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In the cathedral of college football, certain numbers carry a weight that transcends the fabric they’re stitched onto. But while the "No. 1" is often a self-proclaimed title and "No. 7" belongs to the gunslingers, the Number 5 has always hit differently. It is the digit of the ultimate "X-factor"—the jersey worn by the players who didn't just break tackles, they broke the spirit of opposing fanbases.

From the breathtaking North-South lightning of Reggie Bush in the Coliseum to the dual-threat dominance of Vince Young on the fast tracks of the Big 12, wearing the number five has historically been a signal that something impossible was about to happen. It represents a specific lineage of speed, swagger, and "Heisman moments."

But when you look back at the decades of highlight reels and championship rings, who truly wore it best? We are diving into the archives to rank the legends who transformed a simple single digit into a symbol of collegiate immortality.

A pioneer of the spread option offense, White became the first quarterback in college football history to start and win four consecutive bowl games. His incredible rushing ability transformed West Virginia into a national powerhouse and set the blueprint for the modern dual-threat quarterback.

McCaffrey shattered Barry Sanders' single-season all-purpose yards record in 2015, proving that a running back could be just as dangerous as a receiver and return specialist. His versatility at Stanford forced a re-evaluation of how Heisman-caliber players are measured across multiple phases of the game.

Te'o was the emotional and defensive heartbeat of Notre Dame’s 2012 undefeated regular season, becoming one of the most decorated defensive players in history by sweeping nearly every major award. He remains a symbol of the "linebacker as a superstar," finishing as a rare Heisman Trophy runner-up from the defensive side of the ball.

Larry Johnson (Penn State) Larry Johnson delivered one of the most dominant single seasons in college history in 2002, becoming only the ninth player to rush for over 2,000 yards in a regular season. His explosive senior year earned him the Maxwell and Doak Walker Awards, cementing his legacy as one of the premier power backs in Big Ten history.

• Paul Hornung (Notre Dame)Known as "The Golden Boy," Hornung holds the unique distinction of being the only player to win the Heisman Trophy while playing for a losing team (2-8 in 1956). He was a versatile "triple-threat" who led his team in passing, rushing, scoring, and kickoff returns.
• Reggie Bush (USC)One of the most electric playmakers in history, Bush was the centerpiece of the mid-2000s USC dynasty, combining elite speed and agility to redefine the "all-purpose" back. His 2005 season remains legendary for its highlight-reel runs and its role in keeping USC at the pinnacle of the sport during the BCS era.
• Jayden Daniels (LSU/Arizona State)A dual-threat sensation, Jayden Daniels became the first player in FBS history to pass for 12,000 yards and rush for 3,000 yards in a career. His 2023 Heisman Trophy-winning season at LSU was statistically historic, as he led the nation in total offense and set the record for the highest passer rating in a single season.
• Jameis Winston (Florida State)Jameis Winston made history in 2013 as the youngest player ever to win the Heisman Trophy while leading Florida State to an undefeated season and a BCS National Championship. During his two years as a starter, he lost only one game and restored the Seminoles to a position of national dominance through his elite arm talent and leadership.

