The Press Box - Kirk Herbstreit Got Hired by 'College GameDay' 30 (!) Years Ago. Here’s What Year One Was Like.

Episode Date: August 26, 2026

Today on The Press Box, Bryan is joined by Kirk Herbstreit ahead of his 31st year on 'College GameDay.' They talk about how Herbstreit got the job, his first impressions of Chris Fowler and Lee Corso, and much more. Host: Bryan Curtis Guest: Kirk Herbstreit Producers: Isaiah Blakely and Jon Jones Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hello, media consumers. Welcome to Press Box and welcome to college football week zero. Yes, it's hard to say that with straight face. It's Brian Curtis. It's producers, Isaiah Blakely and John Jones. Today I am joined by someone who is about to appear in your lives every Saturday morning, every Saturday night, and every Thursday night. It's ESPN's Kirk Herb Street.

Now, get ready to feel very old. Kirk Herb Street got high. hired to be on ESPN's college game day 30 years ago. Yes, 30 years ago. Now, there are a ton of great game day stories out there in the world. Most of them have been told a million times each. So I thought we'd do something a little different with Herbie today. I want to ask about Herbie's first year on game day, how a pretty obscure 20-something former college quarterback got on ESPN's radar, what Herbie's first impressions were of Lee Corso and Chris Fowler, what he made of the mascot head when Corso wore it on an episode for the very first time that October, and when he

knew the show wasn't just a thing that 90s college kids watched, like Mystery Science Theater or Conan O'Brien, but a monster hit. Follow me into the time machine, sweetheart. Here's Kirk Herbstry. 30 years ago this fall, a fresh-faced, 27-year-old former quarterback, named Kirk Herbstreet started his very first season on college game day. Before season 31, he's here to revisit some of his early days on that show. Kirk, welcome back to the press box. Great to be with you again. All right, start by taking me back to the time before ESPN. If you hadn't been in the media business, what would you have done with your life? Great question. I was a business major marketing at Ohio State. And like any college player,

even back then, you know, aspirations and dreams of playing in the NFL, and those weren't a reality for me, had some free agent opportunities, and it was such a different time back then. I had been through a lot in my five years at Ohio State, and I felt like if I wasn't drafted and it wasn't meant to be, I had such a phobia of guys at that time at Ohio State that did make it in the NFL. They'd bounce around from the World League. Back then, it was called the World League, and spring football league or arena football. And I just didn't want to be that guy. I was like, you know, you need to look in the mirror if it's not meant to be and move on.

And so being a business major, Ohio State was really good back then about trying to connect you in the business community there and try to find opportunities. And I did a number of interviews while I was still a student. So if I imagine graduating in June, I started to do interviews with pharmaceutical companies, a company called Worthington Industries, just trying to figure out what path I might go. And I mean, I went through three and four different interviews with a certain pharmaceutical company. I actually was about to accept the job. And I floated a couple of the local radio stations back then, just the idea,

hey, would you be interested in me coming on and being hired by you to work for you? and one of the stations happened to be going to an all-sports format. It was kind of a hot thing back in the early and mid-90s, going to more of an all-sports format. And so they offered me an opportunity. So I was kind of at a fork in a road where am I going to go the pharmaceutical sales route, kind of the traditional route? By the way, making, you know, back in the early 90s opportunity to make a base salary of $60,000, $70,000

and 401K company. car expense account, all the stuff that you're kind of trained to think that that's, that's the route to go. And in fact, every person I talked to, family, friends, the girlfriend I had at the time, she was about my eighth year of dating her. Everybody was pretty much like, are you out of your mind? I mean, this job's offering you stability. This job's offering you $12,000.

No benefits, nothing. No future. Just kind of a, sounded like a fun thing to do. I grew up listening to Talk Radio in Southwest Ohio at the time. WLW with Chris Collinsworth and I just was a sports junkie and I could not say no. So even though everybody was telling me no, I chose to go the route of being a talk show host, a radio host and making $12,000. I never came from money.

