Tanner on Mo: "I don't think anybody should ever wear the number 24 ever again at this university for what he's meant to the culture, to the team.''

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MNfootballfan said:
I couldn’t name 100 but shortlist would include Weber, Maroney, Barber, Ron Johnson, Decker, Setterstrom, Eslinger, Ben Hamilton, Ben Utecht, Matt Spaeth.

We would no longer have the following numbers available.

2 - Tanner Morgan
3 - Ron Johnson
6 - Tyler Johnson
7- Eric Decker
8 - Adam Weber
10 - Paul Giel
13 - Rashod Bateman
15 - Sandy Stephens
21- Marion Barber
22 - Laurence Maroney
24 - Mohamed Ibrahim
54 - Bruce Smith
55- Ben Hamilton
60 - John Michael Schmitz
61 - Greg Eslinger
68 - Mark Setterstrom
72 - Bronco Nagurski
78 - Bobby Bell
89 - Matt Spaeth
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Way too many there
 

GoGophersUMN said:
2 of those 4 are unlikely to be drafted and Johnson went 161st overall. 278 Gophers have been drafted and 152 of them before Johnson. Some of that, especially for Mo, is their style of play not matching with the current style NFL teams are looking for but the majority of those 152 are on the same level as those 4.

If you look at All Americans, 73 Gophers have been first team All Americans which Morgan, Johnson, and Mo never achieved.

Records are also misleading because the game has changed so much over time. If you compare the 1960 Gophers to these guys, some of the 1960 team such as Sandy Stephens are certainly on the level of the players you mentioned. In 1960 Stephens only attempted 62 passes, this year even with missing 4 full games and parts of others with injuries Morgan attempted 107. In 1960 the top 2 rushers (including Stephens) ran the ball 168 times combined, this year Mo alone ran the ball 320 times. Not to take anything away from Mo and Morgan, they had great careers and deserve to be honored, but there are a lot more players at that level that aren't thought of as much because of when they played and the position they played. I would guess few of even the most dedicated Gopher Football fans could name every Gopher in the college football hall of fame and the majority probably wouldn't even recognize every name.
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I don't think their NFL status has anything to do with this. Their impact on this program is what matters. Are you really comparing these guys to players from the 60s?? Also don't think its fair to compare them to other players listed above that played on teams during our down era, those IMO are empty stats. These guys, and fleck, changed the program more than it has in the last 20+ years, simple. Mo leads in just about every major statistical category for RBs and some of yall are talking about banners on the concourse?? No, retire or honor the man's jersey for all to see while watching the game, not while getting a hotdog.
 

DoubleDeckerDons said:
I don't think their NFL status has anything to do with this. Their impact on this program is what matters. Are you really comparing these guys to players from the 60s?? Also don't think its fair to compare them to other players listed above that played on teams during our down era, those IMO are empty stats. These guys, and fleck, changed the program more than it has in the last 20+ years, simple. Mo leads in just about every major statistical category for RBs and some of yall are talking about banners on the concourse?? No, retire or honor the man's jersey for all to see while watching the game, not while getting a hotdog.
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In the 2080s some Gopher fans won't care about Mo and will think it's wrong to compare the star at the time to him. There's a good chance there will be 20 games a season and more safety rules that shift the game in favor of the offense so someone else will eventually break all of Mo's records.

Same thing with the Gophers from the 1960s. Stats look worse because it was a much different game but the stars from back then did just as much for the program as Mo, Morgan, and Johnson.

I don't think anyone has an issue with honoring them in a ceremony rather than quietly but number retirements don't work other than potentially the very best of the best of all time. That probably won't happen next year though other than potentially Morgan because JMS will be drafted and Mo will probably at least be on a practice squad.
 

Retiring numbers in football is extremely difficult because of the number of players on the roster and because of restrictions on which players can wear which numbers. Even in the NFL, it's not as common as say, MLB or the NHL (and even in the NHL, the Canadiens have multiple players per retired number in a few cases) The Raiders and the Cowboys - two of the most storied teams in NFL history, have no retired numbers.

Hanging a players number like Mo at the stadium to honor him is cool, but it's tough to actually "retire" it.
 

DoubleDeckerDons said:
I don't think their NFL status has anything to do with this. Their impact on this program is what matters. Are you really comparing these guys to players from the 60s?? Also don't think its fair to compare them to other players listed above that played on teams during our down era, those IMO are empty stats. These guys, and fleck, changed the program more than it has in the last 20+ years, simple. Mo leads in just about every major statistical category for RBs and some of yall are talking about banners on the concourse?? No, retire or honor the man's jersey for all to see while watching the game, not while getting a hotdog.
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NFL status shouldn’t have a bearing on it I’ll agree with that.
I just looked and there are 3 retired numbers in Gopher football history, 10 Paul Giel, 54 Bruce Smith and 72 Bronko Nagurski. As fabulous as Mo was during his time here, he doesn’t fit in with these three.
Two other jerseys were retired: 15 Sandy Stephens and 78 Bobby Bell. I could see Mo fitting here, but there are a few others who should be in this group as well and I’m not talking about any other players from the past 5 years.
 



GFBfan said:
NFL status shouldn’t have a bearing on it I’ll agree with that.
I just looked and there are 3 retired numbers in Gopher football history, 10 Paul Giel, 54 Bruce Smith and 72 Bronko Nagurski. As fabulous as Mo was during his time here, he doesn’t fit in with these three.
Two other jerseys were retired: 15 Sandy Stephens and 78 Bobby Bell. I could see Mo fitting here, but there are a few others who should be in this group as well and I’m not talking about any other players from the past 5 years.
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Mo holds every important rushing record at MN, seems worthy of any company MN has ever produced on the gridiron.
 

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