The Controversy Over The No. 1 Jersey at Michigan

to the No. 1 jersey. The new endowment will be awarded to the Michigan football player who wears the No. 1 jersey. If no player currently wears the No. 1 jersey, then the award will be granted to another player who exhibits exceptional off-field behavior and conducts himself as a team player.

I tried to think of other college football teams that may have jersey number traditions. I'm sure there are plenty. Penn State has it's No. 14. Ohio State has it's No. 45. And Michigan has it's No. 1.

Most schools are wise to retire jersey numbers when appropriate.

Indeed, many great players at Michigan have worn the No. 1 jersey, and a good majority wore it while playing the position of wide receiver:

Anthony Carter WR 1979-1982
Greg McMurtry WR 1986-1989
Derrick Alexander WR 1990-1994
David Terrell WR 1998-2000
Braylon Edwards WR 2003-2004
Greg Willner P/PK 1976-1978

In 2006, it was reasonable for Braylon Edwards to expect that many future UM wide receivers might end up wearing No. 1, and that his scholarship endowment would be in perfect alignment with that “tradition.”

His disagreement with Rodriguez occurred back in May, 2008, and was eventually sorted out with a one-on-one conversation (forgive the pun), and there are no hard feelings.

Rodriguez publicly admitted that he was clueless about the No. 1 jersey tradition at Michigan. Rodriguez also said he didn’t know about the scholarship endowment either, or its relationship with the No. 1 jersey.

Rodriguez gracefully resolved the dispute by handing J.T. Floyd the No. 12 jersey instead, and then by publicly declaring that no Michigan player will wear No. 1 for the 2008 season.

While it has been a little over a year since that argument came about, I have to be honest with readers: I still don’t get it.

I’m a big fan of Braylon Edwards. He is a star professional athlete, and a class act off the field.

His Advance 100 scholarship initiative further raises the bar of charitable giving, and sets him far above most NFL players in terms of emphasizing the importance of educating our nation’s youngsters.

That said, nowhere in the description of the Braylon Edward’s $500K scholarship endowment to Michigan is there any stated link to the No. 1 jersey and the position the recipient player must play. I’m pretty sure the Braylon Edwards Foundation means what it says when it states:

The new endowment will be awarded to the Michigan football player who wears the No. 1 jersey. If no player currently wears the No. 1 jersey then the award will be granted to another player who exhibits exceptional off-field behavior, and conducts himself as a team player.

So the endowment is linked to two things:

1.) The Michigan player who is handed No. 1 jersey

2.) The Michigan player who exhibits exceptional off-field behavior and conducts himself as a team player.

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