So money didn't really, wasn't something I was chasing. And I had two roommates. We lived in an apartment. I could afford my share of rent and cable and phone. and everything you paid for back then. And so I took the radio job and loved it. You know, we're in the heart of Ohio right in Columbus, where you'd not talk not only Ohio State,

but the Cleveland Indians were really big. Jacobsfield was just being built. Albert Bell, Carlos Byerga, Kenny Lofton, so the Indians were massive. I was a Reds fan, so I'm talking Reds, Indians, Browns, Bengals, you name it. And so I was in heaven. And I envisioned that was going to be my, life. I thought I'd be a sports talk host for the rest of my life and was more than proud to be

able to accept that is my future. And I kept getting, you know, of all guys, Jack Aruitt kept bothering me. I'd be doing Ohio State radio sideline. And Jack Root, every time Ohio State seemed to be on ABC every week. And he and Brent Musburger would be in town doing a game. And every time Jack would would see him on the sideline, he's like, there you are again with your radio. Like, when are you going to get into TV. I never even occurred to me to get into TV until he kept bugging me two or three, four times. The problem was I had no experience. So I had to put a tape together. I didn't even know what putting a tape together meant back then. And so I just kind of had to figure it out. But no, I was very content just being a radio guy. And like I said, I thought that was going to be really

my future. To put this audition tape together, you enlisted Ohio State stars Eddie George and Joey Galloway? Yeah, yeah, I did. Eddie was a year away from winning the Heisman trophy.

He won that in 95. This was kind of the winter spring of going into the 95 season. And he and Joey Galloway were kinded up, living in the area, buddies of mine. time and still are. But back then I said, hey, guys, do you mind? I have access to a CBS affiliate

WBNS in Columbus 10 TV. I said, I can get a studio. Do you guys mind coming over, meet me? I'm going to create just like this fake show. We'll call it Buckeye Corner. And I'll just kind of talk to you guys for about 15 minutes. And they were cool enough to do that. So we did the 10 TV was nice enough to film that for me. And I just did a, about a 10 or 15, 20 minute interview with them, talking about their careers and everything they had achieved. So I put that on a tape. I put some of my actual radio show that I was doing on a tape.

And then the funny thing is a cameraman from that same station, a guy named Mick Lewis, he went over there to Ohio Stadium, empty Ohio Stadium. This is like February, March, about 30 to 40 degrees outside, freezing out. And I did two or three fake sideline reports. acting like Brent Musburger or Keith Jackson or somebody threw it down to me. And I just made up a report, again, because I had no experience.

So I put those reports, the Buckeye Corner Show that I did, and some actual radio show content on a tape. No one really told me how to put a tape together other than the folks at 10 TV. So I put that all on a reel and sent it to ABC Sports and to ESP. And didn't hear anything back for for a few months until late spring, early, early summer. And ABC sent me a letter back saying, thank you, but no thanks. We'll kind of put your name on file. And ESPN, and they weren't together as much back then as they are, you know, as they have been for a number of years. And so ESPN had their kind of own silo of college football coverage.

And kind of Mo Davenport ran that division. at the time. And he reached out to me and said, we'd love to bring in him for an audition. And I went in and did an audition, which was just crazy. As we're talking about it, I haven't thought about that in a long time, but that was a scary, crazy time, at the time, 26-year-old trying to figure out, you know, if I was going to end up getting into TV or not. You just put this tape in the mail. Nobody was calling ESPN and saying, hey, look out for this Hirst Street guy. No. No, I looked up ESPN's address. the internet didn't exist.

So I didn't even remember how I got the address. Think about that. The internet didn't exist, you know. But I sent it to ABC Sports and ESPN. It was, I think it was one Bristol way, Bristol, Connecticut, 06,0 is where I sent it. And somehow got in the hands of Mo Davenport. And he was cool enough to call me back. and brought me in for that audition.

