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Deseret News
Candidates who should be considered for Utah’s Ring of Honor
By Joe Coles,
6 hours ago
Utah Utes fans cheer during football game in Salt Lake City. | Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret News
A Ring of Honor is coming to Rice-Eccles Stadium.
Because the University of Utah generally does not retire football jersey numbers — No. 22, worn by the late Ty Jordan and Aaron Lowe, is the lone exception — the Ring of Honor is the program’s highest distinction.
The first player to receive the tribute will be quarterback Alex Smith, who led the Utes to an undefeated 12-0 season as Utah became the first team from a non-automatic qualifying conference to earn a spot in a BCS bowl, beating Pittsburgh 35-7 in the 2005 Fiesta Bowl. In 2005, he became the program’s first — and only — No. 1 overall NFL draft selection.
There isn’t a better choice for the inaugural inductee, who will be honored at halftime of Utah’s season-opener against Southern Utah on Aug. 29.
After Smith’s induction, Utah will add two honorees in each ensuing season.
According to the school, each player or coach considered for the Ring of Honor must meet at least one of the required criterion, which includes “owning school records, being a consensus All-American, playing 10 or more years in the NFL and coaching a team to at least two conference championships, among others.”
In addition, each Ring of Honor inductee must have been inducted into the Utah Athletics Hall of Fame and either graduated from a four-year institution or attended the U. for at least three years.
That’s a high bar.
For example, one could argue that quarterback Brian Johnson , who led the Utes to an undefeated season and a Sugar Bowl win over Alabama in 2008, deserves to be in the Ring of Honor; however, the only school records he currently holds are career wins by a starting quarterback (26, which could be taken over by Cam Rising if he wins nine games this year) and career completions (673, another record Rising can overtake this year).
Johnson didn’t play in the NFL and wasn’t a consensus All-American, and could soon hold no career records at the school. Could the quarterback that engineered some of the most memorable moments in Utah football history be left out? Time will tell.
Here are eight candidates for Utah’s Ring of Honor that meet the criteria and should be considered for inclusion.
For the purpose of this list, I didn’t include Kyle Whittingham , who not only will be in the Ring of Honor when he retires, but should have the field named after him. I also didn’t include any current Utah players, or former Utes that are currently playing in the NFL.
Taking into account the school’s criteria, who would you add? Let me know in the comments.
Ideally, the selection of the 84-year-old McBride would happen sooner rather than later, so he can be honored at Rice-Eccles Stadium and receive an ovation from the fans.
While Urban Meyer and Whittingham took the program to unprecedented heights, McBride laid the foundation and coached Utah to its first-ever 10-win season in 1994.
McBride helped slow the bleeding in the rivalry game against BYU (the Cougars had won 13 of the last 14 before the Utes won four of five from 1993-97), coached the Utes to a share of their first conference championship since 1964 in 1995, and won a share of the inaugural Mountain West Conference championship in 1999. He also put an emphasis on recruiting Polynesian players, something continued by Meyer and Whittingham.
Under McBride, the Utes sent 16 players to the NFL draft, including Steve Smith Sr., and Luther Elliss, and his former recruit Alex Smith would go on to star for the Utes and be drafted No. 1 overall. He also hired Whittingham as a defensive line coach in 1994.
The 1994 season was Utah’s return to national prominence, the Utes appeared in the AP poll that year for the first time since 1947. Utah finished the season ranked No. 10 and capped off a 10-2 season with a 16-13 win over No. 15 Arizona in the Freedom Bowl.
After two losing seasons in three years, then-athletic director Chris Hill made the decision to let McBride go and hire Meyer in 2003. Though that proved to be the right decision for the program — Meyer led the Utes to an undefeated season and Fiesta Bowl win in 2004 — McBride turned around the program and set the table for Utah’s next two decades of success.
“He was instrumental in the University of Utah getting into the Pac-12 with the work he did and the groundwork he laid,” Whittingham said in 2011.
School records held: Career average yards per catch (20.55), punt return touchdowns in a season (3), punt return yards in a game (163), punt return touchdowns in a game (2).
With his reputation for boisterous trash talk and a lengthy NFL career, Steve Smith is one of the most-recognizable Utah alums in the country.
Smith transferred to Utah from Santa Monica ahead of the 1999 season and instantly burst onto the scene. He led the Utes in receiving both years (860 yards on 43 receptions and eight touchdowns in 1999 and 35 receptions for 743 yards in 2000). He was also a star punt returner and still holds the school record for punt return touchdowns in a season (three) and punt return touchdowns in a game (two, 1999, vs. New Mexico).
