Kirk Herbstreit

Kirk Edward Herbstreit was born on August 19, 1969, in Centerville, Ohio, as the son of the former co-captain of the 1960 Ohio State team, Jim Herbstreit. He went to Ohio State University and graduated with a degree in business administration in 1993. Kirk met Allison Butler when she was a cheerleader in his university and the duo got married on June 13, 1998. They had identical twin sons Jake and Tye in 2000 and later two more sons, Zak and Chase, in 2003 and 2006 respectively. Kirk lives with his family in Franklin, Tennessee.

After graduating from Centerville High School in Centerville, Ohio, Kirk played as a quarterback for the Ohio State University football team during his senior years. After John Cooper was confirmed as the head coach of the Ohio State Buckeyes in 1988, Kirk became the very first player to commit himself to the team. In the next five years, Kirk established himself as one of the major names on the team and became a four-time letter winner. During his tenure, he played alongside Greg Frey and Kent Graham, and also led the team in 1992. He was voted the MVP in the 1992 season.

Interestingly, Kirk and his father Jim Herbstreit became only the second father and son duo to represent the Ohio State as captains as his father had represented the 1960 Ohio State team as co-captain along with offensive tackle Jim Tyrer. At one point, Kirk also held the record of most passes completed by any player for the Ohio State (28 passes for 271 yards in a 13–13 tie in 1992), before it was broken by Troy Smith in 2006.

After ending his playing career, Kirk Herbstreit became a commentator. He, along with Desmond Howard, Rece Davis, and Lee Corso, joined the expert panel in ESPN College GameDay set, discussing and analyzing the college football games, highlights and player profiles. He then joined ABC Sports' college football primetime series as an analyst alongside Chris Fowler, for which he was nominated for a 1997 Sports Emmy Award as television's top studio analyst.

He later worked as a color commentator for ESPN on Thursday night games. Eventually, he started commenting on Saturday night college football games on ABC and became a host for the weekly college football radio program on the radio station 97.1 The Fan in Columbus.