ESPN hired you to do some college football sidelines. You wound up calling a game. You did some arena league football. Fast forward to June of 96. This is the next year. Yeah. What do you remember about your audition for college game day? Oh, my God.

I was absolutely terrified. They brought Lee Corso and Chris Fowler, who to me were, you know, they actually told me you're not going to get the job, but it'd be really good for your career just to go through the experience. That's what Mo Davenport told me. And I was like, awesome, cool.

I appreciate it. So I just came in and they gave me some notes to look through from the previous season. So I looked at some notes. And I did that for about an hour. And then they brought me into the studio. And there's Chris and Lee. And Lee right away, came right over, just could not have been any more gracious. Chris was really cool, but busy.

You know, he was getting ready to kind of show. trying to figure out what, you know, what are we doing here? And I was just talking with Lee about football and my dad and him. And my dad coached. And so we talked a lot about that. And then, man, back then it was done. Da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da. And I was like, holy, I can't believe I'm sitting next to Lee Corso.

And we just did kind of a fake segment. You know, we talked about Colorado and, you know, they would show highlights of a game. we'd come out of that highlight pack. Chris would go to a, you know, a full screen graphic of the game. And then we'd come on camera. And, you know, Lee would just, you know, he would make his comment about the game and turn to me.

And I would just kind of play off a Lee and make my, you know, dress to camera, make my comment about the game. Probably did that for maybe 10 minutes. They shook my hand, thanked me, and I left. I was on my way. I thought I was sweating profusely. I was so nervous.

And I was like, I'm glad I went through this experience at 26 years old. I'll definitely never get that job. I was right in the middle of, like you said, my arena football season. So I was busy, a guy by the name of Kurt Warner, who ended up being a Hall of Fame quarterback in the NFL. He was a quarterback back then for the Iowa Barnstormers. So we were constantly in Des Moines doing games and all over the country doing arena football with Todd Christensen, who was doing at that time to play by play. And so I was doing arena football and didn't really hear back from them.

That was maybe early to mid-spring. Didn't hear anything, not thanks but no thanks, not your hire, nothing until early August. You know, I was getting ready to call another arena game. And back then, you know, you would use, I remember I was in the, I think I was in a Detroit airport. You go to a pay phone. and I called my attorney slash agent at the time. And remember those sprint things? You hit an 800 number.

I don't know if you remember that. But he hit an 800 number and goes, boom. And then you dial the number that you're going to call. And I called him and I said, hey, what's up? He's like, well, we heard back from ESPN. And I was like, you know, okay, just thinking, I'm not getting it. And he's like, congratulations. They want to hire you.

And I was like, I just remember my life just like, froze like I've just holy cow like people are walking by you know on their way trying to catch flights and my life just was like I mean what just happened what I mean I'm 26 I just got hired to sit next to Corso and Fowler on college game day that was like a 10 year dream goal of mine never probably think it would ever be a reality and here I was you know just a year into into this profession and I'm going to be sitting on the college game day set for the night the next season the 1996 college football season so yeah I mean I what you're describing other than writing the book with jean I haven't I haven't thought about those those times in a long long time did you ever hear from

ESPN about why they thought you were the guy for game day over the years I've heard from like Howard Katz and Mo Davenport, the people who were the decision makers. And what I was always told was really from Howard, who I think was kind of the main guy, they just felt that they felt a connection between Lee and I. They just, there was just something that TV people can kind of feel some chemistry. And even though we had never worked together, I think that they felt like, you know what, There's something right here that's going to work, and they ended up pulling the trigger, kind of taking a chance. Corso was 61 years old when that season started, 1996.

What were your first impressions of him as a TV performer? I thought he was the greatest entertainer that I had ever seen. I marveled at what he was doing and how he was doing it. I was a, I always looked at myself. I still do to this day, I kind of looked at myself as I wasn't a prominent name as a player. If you didn't live in the Big Ten, then you probably didn't know who I was. And so I had a little bit of a chip on my shoulder about that. And so I was in my mind trying to be over-prepared on XO, XO, XO, XO, XO, XO, XO, X, O.

