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BYU Football: Zach Wilson selects jersey number for New York Jets

By Adam Gibby

BOCA RATON, FLORIDA - DECEMBER 22: Tyler Allgeier #25 and Zach Wilson #1 of the Brigham Young Cougars take to the field during the game against the Central Florida Knights at FAU Stadium on December 22, 2020 in Boca Raton, Florida. (Photo by Mark Brown/Getty Images)
BOCA RATON, FLORIDA - DECEMBER 22: Tyler Allgeier #25 and Zach Wilson #1 of the Brigham Young Cougars take to the field during the game against the Central Florida Knights at FAU Stadium on December 22, 2020 in Boca Raton, Florida. (Photo by Mark Brown/Getty Images) /
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BOCA RATON, FLORIDA – DECEMBER 22: Tyler Allgeier #25 and Zach Wilson #1 of the Brigham Young Cougars take to the field during the game against the Central Florida Knights at FAU Stadium on December 22, 2020 in Boca Raton, Florida. (Photo by Mark Brown/Getty Images)
BOCA RATON, FLORIDA – DECEMBER 22: Tyler Allgeier #25 and Zach Wilson #1 of the Brigham Young Cougars take to the field during the game against the Central Florida Knights at FAU Stadium on December 22, 2020 in Boca Raton, Florida. (Photo by Mark Brown/Getty Images) /

Former BYU Football quarterback selected the number he will debut in for the New York Jets.

Madden ratings, PFF rankings, and Fantasy Football projections are all distractions that we all love about football. While players may claim that they don’t care about these, we all know they do because honestly, who wouldn’t?

Something else that can join this category of things that matter but probably aren’t that important… Jersey number.

For whatever reason as fans we are obsessed with jersey numbers, as if being No. 4 is better than being No. 74. When a player has the No. 23, everyone thinks of Michael Jordan even if it is a completely different sport.

Heck, we even retire jersey numbers. Think about it. Next to the Conference and National Championship banners, most schools including BYU have a banner with a number that represents a player, or players.

Long story short, fans and athletes care about their number, especially when it is the starting quarterback.

One of the questions that fans had was which number Zach Wilson would select. After all, he had been No. 11 and No. 1 for BYU and even said that he would change his number based off if he beat Utah.

Today, it was announced that he will wear the No. 2 for his Rookie season. While there isn’t any context to why he chose this number there could be a few good reasons.

  1. Zach Wilson was taken No. 2 in the NFL Draft. This seems the most likely reason he took the number.
  2. Jaleel Scott currently has the No. 1 jersey. While the starting QB would certainly have priority in the decision, maybe Zach doesn’t want to start any drama, especially with one of the guys he will be targeting this fall. All it could lead to is negative press.
  3. Wilson beat Utah? One could argue that the Cougars sending 13 guys to the NFL, including Wilson’s second overall pick could have been a win over Utah. I don’t think this would be his reasoning since it is a different team now.
  4. Maybe Wilson honestly doesn’t care. He doesn’t seem to committed to any particular number. Sure he wore No. 1 in high school and a majority of his time at BYU, but again he was going to change it had he beaten Utah.

Does this really matter? Not really. Is it still fun to talk about? Absolutely.

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