has ranked the best players in college football history by jersey number, and two Clemson quarterbacks landed at the top of the list. Deshaun Watson was chosen as the best player ever to wear No. 4, while Trevor Lawrence took No. 16.
The ranking is not a season award or a current honor. It is a historical cut across eras, built around jersey numbers rather than position or school, which is why the results place Watson and Lawrence in the same spotlight even though they played years apart. William “the Refrigerator” Perry was also honored on the list.
Watson’s case is hard to miss. He played at Clemson from 2014-16, was a two-time Heisman Trophy finalist, won the Manning Award twice and the Davey O’Brien Award twice, and was a consensus All-American in 2015. He helped Clemson win its second national championship in 2016, went 32-3 as a starter, threw for 10,163 yards and 90 touchdowns, rushed for 1,934 yards and 26 more scores, and exited third in ACC history in total offense with 12,094 yards.
Lawrence’s résumé looks just as loaded. He played at Clemson from 2018-20, led the team to a national championship as a true freshman in 2018 and finished his career 34-2 as a starter. He was a Heisman runner-up in 2020, a first-team All-American that season, a two-time first-team All-ACC selection and the Archie Griffin Award winner in 2018. He completed 66.6 percent of his passes for 10,098 yards, 90 touchdowns and 17 interceptions, added 18 rushing touchdowns, and left as Clemson’s winningest starting quarterback.
The oddity is that the list’s prestige does not always line up with the sport’s marquee awards. The No. 16 spot belongs to a player who never won the Heisman, and the same is true of another all-timer connected to that number. That does not weaken the ranking so much as show how narrow the margin can be when history is measured by jersey alone.
For Clemson, the result is a clean reminder of how much of its modern rise runs through those two quarterbacks. has already made its call for No. 4 and No. 16, and the unanswered question is whether the rest of the jersey-number rankings will produce another school with two headliners this strong.