I tried to know everything about everything analytically. And I'm sitting next to a guy that's, you know, I always use the example of, like, like Arkansas against Michigan, well, that's the pickup trucks against the Cadillacs. And I'm going with the pickup trucks. And I'm like, what, what, you know, I'm sitting here breaking down the two deep and the quarterback and the offensive line. And he's over there talking about pickup. And he used to look at me like, man, is there anybody you didn't talk to this week?

You know, just kind of almost making fun but like lighthearted way. That was the one thing. I'll never forget. He and I, because my dad was a coach and my high school coach. you know, he was a, you know, sir, yes, sir kind of guy. I just was always like, respect your coach kind of guy. And when I've started, because Craig James and he had a very, very kind of aggressive, they would go after each other.

And I remember about middle of the year, a guy came up to me at ESPN who worked on game days, like, you'll never last if you don't figure out how to aggressively go after Corso. Because that's what Craig had done. And I just didn't think that I could do that. I, you know, I was calling him coach and, and Craig was calling him Lee. And I, you know, and I was, if I would disagree with him, I would disagree with him in a very kind of respectful man or not. Like, Craig would be like, and you're crazy old man, you know, just like in a kind of a fun kind of way. I could never do that.

So I remember them telling me, you know, that you'll never work if you don't start getting aggressive with Corso. And I was like, well, that's not going to work because I'm not going to go that route. But I just remember sitting next to him all those years, just like never trying to mimic what he was doing. But he taught me that I was allowed to kind of come outside of my box and be real and let my own personality come out, as opposed to just kind of being, you know, XO, you know, football, football, football. He allowed me to feel like, okay, I can definitely just talk and be myself. And I think I learned that as much from him as anything. At the beginning of the 96th season, Chris Fowler was 34 years old. What were your first impressions of working with Fowler?

Pros, pro. I just never knew how he did it, never worked with a teleprompter. And I remember thinking, how in the world is he pulling that off? Like, how is he one second, we're laughing? And then the next second, he turns to a camera and leads to a very, very serious, heartfelt story without a teleprompter. I just always was, and he never, ever fumbled or he never, like, stuttered, or he never was like, which camera? And, I mean, people don't understand it. It's like, it's like doing a, being a trapeze artist and not

working with a net. And, and what Chris was able to do, and, you know, there's eight or 10,000 people going crazy. And he is just, he is the point guard that was in charge of getting us to the right spot. And I just, uh, I was just blown away by both of them, really. And I think Lee and I kind of developed a on-air relationship because there was always a two shot of he and I kind of bantering back and forth, but make no mistake. I mean, Chris was not only the guy that was running the show on air. He was, he was the guy behind the scenes pushing back on the producer and the director and the CP, the coordinating producer on what the show needed to talk about that week. And really at the end of the day, he was kind of the editorial conscious of Game Day for those first 10 or 15 years that I was on the show.

I mean, he carried a massive hammer and people listened to what he said. And that was just kind of the way it was. So, yeah, Chris was, Chris, I know it takes a lot of pride in like where Game Day started when he, was on it to where it was when he ended before Reese Davis took over the show. And he should be proud of it because it was kind of his baby all those years. And like I said, not just on air, but a lot of the hard work he was doing behind the scenes too. Speaking of a hammer, you told me one time that in those early years, you'd throw out an opinion sometimes. It was a little safe, a little wishy-washy on the air. He would come back at

you. Oh, yeah. And be almost borderline rude with you to kind of shake you up and be like, uh-uh. Oh, yeah. You don't get to say that on the air. Yeah. And he would, it would, it would bother me because I was trying to be, I wasn't really good at being critical, um, early because I didn't want to upset a coach or a player. And Chris would, he would check me on it. Like if I, if I did, like you said, that safe comment, he would, he would say, so what you're saying, is this and then I would just be like whoa you know I would get I'd have to kind of address him and kind of go back and so now he and I there are a number of times he he would try to bring out a stronger opinion from me and he would get he knew he could poke me to do that and then we'd go to a break and I was like

