to cause any needless drama over who gets to wear a special certain number and who does not.