But the most important link between the school and the team is Tom Coughlin. Long before he was an assistant coach on the Super Bowl XXV team and he produced two Super Bowl champions in his 12-year tenure as head coach, Coughlin bled orange. He played in a backfield with Hall of Famers Little and Csonka, and he was Morris' offensive coordinator for three seasons.

"I had two wonderful position coaches, Tom Coughlin and Bill Maxwell," Morris said. "I had two offensive coordinators, Tom Coughlin and Jim Tressel, who took full advantage of what I was able to do."

Coughlin remains a big Morris fan and believes the jersey retirement is long overdue.

"I'm elated that Syracuse has chosen to finally recognize the fact that this young football player is among the elite of all time," Coughlin said in a phone conversation from Jacksonville, where he is the Jaguars' executive vice president of football operations. "We talk about the great, great players like Jim Brown and we talk about Ernie and we talk about Floyd, and we talk about Larry Csonka. I'm going to tell you something, this young man deserves to be in the same breath because of the things that he accomplished. And I would say in all honestly, without necessarily a great offensive line in front of him."

Morris was often dismissed by people who doubted he could succeed because of his size. For that reason, he played with a hardened chip on his shoulder.

"I liked it," Coughlin said, laughing. "I liked it because all I had to do was remind him that Pitt didn't want him and Maryland didn't want him and Penn State didn't want him. I said, 'Joe, you're going to have to go out there and show these staffs that they made a big mistake.' And he pretty much did.