looking at him like you son of a bitch you know like in my head I was really bothered that he would he would do that to me felt like he was almost laying me out to to drive you and but what he was trying to do is his job, which was especially early in my career, he was trying to like get more from me because next to me was Lee Corso. He didn't care. I mean, I remember we did,

we were in studio one time and Northwestern was playing Wisconsin, two really good teams. And Wisconsin had a game one. And instead of taking a knee and just kind of getting out of there, they hand the ball off and fumbled. And Northwestern recovered

and ended up going in to win the game. and they that's it from uh maybe it was madison i think that's it for madison let's go back to chris fowler and the guys in the studio and before chris can say okay well corso was like pounding the desk like that is unacceptable like he was barry alvarez and very alvarez i call al capone like with a pinky ring he goes barry alvarez needs to go right into that locker room and apologize to his team he lost he lost this game because of his decision that's 100% on him And I'm just like, holy cow, like just called him out, you know. And I was, I was never, to this day, I could never do that.

And he had no, no, it didn't bother him at all, no hesitation and just being emotional and passionate about that. And Chris was trying to pull some of that out of me, you know. And instead of being the polite guy, he wanted me to, you know, you got to have some conviction. You know, you have conviction in meetings. Why don't you do that on the air? So if I didn't go that route, he would try to poke me to try to get me to come, you know, bring more to the table. At Desjardin Insurance, we know that when you own a nail salon, everything needs to be perfect from tip to toe. That's why our agents go the extra mile to understand your business and provide

tailored solutions for all its unique needs. You put your heart into your company. So we put our heart into making sure it's protected. Get insurance that's really big on care. Find an agent today at Dejardin.com slash business coverage. A couple of questions about game day in 1996. It was not just a Saturday morning show. You guys were on all day and into the night. Yeah. Yeah. The game day show, and really early, it was an hour. I mean, I think back, like, game day was an hour and kind of miss those days really but it was one hour and it was a sprint and the game day desk would stay up and so you know we would go out you know depending on how long the noon game went if there was a collapsible window leading into the 330 game they would

maybe need us for for a segment so the three of us would go out there but that set was constantly ready to be activated at any moment, all the way till midnight. So you can imagine if a game was on ESPN or more ESPN than ABC, that if there was a, you know, hey, the guys in Bristol need you guys out on the set, because it's very unpredictable because the game's running a little bit faster before the next game. So we'd always be ready to go just in case to go out to the desk. And, you know, it was always fun. If you picked the game that you were at, if you made a pick against the home team and then that team went on to win. Inevitably, you would have 10 or 15,000 fans basically out there saying,

say you're sorry. Say you're sorry. You know, and Corso would turn to me and say, don't ever look back. Don't ever give them the satisfaction. Don't ever look back. So I'm learning from him. So I'm like, because you know, you want to look back. They're all, they're right there yelling at you.

And he's like, don't you dare look back at them. Don't give them satisfaction. So I would just be like, you know, like they're, they really seem mad. You sure I can't apologize? He's like, look straight, you know, like. And so we would do our segments with people cuss in and yelling at us. And then when we were done, then he would kind of turn to him and say, hey, great win, you know, after we were done.