• Kevin Butler (Georgia)A legendary kicker for the Bulldogs, Butler was the first person at his position inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame. He famously kicked a 60-yard field goal to beat Clemson in 1984 and finished his career as the SEC's all-time leading scorer.
• Michael Crabtree (Texas Tech)The only two-time winner of the Fred Biletnikoff Award, Crabtree had perhaps the greatest freshman season in history, catching 134 passes for 1,962 yards and 22 touchdowns. He is best remembered for his iconic last-second touchdown catch to upset #1 Texas in 2008.
• Kenny Easley (UCLA)A rare three-time consensus All-American, Easley was a defensive powerhouse who finished his career with a school-record 19 interceptions. His jersey was retired by UCLA, and he is widely considered one of the greatest safeties to ever play the college game.
• Terry Hanratty (Notre Dame)A consensus All-American quarterback, Hanratty led the Fighting Irish to a national championship in 1966. He combined with wide receiver Jim Seymour to form one of the most prolific passing duos of the era, finishing in the top ten of Heisman voting three times.
• Paul Hornung (Notre Dame)
• Elmer Layden (Notre Dame)Layden gained immortality as the fullback of the "Four Horsemen," the legendary backfield of the 1920s coached by Knute Rockne. He capped his college career by scoring three touchdowns in the 1925 Rose Bowl, leading the Irish to a national title.
• Darren McFadden (Arkansas)One of the most dynamic runners in SEC history, McFadden is a two-time Heisman runner-up and two-time Doak Walker Award winner. He famously spearheaded the "Wildcat" formation, amassing over 4,500 rushing yards in just three seasons.
• George Savitsky (Pennsylvania)A dominant offensive tackle, Savitsky is the only player in the history of college football to be named a First-Team All-American in four consecutive years (1944–1947). He was a cornerstone of the Penn "Quakers" during their era as a national powerhouse.
• Murray Shelton (Cornell)An end for Cornell in the mid-1910s, Shelton was a key figure on the undefeated 1915 national championship team. He was a versatile athlete and a consensus All-American who helped define the "Big Red" as a dominant force in early college football.
• LaDainian Tomlinson (TCU)Before his NFL stardom, Tomlinson led the NCAA in rushing for two consecutive years, including a 2,158-yard season in 2000. He once held the NCAA single-game rushing record with 406 yards against UTEP, effectively putting TCU back on the national football map.

1) Reggie Bush

2) LaDainian Tomlinson

3) Paul Hornung

4) Christian McCaffrey

5) Jameis Winston

Whether it was the triple-threat versatility of Paul Hornung in the 1950s or the modern-day dual-threat wizardry of Jayden Daniels, the number 5 has served as a continuous thread through the tapestry of college football history. It is a jersey that demands a certain level of performance—a "High Five" to the fans and a warning to the defense.

While the names on the back of the jerseys change—Tomlinson, McFadden, Crabtree, and White—the legacy of the digit remains the same. To wear the 5 is to step into a lineage of players who didn't just play the game; they electrified it. From the muddy trenches of the early 20th century to the high-flying spread offenses of today, these athletes transformed a simple single digit into a badge of honor, proving that in the cathedral of college football, few things shine brighter than a "5" under the Saturday night lights.

Join us at the Pigskin Dispatch website to see even more Positive football news!

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Miss our football by the day of the year podcasts, well don't, because they can still be found at the Pigskin Dispatch website.

Prior to 1950 the NBA did not even keep records of rebounds. Why was it not considered worthy of tracking? Why was the rebound under appreciated? We try to answer that question in this episode.

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Rick Loayza: Head researcher, writer, and voice

Jacob Loayza: Editor, producer, and publisher

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"Horizons" by Roa

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YESTERDAY'S SPORTS HOME PAGE

EPISODE SUMMARY

Dave and Mark talk about a bunch of 1970s NFL Playoff games, including:

1 - 1971 Playoff - Dolphins vs Chiefs

2 - 1972 Playoff - Steelers vs Raiders

3 - 1974 Playoff - Raiders vs Dolphins

4 - 1976 Playoff - Raiders vs Patriots

5 - 1977 AFC Championship - Broncos vs Raiders

And much more.....

YESTERDAY'S SPORTS BACKGROUND

Host Mark Morthier grew up in New Jersey just across the river from New York City during the 1970s, a great time for sports in the area. He relives great moments from this time and beyond, focusing on football, baseball, basketball, and boxing. You may even see a little Olympic Weightlifting in the mix, as Mark competed for eight years. See Mark's book below.

No Nonsense, Old School Weight Training: A Guide For People With Limited Time

Running Wild: (Growing Up In The 1970s)

In 1970, Muhammad Ali vs. Rocky Marciano in the 'Super Fight.' This was a movie version of a computer generated outcome between the two heavyweights.

