#2 and #90

[nanatiger 3]

Someone asked me the other day how long it would be before Auburn retires #2 and #90. Of course I replied, "I have no idea". I honestly hadn't even thought about it. Any thoughts?

[aucorner 0]

#90 did not win the heisman.....

[WarEagle2 53]

#2 may be retired, but #90 more than likely wont. #2 may not be retired because Newton was only here one season and he wasn't even the only person wearing the number this year.

[nanatiger 3]

#90 did not win the heisman.....

True, but neither did #88.

[Justin5 20]

Starting about halfway down the page:

[BeasFan 3]

#2 may be retired, but #90 more than likely wont. #2 may not be retired because Newton was only here one season and he wasn't even the only person wearing the number this year.

This is how I feel about the issue. I would make a similar case for #18! There's one deserving special consideration!

My handle ought to let you know how I feel about #88.

[BigSammyK 171]

If you retire #7 and #34 you gotta retire #2. Just my 2c.

[nanatiger 3]

Starting about halfway down the page:

Sorry, missed that thread.

[kickerman97 3]

#2 Should be retired, no question. It doesn't matter that two people wore it.

If Rocker's wasn't retired, then Fairley's shouldn't be.

[Grumps 3,706]

I would not retire either jersey...yet. I don't think you retire a jersey for just one season, or even for 4 seasons. I think Cam had a great season, but is he an Auburn man? I just do not know the answer to that yet. Let's see how he handles himself for the next few years and see if he acts like an Auburn man. If he is an Auburn man the maybe retire his jersey. The same goes for Fairley. Tracy Rocker won the Lombardi and coached a Lombardi winner. He is an Auburn man. Maybe we should consider retiring his jersey now.

[TexasTiger 14,164]

I wouldn't retire a number a player wore for just one season, period. Sullivan and Bo played for Auburn for 4 years. That matters. Love Cam, wish him the best, just as I did Rudi, but he made a one year commitment to Auburn. I think retiring a number is about more than just winning the Heisman.

[kickerman97 3]

I wouldn't retire a number a player wore for just one season, period. Sullivan and Bo played for Auburn for 4 years. That matters. Love Cam, wish him the best, just as I did Rudi, but he made a one year commitment to Auburn. I think retiring a number is about more than just winning the Heisman.

I personally think that retirement of a number is about accomplishments during the career of the player. These include both personal accomplishments and team accomplishments due to the play of the player. He won almost every award you can win and those he didn't, he should've. If not for stingy, biased voters he would have won the Heisman by the largest margin ever. And, he led his team to the NC. When those other guys played, it was a different time. I think you are fooling yourself if you think Cam somehow gave less because he only played one year. But again, just my opinion.

[Grumps 3,706]

I wouldn't retire a number a player wore for just one season, period. Sullivan and Bo played for Auburn for 4 years. That matters. Love Cam, wish him the best, just as I did Rudi, but he made a one year commitment to Auburn. I think retiring a number is about more than just winning the Heisman.

Wow, Tex! I don't know what to think about how much we have been agreeing on lately.

[DCWarEagle 0]

I agree with those in the post who say that the next number Auburn should retire is #74 for Tracy Rocker.

As for #2 and #90, they were both fantastic this year and helped Auburn to its first consensus national title in over 50 years, but I'm not sure that their careers reached the point where retiring their numbers is appropriate. Right now I'm inclined to say "no" for Fairly and "wait and see" for Cam. Cam gets some consideration because the Heisman carries a lot of weight and his season was possibly the best ever by an Auburn player, but like others have said, it was only one year. He chose to skip his senior season (as did Fairley). If he stays involved with the University and conducts himself with class, then maybe.

[japantiger 4,112]

I think times have changed...I think we should retire Rocker, Fairly and Newton...I'm an old Auburn fan thru thick and thin....we are not going to get players of this caliber to stay for 4 years anymore....the rules are different and the $$ is too big...When Sullivlan played, he couldn't play as a freshman...he played on the Freshman team and didn't compete at the D1 level....things change...

Give them the award they deserve; they won every external award imaginable and lead us to what we haven't had on 53 years...we are the undefeated, undeniable, un-impeachable National Champions! Retire their numbers. I never thought I would be in the position to advocate for something like this.

[TexasTiger 14,164]

I wouldn't retire a number a player wore for just one season, period. Sullivan and Bo played for Auburn for 4 years. That matters. Love Cam, wish him the best, just as I did Rudi, but he made a one year commitment to Auburn. I think retiring a number is about more than just winning the Heisman.

Wow, Tex! I don't know what to think about how much we have been agreeing on lately.

Probably has something to do with the forums I'm on these days.

[TexasTiger 14,164]

I think times have changed...I think we should retire Rocker, Fairly and Newton...I'm an old Auburn fan thru thick and thin....we are not going to get players of this caliber to stay for 4 years anymore....the rules are different and the $$ is too big...When Sullivlan played, he couldn't play as a freshman...he played on the Freshman team and didn't compete at the D1 level....things change...