And then we would, we would leave. But yeah, that death stayed up all the way to pretty much college football final, which was, you know, in the week. hours. In those early days, fans would sometimes throw stuff at you guys on the set. Oh, yeah. Yeah, before we put up a kind of a net, that protective net, I remember two different occasions. We were at LSU doing an LSU Alabama game and Corso picked Alabama and he put on an elephant hat. This is before he did the helmets and he had a massive Alabama red or crimson red uh or crimson flag with an A on it and he's picking Alabama right in the heart of Baton Rouge and here comes a golf ball flying from I don't know

30 yards out and it just happened to hit the the flag that he was waving and it landed right right on the desk and then another time we're this is a scary one we were in east Lansing and I this was what brought the net on. We were in East Lansing, I think in 97, when Michigan won the national title, and we both picked Michigan in East Lansing to beat Michigan State. Michigan State was a pretty good team. Nick Sabin was the head coach at the time. Lloyd Carr was a coach at Michigan, Charles Woodson, Brian Greasy, Thai Streets, really good Michigan team. Like I said, would go on to win a title. But anyway, time to make our picks, and we both pick Michigan. And, and, somebody threw a full beer can from way back. And it came, it just whizzed right between Lee and I.

And when it landed, it exploded on the, on the floor of the set. And that one, if it would have hit me in the back of the head or Corso in the back of the head, that would have been national news. We would have been probably knocked out. I mean, at the very least, probably had a concussion. And so literally, from that week on, that was it. You know, they started to bring the nets. Another time somebody threw, we were in Ann Arbor doing Ohio State, Michigan. I think it was also 97. Somebody threw an ice ball while I was live on a single,

hit me right in the chest with an ice ball. And it was hard enough to go, you know, as you're talking on air. So, yeah, that kind of changed the game, I think, for the old college game day guys after getting bombarded a few times, those first couple years. The huge moment of that fall, of course, and you refer to this, October 5th, 1996 in Columbus,

when Corso says he wants to put on a mascot head for the first time, Brutus Buckeye. What did you make of the idea when he first told you? I thought it sounded crazy. You know, I never thought about, you know, up to that point,

he'd always just ask somebody to grab, hey, you know, stage manager, you see that guy's hat over there? Go get that. The craziest hat he could find, he would ask if he could borrow the hat, and then the stage manager would bring it back. And he would wear like a ball cap that had maybe horns on it or whatever it was. And that was his way.

So he was just always trying to push the envelope on creativity. And so my wife had cheered at Ohio State at that time, just maybe two or three years prior to that. And the cheerleading coach was a one. woman by the name of Judy. So he called me middle of the week and said, hey, do you mind asking Allison if she'll ask the cheerleading coach if I can wear Brutus, um, Brutus's head gear for my pick. I want to pick the Buckeyes and I think it'd be fun to put Brutus on. And I was like, yeah, I thought I'd never seen a grown man with a suit on put on the Brutus head. I thought it'd be a

no brainer. They would, they would, they would be okay with it. That's when I learned how protective of these schools are with the mascot head. It's not as easy as you would think. They're very protective of that. And so Judy told Ali no. We're not doing that. So I called him back and said no. They said no.

I'm thinking it was no big deal. Then like the next day he's like, try one more time. I got to get this. We try it again. Judy said no. Then he went to the athletic director, got the athletic director involved. and the athletic director saw, I guess, the publicity and that kind of thing. And he got it done.

And so that's how that first game that he did that. And when he put Brutus on, I thought it was a one and done. Like I don't think he did it. You might know this. I don't think he did it the next week. I think it was maybe a few more times that year. But from that point, it did not become a regular thing. I think it took a little bit of time until he started to do it every week.

It's so funny to think about now because if a producer came forward, they'd say, hey, we're trying to create a moment for social media. Right, right. Like a two-minute clip, we're going to tweet this out as soon as it happens. But this is 1996. No social media. It's just a moment on television. That's it. And if you saw it, you saw it, and if you missed it, you missed it.

Exactly. And you say there was no guarantee he was going to do it again. Yeah. Yeah. And I don't even know, we'd have to ask him. I don't even know if he thought this is going to become my thing. Like, I don't know how that, I, I, I don't know how that. all these years I've never asked him what made you think because he did not do it the next week or the week after.