One of Smith’s most memorable plays at Utah came during one of those punt returns to the house against the Lobos in 1999. Despite losing a cleat mid-return, Smith still scored a 70-yard touchdown to put the Utes up 21-7.
On the next New Mexico series, Utah forced a three-and-out and the Lobos were forced to punt again. This time, Smith returned it 52 yards for a touchdown.
That’s the kind of human highlight reel Smith was during his time in Salt Lake City.
After two years at Utah, the Carolina Panthers selected Smith with the 74th overall pick, and the rest was history.
The 5-foot-9 playmaker played 13 years for the Panthers, becoming one of the greatest players in franchise history, and ended his career with three seasons with the Baltimore Ravens.
Beloved by fans for his toughness, Smith had a fantastic pro career, totaling 14,731 career receiving yards (ranking eighth all time in the NFL), and received two All-Pro and five Pro Bowl selections during his 16-year NFL career.
Post-Utah, he set up an athletic scholarship fund, wore his old Utah sweatshirt while warming up for NFL games, and became an excellent ambassador for the university, most recently serving as guest picker when “College GameDay” came to town in 2023 .
School records held: Career tackles for loss (47, tied with Filipo Mokofisi Sr)
The first-ever consensus All-American for the University of Utah, Elliss was a menace on Utah’s defensive line, especially in 1994, when he was the anchor of a defense that held opponents to just 1,163 total rushing yards over the course of the season, which ranks sixth all-time in school history.
Elliss’ 47 career tackles for loss still stands tied for first in Utah’s record book, and his five tackles for loss in the 1993 Freedom Bowl against USC is still the Ute bowl record.
A first-team All-WAC selection for three consecutive years, Elliss was named the conference’s Defensive Player of the Year in 1994 after contributing 78 tackles, four sacks, a forced fumble and a pass breakup as the Utes held their opponents to an average of 17.5 points per game.
Elliss was drafted with the No. 20 pick in the 1995 NFL draft and went on to enjoy a 10-year NFL career, spending nine of it with the Detroit Lions, and was selected to the Pro Bowl in 1999 and 2000.
“Luther Elliss was the first key player here, he turned the locker room around, how you operate on a daily basis, how you lift weights, how you go about business, how you handle a loss. He didn’t talk a lot, but he was a great player, great in the locker room, too,” Utah coach Ron McBride said of Elliss in 2020.
Luther Elliss sacks Arizona quarterback Dan White. photo by Tom Smart | GARY MCKELLAR, DESERET NEWS
Eric Weddle did it all at the University of Utah — running back, safety, cornerback, punt returner, and he even punted and threw a few passes.
It was evident that Weddle was a special talent from his first season in 2003, when he started at cornerback as a true freshman and led the Utes in interceptions (3) and forced four fumbles, which was tops in the Mountain West.
A season later, he was a key figure on Utah’s 2004 team, which went 12-0 and became the first team from a non-Automatic Qualifying conference to play in a BCS bowl, when the Utes beat Pittsburgh in the 2005 Fiesta Bowl.
After winning Mountain West Defensive Player of the Year honors in 2005, capping off that season with an Emerald Bowl win in which he held future NFL Hall of Famer Calvin Johnson to just two catches for 19 yards, Weddle took it up a notch in 2006.
That year, he played both ways, not only racking up 65 tackles, grabbing seven interceptions (two for touchdowns) and forcing a fumble, but also rushing for 203 yards and five touchdowns.
Oh yeah, he also returned seven punts (for 40 yards), completed two passes (for 43 yards), and held the ball for kicks. He earned consensus All-American honors that season.
“He is the most instinctive player I think I’ve ever coached — as far as just sheer reactionary ability and being able to see things even before they develop,” Whittingham said in 2005. “He’s just got that sense to sort things out.”
Weddle was drafted by the San Diego Chargers in 2007, becoming a mainstay at safety for the team. He played three years in Baltimore, then one for the Los Angeles Rams before retiring after the 2019 season with two All-Pro and six Pro Bowls under his belt.
But in 2021, he unretired and finally won his first Super Bowl with the Rams, a storybook ending to an illustrious career.
