68,22,.....12?

We know this is very premature but stick with us for a minute. A while back, RFH2 asked us what it would take for Matt Ryan to have his number retired by BC. Our response was that there is an unwritten rule that in order to have his number retired, a player had to win a major award. Only three (eventually four) BC athletes have been so honored. A number of former Eagles, 19 at last check, have had their jerseys retired in football, hockey and men's and women's basketball. In those cases though the jersey bears the player's name and a BC logo. Only Doug Flutie (Heisman, Walter Camp), Mike Ruth (Outland) and David Emma (Hobey Baker) have had their #s retired. Those three will eventually be joined by 2000 Hobey Baker winner Mike Mottau, currently of the NHL's New Jersey Devils, whose #3 has not been issued since he left the Heights. For some perspective, Brian Gionta's #12 has been issued on more than one occasion since 2001.
When RFH2 asked the original question, we were thinking that Ryan had to win the Heisman to have #12 put in mothballs. When he pointed out last night that the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Foundation may have cemented Matt Ryan's Alumni Stadium immortality, we gave the idea more thought. This season, Ryan set the BC marks for career completions, touchdowns in a season, yards in a season and was the unquestioned leader of BC's winningest class in history as well as its' best team in a generation. So 10, 15, maybe 20 years from now, when Matt Ryan's NFL career is over, he should be back at the Heights for the unveiling of the #12 and he will have possibly the greatest quarterback in NFL history to thank for it.