I wonder what made him go back to it. And I wonder what made him think I'm going to do this every week from that point on. I don't know what the answer is to that. But obviously, over time, it became an iconic moment in college football lore to see which headgear Lee Corso was going to put on. But yeah, he kind of stumbled into that. And that's why it was so fitting last year, the opening weekend, to have the last headgear on that first show where he was being honored and back in Ohio State for a big game against Texas. And the band spelled out Corso instead of the script Ohio and 100,000 fans there to give him a standing ovation. I think it was pretty cool.

It started there in Columbus and then it ended there as well. A couple quick ones for you, Kirk, before you go. we always hear about that first wave of coaches that really got how game day could help their programs, the Nick Sabins, the Mac Browns. Who were the coaches who said, you know what? Sorry, guys, this is a distraction. I don't have time for you. I don't want anything to do with your TV show.

I don't think Joe Paterno ever, I mean, he was okay with this coming on his campus, but I don't think he ever, anything about his generation. I don't think he ever thought that it was something that was advantageous to him or his program. The guy that got it the most of anybody was Frank Beamer. Frank Beamer was trying to build Virginia Tech and had Michael Vick and wanted the recognition and wanted the attention and felt that with game day coming, that put the stamp of approval that his program had arrived. And so he he was the one that opened up his stadium. And our first show where we had, you know, 20,000 people around the set was inside Lane Stadium where they opened up, even though it was a night game against Syracuse. They opened up the gates and the lower level on the home side was filled from one end zone to the other.

And we can't, I'll never forget coming out. Because usually we're just in a field back then, somewhere in a field with maybe. you know, a thousand people, max. And we walked out, and I was just like, I cannot believe how many people are out here. And I remember talking to Coach Beamer about that. And he's like, man, we were building our program. And we thought from a recruiting standpoint and just trying to show people

that we belong up there with the big boys, what better way than get Hokie Nation to really embrace it. So I'll never forget. Like I always tip my calf to Virginia Tech because of what Hokie. Nation did for our show. But yeah, the one guy that kind of stands out that just was kind of like arms length with it was Joe Paterno. What was the biggest difference between Herbie year one on game day and all the

years that followed? I would probably say like anything else with repetition comes confidence. And it's one thing to work and prep and work and prep. But I was really taken back by how receptive fans. were of me. I remember talking to people in those early years, like, we missed Craig James, and we didn't know who, who's this blonde-haired guy sitting next to Lee Corso. We had no idea who you were. And then over time, we started to realize, like, I don't know who that guy is, but damn, he sounds really informed, and I really like his takes on the sport. And so when you

start that way, when people, who is this guy on the right? And then to a point where it's like, I want to hear what he has to say, that, that really changes how you approach your job and to feel that love from not just, you know, in the Big Ten region, but throughout the SEC back then the Pac-10, becoming the Pac-12, you know, just all over the Big 12, the Big 12, the ACC all over the country. It was just for a guy that grew up loving college football to be accepted over, you know, the course of that first year, it was just, it just, it just, it just, it's, it. It was like Popeye eating his spinach. It just gave me so much confidence. And so it wasn't just a prep.

It was the confidence that I belonged. And that's when I really started to kind of take off, I think, in my career. Finally, I saw you tweet that you saw Corso in Orlando a little over a week ago and that he got in a car and drove to see you in a rainstorm? Oh, yeah. Big, heavy storm. You know, down in Orlando this time. a year with all that heat and humidity. Those storms are so unpredictable. So the previous week, we were talking on the phone and he said, you know, I know you're coming because he spoke to this

group for 25 years. And when he couldn't do it anymore, they asked me over the last couple years. And he said, hey, I know you're coming down. I really want to see you. Can I come over? I said, well, you come to the event. I'd love to see you. And he goes, I, you know, I don't, I don't really want to go to the event, but I want to see you. Just send me the, by the way, you can't text him. He doesn't text. He still has a flip phone. He was, send me the address to where you'll be at the FBI.

And I want to come over. And I said, how close do you live to the airport? Because I think the FBI is pretty close to the Orlando airport. He said, oh, I don't know. With traffic, could be 45 minutes. I go, Lee, you're not driving 40. When you know a guy, you can just say like this. you're not driving 45 minutes in afternoon traffic to come over there.