Utah defensive back Eric Weddle, left, and Casey Evans celebrate after Weddle recovered a fumble that led to a Utah touchdown earlier in the year against Air Force. | Tom Smart, Deseret Morning News
School records held: Single-game passing yards (620), season passing yards (4,322), career passing yards (8,981), passing touchdowns (69), season completions (323), total yards in a game (614), season (4,299) and career (8,836)
Scott Mitchell still holds a multitude of passing records at Utah, including the single-game record for passing yards (620 against Air Force) and the single-season record passing yards (4,322), which may stand for a while still, though Cam Rising is closing in on his 8,981 career passing yards record, needing 3,410 yards this season to break it.
Though Utah ranked in the top 25 in points per game during Mitchell’s three years in Salt Lake City, he never enjoyed team success and the Utes never eclipsed six wins due to a defense that always ranked near the bottom of college football.
“There’s no glaring weaknesses on the kid. Not to make him sound like Superman, but he’s pretty darn good. I threw for 340 yards once in college, and that wasn’t even up to Scott’s average. I thought I was the greatest thing since sliced bread,” Utah coach Jim Fassel said in 1989.
Despite the team’s struggles, Mitchell stood out and became one of the greatest quarterbacks in school history and was drafted in the fourth round by the Miami Dolphins in 1991. He started seven games for the Dolphins in 1993 before being traded to Detroit in 1994, where he started for four years and set, at the time, single-season records for touchdown passes (32) and passing yards (4,338) in 1995.
From 1995-97, when he was a full-time starter (he was injured in 1994 and played just nine games), Mitchell had an average season stat line of 3,579 passing yards and 22.7 touchdowns with 14.3 interceptions on 58.3% accuracy.
After the 1997 season, he played for four more years for the Lions, Baltimore Ravens and Cincinnati Bengals, primarily as a backup.
Former Utah Ute Scott Mitchell is interviewed during warm up prior to Pac-12 football with USC in Salt Lake City Thursday, Oct. 4, 2012. | Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret News
School records held: Most points scored in a game (32), most touchdowns in a game (5)
The only player from Utah that is currently in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, Larry Wilson starred as a two-way player for the Utes in the late ‘50s. During his two-year career at Utah, Wilson had 230 carries for 1,220 rushing yards and 11 touchdowns with 593 receiving yards and eight scores while also playing in the secondary and returning kicks.
A seventh-round draft pick by the St. Louis Cardinals, Wilson made eight Pro Bowls and was named an All-Pro five times. He was a star safety for the Cardinals, totaling 52 interceptions over his 13-year career, which still ranks No. 26 all time in the NFL.
An elite offensive lineman, Jordan Gross started three seasons for the Utes, receiving All-Mountain West honorable mention nods in 2000 and 2001 before being honored as an Outland Trophy finalist, given to the best interior lineman in the sport (offense or defense), in 2002.
That year, Gross, who didn’t allow a sack in 2001 or 2002, anchored an offensive line that allowed just five sacks all season, tied for the best in the nation. Gross’ senior season earned him consensus All-American honors — the first Ute to do so since Elliss in 1994.
In 2003, he was selected eighth overall by the Carolina Panthers (the second-highest a Ute has been selected) and played 11 seasons there, becoming a reliable staple along the offensive line.
After one All-Pro season and three Pro Bowl selections, including a nod in his final campaign, Gross retired as one of the best offensive linemen in franchise history.
Former University of Utah football player and Carolina Panther Jordan Gross talks with coach Kyle Whittingham at the New Orleans Saints football game 12/28/08 in New Orleans. | Jeffrey D Allred, Jeffrey D. Allred
Ike Armstrong, head coach
Years at Utah: 1925-1949
Conference championships won: 13
Utah Athletics Hall of Fame induction year: 1986
You can’t tell the story of Utah football without Ike Armstrong, who won 13 conference championships in his 25 years as head coach of the Utes and coached the Utes to three undefeated and untied seasons.
With a record of 141–55–15, Armstrong was the longtime wins leader for Utah until Whittingham broke it with his 142nd win when the Utes beat No. 3 Oregon in 2021 to punch their ticket to the Pac-12 championship game.
In addition to coaching Utah’s football team, Armstrong was simultaneously the school’s athletic director and track coach, plus served two years as the basketball coach. As athletic director, Armstrong helped facilitate the building of Ute Stadium in 1927, which through multiple renovations, stood until 1997, when it was demolished to build Rice-Eccles Stadium, which stands in the same area as the original Ute Stadium.
Ike Armstrong, who coached the Utes from 1925-49, tops the all-time wins list at Utah. His overall record was 141-55-15. | Courtesy Utah Athletics
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