More than a number: What No. 5 means to Nay'Quan Wright
What’s in a number? Some guys show up and just take a jersey that is given to them. Some players have a number that they want.
Nay’Quan Wright wore the number 5 his whole life. It meant something to him, but when he got to the University of Florida it was taken.
Emory Jones enrolled the year before Wright and had the jersey. Jones wore No. 6 in high school, so Wright figured it would be a quick conversation and transaction.
It wasn’t.
“If I had to put a number on (how many times I asked Jones to switch numbers), at least 20 times,” Wright said on the Gators Online Podcast. “I figured, I mean, he was six in high school, this should be an easy little swap. I thought it would be that easy.”
When Jones hit the transfer portal this spring, it opened up the jersey number on offense. Wright had to have it, but why is the number so important?
The meaning behind the No. 5
It started on Pop Warner fields in Miami. The number became a family thing to Wright with his older cousin, Chavis Wright, paving the way.
“That’s me. Just that number alone means a lot to me. It’s very special to me,” Wright said of his new jersey.
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“My older cousin (Chavis Wright) started it off playing at the park down home. Then he handed it down to me and we kept passing it down. Now, if you go back home, kids wearing it for me and are wearing it for my cousin. It means a lot to me. I take pride in it,” Wright said.
“You can’t just go and wear it. That’s how we see it in our family. Just because you’re blood doesn’t mean (you get to wear it). You gotta earn it.”
As the saying goes, look good, feel good. Feel good, play good. Play good, they pay good. Wright is ready to suit up in his new, old number.
“It’s definitely going to be a difference. I promise you,” Wright said. “Three years wearing six, you gonna see a whole lot of difference. Five’s going to show you a lot this year.”