Give them the award they deserve; they won every external award imaginable and lead us to what we haven't had on 53 years...we are the undefeated, undeniable, un-impeachable National Champions! Retire their numbers. I never thought I would be in the position to advocate for something like this.

Times may have changed, but we had Carnell for 4 and Ronnie for 5. They did okay.

Even so, 3 years shouldn't be too much to ask for retiring a number. Or two, if that's all the eligibility you have left.

[Nay4AU 2]

I’m not a big fan of retiring numbers. I like how some of the other schools do it. Like Va. Tech no longer retires numbers they retire the jerseys. I also kind of like how Syracuse passes on #44 to players they feel deserving.

Although I’m not a fan of it I can see the idea of retiring Heisman winners. But after that it’s hard to say person A deserves their number retired while person B’s is not. It just gets to complicated. With only a limited number of jerseys numbers available it could get complicated if say there were a lot of lineman deserving. You would have some teams like the Yankees that have no single numbers available. It’s a no brainer that #2 will be retired after Jeter retires and I’m pretty sure #6 hasn’t been used since Joe Torre and will probably be retired too.

[ShocksMyBrain 9,560]

Just retire #18 in honor of Kodi and Byrum. Two birds with one stone.

Two true Auburn men whom of which we wouldn't be here without.

[WarEagle2 53]

The better question is how many statues do we make?

[nanatiger 3]

I wouldn't retire a number a player wore for just one season, period. Sullivan and Bo played for Auburn for 4 years. That matters. Love Cam, wish him the best, just as I did Rudi, but he made a one year commitment to Auburn. I think retiring a number is about more than just winning the Heisman.

I personally think that retirement of a number is about accomplishments during the career of the player. These include both personal accomplishments and team accomplishments due to the play of the player. He won almost every award you can win and those he didn't, he should've. If not for stingy, biased voters he would have won the Heisman by the largest margin ever. And, he led his team to the NC. When those other guys played, it was a different time. I think you are fooling yourself if you think Cam somehow gave less because he only played one year. But again, just my opinion.

Well said.

[nanatiger 3]

The better question is how many statues do we make?

[TexasTiger 14,164]

I wouldn't retire a number a player wore for just one season, period. Sullivan and Bo played for Auburn for 4 years. That matters. Love Cam, wish him the best, just as I did Rudi, but he made a one year commitment to Auburn. I think retiring a number is about more than just winning the Heisman.

I personally think that retirement of a number is about accomplishments during the career of the player. These include both personal accomplishments and team accomplishments due to the play of the player. He won almost every award you can win and those he didn't, he should've. If not for stingy, biased voters he would have won the Heisman by the largest margin ever. And, he led his team to the NC. When those other guys played, it was a different time. I think you are fooling yourself if you think Cam somehow gave less because he only played one year. But again, just my opinion.

I'm actually not a fan of retiring numbers, period, but if you do it, the bar needs to be set very high. It is not an insult to not retire a number. I'd have a banner for Cam and have his image be as prominent as any past award winner. His contribution has been huge. But think about it-- over time, you start to run out of numbers.

[jaredm2012 0]

I think Cam's should definitely be retired. Yea, he's not on the level of Sullivan or Bo because he didn't have much time here, but he did a heck of a lot:

- Heisman Trophy

- Maxwell Award

- Davey O'Brien Award

- Walter Camp Award

- Manning Award

- AP Player of the Year

- Consensus All-American

- SEC Player of the Year

That is a pretty impressive list, and no other player at Auburn has achieved that much nor probably ever will again.

That being said, look at what he's done besides the awards:

- Helped lead Auburn to its first SEC title since 2004

- Helped lead Auburn to its first National Title in over fifty years and only the second in school history

- Broke numerous school and SEC records (touchdowns, rushing yards by QB, rushing/passing yards total, passing efficiency, etc)

- Volunteered his time for the Auburn community by working with children at a local elementary school

- Always engaged with fans

- Always deflected praise to his teammates, coaches, family, and friends

- Totally ignited the Auburn Family, which was as real as it has ever been this year

- Handled himself like a true Auburn man despite all of the controversy

I realize he wasn't here very long, and I certainly wish that he had been. But, he's done so much for Auburn in one year that I think his jersey is defintely deserving of being retired. If he seemed like some sort of mercenary as he passed through here, then sure, don't retire it. But based on what I've seen and read and heard and witnessed, he's an Auburn man through and through and always will be. I expect that he'll be a part of Auburn far into the future despite only having spent one year here. He's already to "Auburn legend" status and he'll always have a large spot in Auburn history, perhaps bigger than anyone else's, whether that is right or not.

All that being said, if I had to pick one number to retire from this team, it would be #18 in honor of both Kodi Burns and Wes Byrum.