West Virginia University To Retire Harris, Talley Numbers
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A pair of College Football Hall of Fame inductees who stand among the greatest players in West Virginia University history will have their numbers retired in Morgantown during the 2021 season.
Quarterback Major Harris and linebacker Darrell Talley will have their No. 9 and No. 90, respectively, entered into history. Talley will have his number retired during the Oct. 2 Texas Tech game, while Harris will have his number retired during the Nov. 6 Oklahoma State game.
Harris carried the Mountaineers into the national spotlight in the late 1980s, guiding the Mountaineers in 1988 to their first undefeated, untied regular season and a Fiesta Bowl matchup with No. 1 Notre Dame.
Harris finished fifth in the Heisman Trophy race that year and was named ECAC Player of the Year. In 1989, he finished third in Heisman voting and earned First Team Kodak All-American honors along with Second Team Associated Press and Football News All-American. As in 1988, Harris was again voted ECAC Player of the Year.
When he declared for the NFL draft after his junior year, he had become one of just two quarterbacks in Division I history to pass for more than 5,000 yards and rush for more than 2,000 yards during his career.
Talley was one of the most prolific defenders in both Mountaineer and Buffalo Bills history and was just the third consensus All-American in WVU football history when he left school.
During his four years in Morgantown, Talley recorded 484 career tackles, the most by any WVU player when his playing career ended in 1982. The four-year starter led West Virginia to the 1981 Peach Bowl and the 1982 Gator Bowl.
He was a second-round draft pick of the Bills in 1983 and finished his tenure in Buffalo as the team's all-time leading tackler with 1,137.
The two will join Sam Huff’s No. 75, Ira “Rat” Rodgers' No. 21 and Bruce Bosley’s No. 77 in retirement.