CLEMSON — Clemson Football has had many greats wear the orange & white over the years.

Banks McFadden, Fred Cone, Billy Hair, Harvey White, Buddy Gore, Steve Fuller, Jerry Butler, Homer Jordan, Perry Tuttle, Jeff Davis, Terry Kinard, William Perry, Michael Dean Perry, Levon Kirkland, Terry Allen, Brian Dawkins, Raymond Priester, Woodrow Dantzler Rod Gardner, Charlie Whitehurst, C.J. Spiller, Tajh Boyd, Sammy Watkins, Dwayne Allen, Da’Quan Bowers, Deshaun Watson, Christian Wilkins, Trevor Lawrence, Travis Etienne, and I am sure several more that I left out.

In other words, it’s a lot.

And of all of those I mentioned, only three have their numbers retired. McFadden’s No. 66, Fuller’s No. 4 and Spiller’s No. 28. That’s it. No one else.

Do some of the others on the list above deserve to have their numbers retired. Sure. You can make a strong case for all the above. However, that is not the way it works.

Not everyone, no matter how great they were during their Clemson careers, is entitled to have their jersey retired.

The number one requirement in my eyes is the impact they had while they were at Clemson, and the legacy they left behind.

No one, except McFadden, Fuller and Spiller made that kind of an impact at Clemson. At least in my opinion.

It’s not always about numbers, stats and championships.

McFadden put Clemson on the map. He was Clemson’s first ever multi-sport All-American and led the Tigers to their first ever bowl game and Associated Press national ranking. He then continued to coach and be an ambassador for the University way after his playing and coaching days.

Fuller came to Clemson when it was not popular to come to Clemson. He was recruited by everyone, yet he believed he could help Clemson get back to being a national power, which he did with back-to-back ACC Players of the Year honors and the 1978 ACC Championship, along with an 11-1 record.

Besides being an All-American on the football field, he was also an All-American in the classroom, finished sixth in the Heisman Trophy race and was a first-round pick in the NFL Draft.

Like Fuller, Spiller came to Clemson when it was not cool to come Clemson. He paved the way for all the greats that followed him. Spiller set Clemson, ACC and NCAA marks during his time at Clemson and became arguably the greatest football player Clemson has ever had.

Spiller was also a First-Team All-American, finished sixth in the Heisman Trophy race, won ACC Player of the Year honors, ACC Championship Game MVP and received a standing ovation from Clemson’s Board of Trustees when he walked across the stage to get his degree.

He is still the only student, not just student-athlete, to receive a standing ovation from the school’s BOT.

That is making an impact on your school. That’s why those jerseys are retired.

I can’t speak for what is going on at LSU between the school and former quarterback Jayden Daniels. I know it’s ugly and unfortunate.

However, what I can speak to is this, just because someone had a great career at school doesn’t just automatically qualify someone to have their number retired.

And let’s be honest, no one should ever demand a school or team to retire their number or ask that no one else ever use their number.

Have some humility.

It is sad what our sports culture is coming to these days.

Entitlement is taking over sports, and in the end no one is going have a number retired.

I can say this much. The impact Jayden Daniels made on LSU today is not how you get a number retired.

Instead, it’s how you get erased from history.