In 1968, UCLA played Houston in the Astrodome in college basketball's 'Game of the Century.' Elvin Hayes outdueled Lew Alcindor to snap the Bruins 47-game winning streak.

In 1996, Fox Sports debuted the FoxTrax Hockey Puck Tracker.

And in 1980, the Mean Joe Greene Coke commercial became a beloved favorite when it was shown during Super Bowl XIV.

Football is the ultimate collision sport, a game of high-speed impacts and physical prowess. But if you were to travel back to the early days of the gridiron, you might be shocked to find that for the first century of the game, the NCAA’s approach to safety was almost laughable.

In a recent episode of the Pigpen podcast, host Darin Hayes sat down with Timothy Brown of Football Archaeology to discuss the surprisingly slow evolution of football equipment. From the days of "gutta percha" to the highly engineered helmets of 2025, the story of how we protect players is a journey from antiquity to high-tech armor. This epsiode is based on one of Tim's recent articles titled: Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes: Football Equipment Safety Standards.

The first American football rules were developed in 1876, largely adapted from the laws of Rugby. Surprisingly, the earliest equipment rules weren't designed to keep the wearer safe—they were designed to protect the other guy.

Rule #58 of the original handbook barred players from wearing iron or gutta percha (a rigid, tree-sap-based pseudo-plastic) on their boots. "The whole thing was that they banned certain materials to ensure the safety of the other players," Tim Brown explains.

By 1900, this logic extended to "sticky or slippery substances." If a team greased their jerseys to make themselves harder to tackle, it was seen as an unfair advantage rather than a safety hazard. Even the first rules regarding cleats—which were originally just triangular leather nubs tacked onto the shoe by a cobbler—focused on preventing players from spiking their opponents.

One of the most startling revelations from Brown’s research is how long the NCAA resisted mandating essential gear. Take shoulder pads, for example. By the mid-1920s, shoulder pads were becoming harder, utilizing fiber and sole leather. The rulemakers required these to be padded on the exterior so they wouldn't bruise an opponent, yet they didn't actually require players to wear them at all.

This "laissez-faire" attitude peaked in 1970. The NCAA’s "Read-Easy" version of the rulebook actually noted that while shoulder pads weren't required, "only fools" would play without them. Despite this smart-aleck commentary, the NCAA didn't officially mandate shoulder pads until 1974.

The shift from "recommended" to "required" happened in fits and starts, often with high schools leading the charge and the NFL trailing behind:

1. Helmets:High schools mandated them in 1935, the NCAA in 1939, and the NFL finally in 1943.
2. Knee Pads:Mandated by the NCAA in 1932—again, primarily to protect the head of a tackler from a hard bony knee rather than to protect the runner.
3. Face Masks:The NFL required them in 1957, but the NCAA didn’t officially make them mandatory until 1993, largely because they assumed everyone was already wearing them.
4. Mouth Guards:These became standard in high schools in 1962 and colleges in 1972.

Before 1978, there was no universal quality standard for football helmets. You could essentially wear any "head covering" and call it a day. In 1978, the introduction of NOCSAE certification changed the landscape.

This requirement for standardized testing decimated the market. "We went from having like 22 helmet manufacturers in the U.S. to three within just a handful of years," Brown noted. This era paved the way for the dominance of brands like Riddell and the high-tech, position-specific helmets we see players like Aaron Rodgers sporting today.

As we look at the 2025 rulebook, the focus has shifted. Today, technology is doing the heavy lifting, but the rules have become increasingly focused on aesthetics. While the quality of equipment is higher than ever, Darin Hayes and Tim Brown noted a curious trend: many modern players, particularly at the elite levels, are wearing smaller, thinner pads—or skipping thigh and hip pads altogether—to gain speed, relying on the softer artificial turf of modern stadiums.

