Ole Miss is adding to some very select football company.
Monday, Ole Miss announced that it will be retiring the No. 10 football jersey of Eli Manning this coming season. The jersey retirement ceremony will take place during the Sept. 19 Auburn game at Vaught Hemingway Stadium.
Manning jersey will be just the third retired by the school. The other two? The No. 38 of Chucky Mullins and the No. 18 of Archie Manning. The latter, of course, is Eli’s father and one of the namesakes on the Manning Award.
“I owe so much credit to the coaches and all the wonderful teammates that I had here during my time in Oxford that put in all the hard work right alongside of me,” Eli said in a statement. “It’ll be special to see the number go up there next to my dad and Chucky Mullins.”
“On behalf of our entire family, we’re all very excited about this,” Archie said. “We can go way back and remember how excited we all were when Eli decided to come to Ole Miss. Those were five wonderful years for us. We’re very proud of Eli’s career in Oxford and very indebted to Keith and the athletic department and everyone else responsible for retiring No. 10. It’s really special.”
The younger Manning played for Ole Mis football from 2000-03. He finished his time in Oxford with a school-record 10,119 career passing yards and 81 career TD passes. He also set new Ole Miss career records for completions (829) and passing attempts (1,363), and both marks ranked fourth on the SEC career lists. The No. 3 vote-getter for the 2003 Heisman Trophy, Manning was the No. 1 overall pick of the 2004 NFL Draft. That’s the highest draft position for any Ole Miss football player.
“We couldn’t be prouder or more excited to officially add Eli’s No. 10 to its rightful place among the retired jersey numbers in our football history,” athletic director Keith Carter said. “Like Chucky and Archie, Eli left an indelible impact on our program and the game of football as a whole. His dedication, humility and kindness over the course of his career epitomizes what it means to be a Rebel, and we look forward to celebrating him as a player and a person.”
