All-Time UCLA Football Mount Rushmore

UCLA Athletics has a storied history of winning titles, producing Hall of Famers and fostering young athletes who go on to become bigger than their respective sports. For the last 102 years, champions have called Westwood home.

On the gridiron, UCLA football has had its fair share of iconic and important figures. Here are the four who top the list, and will have their faces up on All Bruins' metaphorical Mount Rushmore for the team.

Gary Beban

The only Bruin to ever win the Heisman Trophy, Beban may not stand out on the stat sheets or with his athleticism.

Instead, Beban just went out on the field and won.

The quarterback went 24-5-2 across his three seasons with UCLA, and he was part of the AAWU all-conference team all three years. As a mid-century dual-threat, Beban scored 58 total touchdowns in 31 career games, 35 of which came on the ground.

In Beban's sophomore year, he tossed two fourth quarter touchdowns to fuel a comeback victory over USC, and he beat his crosstown rival again the following season as well. While his No. 1 Bruins lost to OJ Simpson and the Trojans in 1967, Beban was playing through torn rib cartilage and still managed to throw for 300 yards and two scores. If it weren't for a blocked extra point at the end of the game, he could have powered through a major injury and positioned UCLA to win a national title.

Even after taking the loss that week, Beban won the Heisman. He was also a unanimous All-American and Maxwell Award winner. Add in a 1966 Rose Bowl victory, and Beban clearly stands out as one of the most iconic, pure winners ever to don a UCLA jersey.

They called him "The Great One" for a reason.

Johnathan Ogden

Depending on who you ask, Ogden was one of the most physically dominant offensive linemen in football history, let alone UCLA history.

Standing at a monstrous 6-foot-9, 345 pounds, Ogden hardly ever met a player who came anywhere near his physical equal. He started on the blind side for four straight seasons, and in the 23 games of his final two campaigns, he allowed just two sacks.

UCLA went 26-20 across Ogden's four years, so ultimately pretty average, but he did make a Rose Bowl in 1994 and was ranked 13 or higher in the AP poll at some point in every season.

Ogden peaked in 1995, when he was named a unanimous All-American and also won the Outland Trophy, the Morris Trophy and the United Press International Lineman of the Year. To top it all off, he finished off the school year by winning the NCAA Indoor track & field individual championship and getting picked No. 4 overall by the Baltimore Ravens – the franchise's first-ever selection.

Thanks to his 11 Pro Bowl appearances, nine All-Pro honors and Super Bowl ring across 12 seasons with the Ravens, Ogden was named to the NFL 2000s All-Decade Team, as well as the NFL 100th Anniversary All-Time Team.

Odgen had his No. 79 retired by UCLA, and he is a member of the UCLA Athletics Hall of Fame, the College Football Hall of Fame and the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Any quarterback would be lucky to have Ogden as their left tackle – and UCLA should consider itself lucky it had him to anchor the line through the mid-1990s.

Kenny Easley

Like Ogden, Easley is in the UCLA Athletics Hall of Fame, the College Football Hall of Fame and the Pro Football Hall of Fame with his retired No. 5 jersey hanging high above the Rose Bowl.

And while he got a few more collegiate wins under his belt, Easley didn't end his UCLA career with very many team accolades or bowl victories either – a tie in the 1978 Fiesta Bowl is the best he ever got.

But just how Ogden was one of the most dominant offensive linemen of all time, there weren't many safeties who could hit as consistently hard as Easley all while being a dynamic return man and all-time ball hawk.

Easley hauled in 19 interceptions across his four seasons in Westwood – a program record. His 374 tackles rank fifth in UCLA history and second among defensive backs.

In addition to his prolific playmaking on the defensive side of the ball, Easley also returned 45 punts and 14 kickoffs, peaking with averages of 12.4 yards and 24.1 yards per return, respectively, in 1979. And his freshman year, he even attempted three punts.

Easley's special teams highlights may not have been what earned him his three consecutive consensus All-American honors from 1978 to 1980, but they showed just how versatile he was for the Bruins. His senior year, Easley beat USC, placed ninth in the Heisman voting, got selected No. 4 overall by the Seattle Seahawks in the NFL Draft and was picked in the 10th round of the NBA Draft by the Chicago Bulls.

Basketball wasn't for him, however, and Easley went on to pick up 32 interceptions and 11 fumble recoveries in 89 NFL games.

Those kind of next-level ball instincts were sparked in Westwood, and he's without a doubt the best defensive back ever to call UCLA home.

Terry Donahue

UCLA football wouldn't be anywhere near what it is today without Donahue.

His 20 years at the helm are the most of any Bruin coach, he is one of two UCLA coaches with a winning record against USC – holding the most wins at 11 – and his teams account for three of the program's five Rose Bowl wins, in addition to one of its two Cotton Bowl victories and lone Fiesta Bowl. Donahue is the school's all-time leader with 151 wins, more than double the second-place finisher.

UCLA's other 16 head coaches combine for a .575 winning percentage, compared to Donahue's .665 mark. The Bruins were part of the AP top 20 at some point in each of his 20 years and he posted 12 winning seasons across his first 13 tries. Even in his short stint as a defensive lineman on the roster, Donahue won UCLA's first ever Rose Bowl in 1966.

Aside from the wins, Donahue recruited and coached nearly all of the biggest names in Bruin history, from Ogden and Easley to Troy Aikman, Cade McNown, Ken Norton Jr., JJ Stokes and John Lee. He produced talent at the college and pro levels better than any other coach in UCLA history.

Donahue won eight bowls, five Pac-10 championships and two Pac-10 Coach of the Year awards, but he made a bigger impact than in the record books and on the field. He was a broadcaster, a general manager, a champion of Southern California high school football and one of the most beloved figures in UCLA Athletics history.

Donahue died of cancer on July 4, and the endless support he and his family received from the UCLA community just goes to show how much of an impact he left in Westwood.

Honorable Mentions

Brett Hundley: Easily the most electrifying player UCLA had throughout the 2010s, Hundley broke records and positioned himself as a Heisman candidate multiple times. Under coach Jim Mora, however, his teams mostly fizzled out, but Hundley was still a winner and playmaker like no other – who else could run for a 72-yard touchdown on their first collegiate snap?

DeShaun Foster: Predating dominant runners Maurice Jones-Drew, Jonathan Franklin and Joshua Kelley, Foster was a do-it-all weapon for UCLA at the turn of the century. His freshman year, he scored 12 touchdowns and played in the Rose Bowl, and he finished his career with 3,635 yards and 43 touchdowns from scrimmage.

Cade McNown: Tasked with guiding the Bruins in their transition from Donahue to Bob Toledo, McNown went from a game manager to a bona fide star as an upperclassman. He tossed 49 touchdowns across his final two years, starting in the 1999 Rose Bowl his senior year, and he still holds the UCLA record with 10,708 career passing yards.

Eric Kendricks: Kendricks was a tackle machine, with his 481 tackles standing as the most in school history. Before winning the Butkus Award and Lott Trophy in 2014, Kendricks etched his name into the annals of UCLA history by blocking a punt and picking off a pass against USC as a sophomore in 2012, clinching the Pac-12 championship in the process.

Troy Aikman: In the short time he was at UCLA after transferring from Oklahoma, Aikman made his mark in a big way. The Great 8 went 20-4 in his two years in blue and gold and won the Davey O'Brien Award in 1988, the same season he was named an All-American and finished third in the Heisman race. Being the No. 1 overall pick in the NFL Draft and winning three Super Bowls with the Dallas Cowboys doesn't exactly hurt his reputation either.

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