No more QBs wearing No. 98? Michigan to end ‘legends' jerseys

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It's unlikely we'll ever see another Michigan quarterback wearing No. 98.

The Wolverines announced Tuesday that they're ending the "legends" jerseys, which gave one legendary jersey number to a current player. It's why former quarterback Devin Gardner wore No. 98, to honor former Michigan running back Tom Harmon. Instead, the program will retire six legendary numbers: Harmon's No. 98, the No. 48 of Gerald Ford, the No. 21 of Desmond Howard, the No. 87 of Ron Kramer, the No. 47 of Bennie Oosterbaan and the No. 11 worn by brothers Albert, Alvin and Whitey Wistert.

Those six numbers will be retired during the regular-season finale against Ohio State.

[MORE BIG TEN: Delton Williams rejoining Michigan State next month]

“During the search process for our new football coach, I had a meeting with the Michigan Football team and they expressed their feelings associated with wearing these legendary jerseys,” Michigan athletics director Jim Hackett said in the team's announcement. “At one end of the spectrum they are awed by the legacy of the men who wore them and at the other end of the spectrum, and as part of a team sport, they wondered why we would call attention to one of our team members. I brought this issue to our new head coach Jim Harbaugh. He agreed with me that it needed a review. I then talked to the families of these great Michigan players. I called them directly and laid out the paradox of seeing players as a team and the due respect to these individual great players.

“The right plan is to retire them and display them in Towsley Museum which is connected to Schembechler Hall. Because we don’t have the display area inside the stadium, we have found an area on the concourse where fans can see and honor these retired jerseys.”

Of the six, only Howard's No. 21 has yet to be formally retired by Michigan. Howard won the Heisman Trophy back in 1991.

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