Let me get an Uber or a car. Like, you're not driving, but he is an old Italian dude. It's like, sweetheart, I'm driving. And I said, no, you're not driving. And I had no, I've never won about when he said, it's over. You have no chance. He goes, no, sweetheart, I'm driving. I go, Lee, I can say this.

You're 91. Like, you're not driving. He goes, I still drive. go, you were a terrible driver 30 years ago, let alone, I used to be terrified getting in a car with him the way he would drive. And so anyway, I was just like, you're not, you're not driving. And he goes, well, I'll see you there. So we land and I step off the plane and there's a car ready to get me. And I go, wait a second, I got to go say hi to Lee. And I turn to the FBI and there's sliding doors are opened. And there he is walking, walking towards me. And I was,

just like that son of a buck he drove over he drove all the way over here because it was a huge storm so we talked about that and of course he downplayed it like it was no big deal but it was so great to see him and and just get caught up you know last time i saw him physically was the previous last football season not just for the opening game they honored him down at florida state maybe middle of the year early to middle of the year so we saw him that week as well but it's been a long time. So his cognitive thinking is incredibly sharp. He knows what's going on.

He's got that glisten still in his eye. He looks great. You know, he's been through a lot, obviously, but has a very, very positive attitude. And we were crying, hugging each other when we first saw each other and spent about 20, 20, 25 minutes, just hanging out, getting caught up on life. And when you try to ask him about him,

he'll give you a one or two word answer and then deflect he always is he wants to know like how things going at amazon how things going to the espion are you happy are you okay you know what what are you thinking are you going to come back you know you're going to sign another uh deal like he he and then when i answer him sweetheart remember like he always always still to this day giving me advice on my career and and um he's the guy my whole other than my agent lee corsso is the guy throughout my entire career, I would call for advice. Like when Amazon asked me five years ago to start doing NFL games, first guy I called was him asking him about his thoughts on it. When I left the Thursday night telecast with him and Mike Tariko to go call the games on ABC with Musburger, first guy I would

talk to was him. He's always been kind of that guy. I call him Yoda or, you know, he's kind of like the godfather. I always say sitting in a chair with a dark room, kind of peasant. getting a cat and you go to him with, you know, some kind of question about your life and you go on for 10 or 15 minutes. He's just sitting there listening and then he puts his finger up and just gives you a pearl, you know, it's undefeated in my life of listening just sits there. It doesn't interrupt you, lets you pour out your heart and then basically he's like, and he'll give you a story about his life and then he'll then he'll bring it to your question and he's then he'll say sweetheart that's why this is what you need to do and i'm just like whatever he says i just do um because i respect him so

much and uh his wisdom of of gumming before me i i feel like that's that's he who knows better than him so i've just always listened to whatever he has told me and he's still still still still coaching me up on what to do in my career the image of him driving through a rainstorm made me think of the time you did game day at Virginia Tech. Lightning. And his car got struck by lightning. Yeah. Truly one of the most surreal things that's ever happened to anybody.

I mean, think about how many cars are at a football game, at a stadium that seats 80,000 people. And of all the cars, his got, it was a big storm. His gets hit by lightning. And then, of course, he used that line for the rest of his career. I don't know what a hokey is, but God's one of them. Go Hokies. Yeah, that was like his line.

That was his line for the rest of his career. Kirk Herb Street's about to start season 31 on college game day, Clemson, LSU week one, Ohio State, Texas, week two, and just announced to LSU Ole Miss, week three. Kirk, thanks for coming on the press box. My pleasure. Have a great year. That's the press box.

I'm Brian Curtis. Production magic by Isaiah Blakely and John, not Bones, Jones. coming up tomorrow. That is Thursday on the press box, the August issue. Me and Joel Anderson are going to have plenty of lukewarm takes about college football and how we cover it today, and on the media generally, of course. We'll see you then.