David Pollack Names College Football Icons Worthy of Retired Numbers Amid Jayden Daniels Saga

Jayden Daniels has been in college football headlines for all the wrong reasons throughout August.

Daniels' lawyer requested that LSU forbid any of its future players from wearing the No. 5 and turn over its copy of the Heisman Trophy to Daniels. This request sparked endless jokes about the No. 5 across the internet as a result.

This development unintentionally sparked a discourse around jersey retirement in college football. Daniels is not the only notable Heisman Trophy winner within the last two decades to have his jersey number donned by another player in the years after he won the accolade.

Former Georgia linebacker and ESPN college football analyst David Pollack addressed some of these players on a recent edition of "See Ball Get Ball." Pollack believes these four Heisman Trophy-winning quarterbacks should have their numbers retired at their alma mater.

Tim Tebow

Florida claims three national championships, and Tim Tebow was a prominent figure in securing two of them. The on-field accomplishments speak for themselves, but Tebow's vocal leadership on those teams, coupled with his humanitarian work off the field, easily makes him one of the most iconic college football figures in the 21st century.

Additionally, Florida has not been the same in the 16 seasons following Tebow's career there. The Gators have posted multiple losing marks, hired five different coaches and rotated through a carousel of mediocre quarterbacks in that time frame.

Johnny Manziel

Johnny Manziel possessed a talent college football had never seen before and will probably never see again. Film study was of no concern to him; he could roll out of bed on any given Saturday and throw for 500 yards while rushing for another 200.

2012 was also one of Texas A&M's two best seasons this century. The Aggies stormed into the SEC and immediately posted an 11-win season with Manziel, a season highlighted by a road win over eventual national champion Alabama.

Marcus Mariota

Mariota is the most iconic quarterback from the Chip Kelly and Mark Helfrich offenses in the early 2010s. Oregon had been on the way up for several years before Mariota's arrival, but he took the Ducks very close to an elusive national championship victory.

In his Heisman Trophy campaign, he threw for 4,454 yards, 42 touchdowns and just four interceptions and ran for 770 yards and 15 touchdowns. Oregon saw similar levels of production from Bo Nix in 2023, but Mariota probably has the most valid case of a jersey retirement there until it wins a national championship.

Cam Newton

One-year wonders have always been a complicated matter in jersey retirement conversations, but Cam Newton has the strongest case among them. Auburn's athletic department officially claimed seven more football national championships in 2025, but the national championship it won with Newton was its first in 53 years at the time.

The freakish size and athleticism of Newton were unique to him despite the fact many have attempted to label later quarterbacks as "The Next Cam Newton" only for those quarterbacks to fall short of that label. 2010 was an anomaly season in an otherwise lackluster tenure for Gene Chizik; Auburn won eight games in the seasons before and after Newton and finished 3-9 in 2012.

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