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The Wisconsin Badgers football program hasn't retired a jersey number since 2007, when they honored Heisman trophy-winning running back Ron Dayne by hanging up his No. 33.
But now, a more recent crop of legendary Wisconsin running backs wants to see their numbers get the same honors.
Former Badgers James White, Montee Ball, Melvin Gordon and Jonathan Taylor were all guests on the Green Light podcast with Chris Long, and White spoke for the group about the desire to see more jersey numbers retired.
“These three right here, not me, definitely deserve to have their numbers retired," White said. "All have a special place in Wisconsin history."
That belief made it even more devastating for Gordon when he lost the Heisman race in 2014, because he thought it would be the fast-track to getting his number retired.
UW officials have said in the past that the program doesn't have a concrete set criteria that they use to evaluate what jersey numbers should be retired.
It's worth noting, the football program has not handed out a No. 72 jersey to any players since Joe Thomas became the third-overall pick in the 2007 NFL Draft, but his number is not officially retired.
Gordon said "we need to do something" and invited the school to "come on and talk to us" about finding away to honor the Badgers' elite running backs of his era.
He, Taylor and Ball may need to get in line with a number of other recent former players who are also deserving of the honor, like Thomas, JJ Watt and Lee Evans.
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TODAY'S BEST
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