ANN ARBOR, Mich. – Kirk Herbstreit shared the story of his first interaction with Ohio State football coaches after his son chose to go to arch-rival Michigan over his dad’s alma mater.
Herbstreit joined “Pardon My Take” on Wednesday to talk about the state of college football ahead of the first 12-team playoff, and his son’s commitment came up.
“How was the reception when your son committed to Michigan?” Dan “Big Cat” Katz asked. “That caused some waves.”
Chase Herbstreit is a three-star quarterback from St. Xavier High School in Cincinnati. He committed to the Wolverines on Dec. 8, 2024.
Normally, the addition of a three-star quarterback in a class that includes No. 1 recruit and five-star QB Bryce Underwood wouldn’t cause much of a stir.
But this was the son of one of the faces of the sport. Kirk Herbstreit is a staple on College GameDay, a respected analyst, and a talented color analyst.
He’s also a former Buckeyes quarterback, and even though his relationship with Ohio State fans has been a roller coaster over the years, his son going to Michigan caught a lot of people by surprise.
Here’s what Kirk Herbstreit said about the situation, including the story of his first time seeing the Ohio State coaching staff since his son’s commitment:
Yeah I’ve kind of stayed out of that world a little bit. I haven’t seen a whole lot of reaction intentionally, just because I know 80% of people are thrilled, 20% are going to be jacka----, so I just decided -- it’s one thing to take shots at me, but if you take a shot at my kid and you want to get in a fight, it’s not hard for me to want to do that, so I just try to ignore that stuff the best that I can and just kind of stay focused on the positive.
What an opportunity for him. This is a kid that grew up a lifelong Ohio State fan. Of all my kids, he’s the guy that cried when they lose games. He’s an Ohio State junkie.
Ohio State did not really pursue him to the point of offering him a scholarship. They were close to -- they were, like, listen, man this new rule -- that’s the big thing with this new world that you talked about. Right now, you can have 85 on scholarship but 125 are in the program. Well, the new world that you’re referring to, this (revenue) share, football is going to be affected, but it’s going to go down to 105 (players).
So you can only have 105 guys on your team. Now, you can put 105 on scholarship, but a lot of these guys are not. They’re just kind of in a wait-and-see approach. So guys like my son, Chase, who was kind of fighting for those last couple spots for a scholarship or potentially a preferred walk-on, he’s kind of in that area where he’s fighting.
Most of those guys -- big schools like Michigan and Ohio State and Notre Dame, the schools he was looking at the most -- they’re almost, hey, ‘Why don’t you go to the MAC? We’re going to bring in this portal guy who we know a little bit more about.’ They’re really not into developing young players and investing and hoping that they become a great player.
So Chase got a huge opportunity to do this. Sherrone Moore and his staff believe, and I think they’ve seen his competitive spirit and his fire and what he did on the field this year to give him this opportunity.
It’s very different for our family because our family, behind the scenes, is Scarlett and Gray our whole lives. Big Cat, it’d be like you having a son who’s Wisconsin born and bred, brainwashed, and all of a sudden he goes to Michigan. It is quite a thrill. Obviously, we’re beyond ecstatic for him.
I went to senior day for my other son, who had a heart situation. He was part of the senior class of the Ohio State players, so it was a family-only event this past Sunday, and I went in there really nervous to wonder how the Ohio State coaches (would react), because none of them texted me, ‘Hey congratulations on Chase.’ I didn’t hear anything from anybody, so I was a little bit, ‘Should I go? Should I not go?’
I went because I needed to be there for my other son. … I talked to (Ohio State offensive coordinator) Chip Kelly afterwards. I talked to (head coach) Ryan Day afterwards. Nobody said anything. It was like, ‘Yeah, OK, yeah I’ll be here. I’ll see ya next week for Tennessee, looking forward to it. I’ll call you this week.’ It was just kind of like business mode, you know? That’s good by me.
Kirk Herbstreit
Between Underwood and whoever Michigan pursues in the transfer portal over the next few years, it’s unlikely Chase Herbstreit will see the field at quarterback for the Wolverines. In a football sense, this isn’t a major topic.
But the reaction that Kirk Herbstreit described is just further proof that Michigan is a sore subject for the Buckeye coaching staff. It’s not hard to understand their reasoning four that.
