In one of the recent threads, there were a few comments about jersey numbers. Specifically, which should be retired. Let's go ahead and expand that conversation and find out what everything thinks.
WSU has officially retired two jerseys, No. 7 for Mel Hein and No. 14 for Jack Thompson. Another three -- No. 91 for Leon Bender, No. 11 for Drew Bledsoe and No. 16 for Ryan Leaf -- are unofficially retired. I'm not sure I really understand the logic in not letting anyone wear the number, but not officially retiring it either. There are obviously a limited number of numbers available and you can't retire them all, but WSU has gotten by without those three for more than a decade.
Those five jerseys are a good place to start, but there are a few other numbers in the discussion. As a few pointed out in the previous comments, Steve Gleason's No. 34 is an excellent candidate for unofficial/official retirement. Will Derting's No. 51 was also mentioned as a candidate.
Rueben Mayes was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame, so his No. 36 should also be in this discussion. And obviously since he's the greatest player in WSU history, Marquess Wilson's No. 86 should be retired immediately**.
Which numbers do you think should be retired? Maybe you'd retire all of the ones above and more. Or maybe you think retiring numbers -- and this discussion -- is stupid. Either way, weigh in!
** I'm not serious, please don't send me angry emails.