However, the "Wayback Machine" reminds us that safety wasn't always a given. We’ve moved from a game where you could go out with bare heads and greased-up jerseys to a world where "targeting" and "spearing" are major penalties backed by video review.

The gear may be better, but as both Darin and Tim agree, the biggest impact on player safety has been the shift in coaching and rules—teaching players to keep their heads up and "see what they hit."

To dive deeper into the history of the game, visit FootballArchaeology.com and subscribe to Tim Brown’s daily tidbits for more stories from the gridiron's past.

Join us at the Pigskin Dispatch website to see even more Positive football news!

Don't forget to check out and subscribe to the Pigskin Dispatch YouTube channel for additional content and the regular Football History Minute Shorts.

Miss our football by the day of the year podcasts, well don't, because they can still be found at the Pigskin Dispatch website.

It is the NFL's version of an all-star game.

The Pro Bowl, played every year the weekend before the Super Bowl, has become a glorified flag football game.

But for decades the NFC and AFC would come together and play in a game that was sometimes as hard hitting as a postseason game with nothing more than just bragging rights on the line.

Using the format of a Pro Bowl game, podcast hosts Dana Auguster and Charles Combs select players they view as the best players by position during their lifetimes. Dana Auguster will pick the best players from the AFC while Charles Combs select his favorite stars from the NFC.

Don't forget to like and subscribe to the show and you could contact the show at [email protected].

In this episode, we focus on trailblazer Tom Williams of the Houston Oilers. He was the first African American assistant general manager in pro football history.

To learn more about trailblazing contributors in NFL history, visit our Historical Scouting Reports class, where the greats in NFL history. Check it out at the Football Learning Academy website at www.football-learning-academy.com.

Football Learning Academy Website:

To learn more about the FLA, go to: https://www.football-learning-academy.com

Social Media:

Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/FootballLearn1

Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/footballlearningacademy/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@footballlearningacademy

Music By:

Jeff Nixon, Safety for the Buffalo Bills from 1979-82.

In this episode, we focus on Ralph Goldston, who spent an entire career in pro football, from player to coach to scout.

To learn more about trailblazing contributors in NFL history, visit our Historical Scouting Reports class, where the greats in NFL history. Check it out at the Football Learning Academy website at www.football-learning-academy.com.

Football Learning Academy Website:

To learn more about the FLA, go to: https://www.football-learning-academy.com

Social Media:

Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/FootballLearn1

Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/footballlearningacademy/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@footballlearningacademy

Music By:

Jeff Nixon, Safety for the Buffalo Bills from 1979-82.

In this episode, we focus on scout Jackie Graves, who spent time with the Boston Patriots, Philadelphia Eagles, and Indianapolis Colts. He was one of the most respected African American scouts during the 1960s and 1970s.

To learn more about trailblazing contributors in NFL history, visit our Historical Scouting Reports class, where the greats in NFL history. Check it out at the Football Learning Academy website at www.football-learning-academy.com.

Football Learning Academy Website:

To learn more about the FLA, go to: https://www.football-learning-academy.com

Social Media:

Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/FootballLearn1

Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/footballlearningacademy/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@footballlearningacademy

Music By:

Jeff Nixon, Safety for the Buffalo Bills from 1979-82.

n this episode, we focus on trailblazer Lloyd Wells of the Kansas City Chiefs. Many sources have Lloyd Wells as the first full-time African American scout in NFL history. That is not true and Ken Crippen explains why, as well as discuss Wells’ career accomplishments.

To learn more about trailblazing contributors in NFL history, visit our Historical Scouting Reports class, where the greats in NFL history. Check it out at the Football Learning Academy website at www.football-learning-academy.com.

Football Learning Academy Website:

To learn more about the FLA, go to: https://www.football-learning-academy.com

Social Media:

Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/FootballLearn1

Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/footballlearningacademy/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@footballlearningacademy

Music By:

Jeff Nixon, Safety for the Buffalo Bills from 1979-82.