SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — The college football season is filled with stories about players suiting up for their boyhood teams.
But what about playing against the school you grew up loving, the team that would bring joy to your life when they won and utter anguish if they lost? That’s what Jake and Tye Herbstreit will face Saturday in the Fiesta Bowl.
The Clemson freshmen, twin sons of ESPN analyst Kirk Herbstreit, were devoted to the Ohio State cause, quick to admonish any southerner who dared to put down the Buckeyes.
“Despite what the lunatic fringe may have you believe, we’re die-hard, passionate Ohio State people in every sense of the word,” former Ohio State quarterback Kirk Herbstreit told The Blade. “My kids have been brainwashed properly to be Ohio State fans. We’d go to the Big Ten basketball tournament when they were little. They were usually at every football game.
“Even when we moved to Nashville when they were in fourth grade, their classmates were all Tennessee or Auburn or Alabama fans, and they would get into heated debates holding the fort down for Ohio State with these SEC fans.”
Some 58 hours before kickoff Thursday, Tye was reliving the previous Ohio State-Clemson games, voice straining with a pained look of disbelief on his face.
“They beat us in the Orange Bowl and then that big blowout, that was a tough one,” the 5-foot-10, 165-pound wide receiver said.
Keep in mind, “they” is Clemson and “us” is Ohio State. Tye is a walk-on receiver for the Tigers, not the Buckeyes. But it’s hard to get the scarlet and gray out of your blood when your dad is one of the school’s most recognizable alums, your mom is a former OSU cheerleader, and your earliest memories are of the Buckeyes.
“It’s been a part of my life ever since I was born,” said Tye, who received an academic honor this season.
Jake and Tye entered public life as toddlers when they appeared on the set of ESPN’s College GameDay in 2002. The traveling college football pregame circus was in Columbus for the Ohio State-Washington State game, and the twins were on stage for the prediction segment, wearing OSU jerseys as their dad and Lee Corso, donning the Brutus head, picked the Buckeyes.
Ohio State fans immediately embraced the twins, who became regulars on GameDay anytime it appeared in Columbus. Their most memorable guest spot was being on with LeBron James. They grew up in Upper Arlington, in the shadow of Ohio Stadium, until moving to Tennessee in 2011.
The twins attended an Ohio State, Clemson, and Alabama camp during their high school careers, receiving preferred walk-on offers from the Tigers while they were on campus.
“Once I visited Clemson, I realized that was the fit for me,” said Jake, a 5-foot-11, 170-pound cornerback, who’s mimicking Shaun Wade on the scout team. “It was a cool experience being recruited, especially by Clemson. It’s been very team-oriented. Coach [Dabo] Swinney does a great job. Everyone feels welcome on the team, everyone feels a part of it. It’s just really a strong group.”
The experience for Tye has been similar, speaking highly of the culture Swinney’s set. When Clemson came on their radar, Kirk was quick to approve of what he’d witnessed at Clemson and the program Swinney built.
Clemson is a family affair, with Swinney’s two sons on the team, along with the son of defensive coordinator Brent Venables and strength coach Joey Batson. Jake and Tye appeared in four games this season and will redshirt.
“[Kirk] let me know early that they wanted to go to a big school and walk-on,” Swinney said. “They were going to have some smaller offers, but they really wanted to go to a bigger school and kind of get that experience. I knew that early, and so we got them in camp, and I had an opportunity to spend time with them.”
The first time the Herbstreits’ Ohio State connection tugged at them was Nov. 30. As they stood on the Clemson sideline inside Williams-Brice Stadium during the South Carolina game, they realized they were missing Ohio State-Michigan for the first time in their lives.
“That game just has so much tradition and meaning,” Jake said. “It was weird to not be participating in watching that game.”
It got weirder a week later when Ohio State and Clemson were slotted as the second- and third-ranked teams by the College Football Playoff selection committee. Kirk was live on the air revealing the CFP bowls when his phone started buzzing. The Herbstreit Family group text thread was getting heated.
“Right away, the trash-talking started, especially from my seventh grader [Chase],” Kirk said. “He is blinded by Ohio State. I could be playing for Clemson and he would wish for my demise. He was giving them the business. ‘You haven’t played anybody! You’re going down!’”
Jake and Tye laughed while discussing Chase’s daily trash talk. Mom Allison will be the only member of the family wearing orange on Saturday. The family dynamic could have made for an awkward couple of weeks, but the twins have embraced the matchup and admitted to hoping Ohio State would be Clemson’s opponent.
“This is a dream scenario,” said Tye, who’s playing the role of Garrett Wilson on the scout team this week. “It was surreal when I saw our two team names up on the board. I’m really excited for Saturday. Hopefully, it goes our way.”
Twenty-four years have passed since Kirk debuted on ESPN, becoming a voice that’s synonymous with college football and one of the sport’s preeminent broadcasters. His truthful commentary has drawn the ire of Buckeye fans, leading to an on-again, off-again relationship with the passionate fan base.
But he hasn’t let the vocal minority diminish his feelings toward Ohio State. Herbstreit, like his sons, had a youth that was consumed by the Buckeyes, including personal interactions with Woody Hayes. Herbstreit’s father, Jim, was a captain on the 1960 team. Saturday will offer a unique first, though, with Kirk’s alma mater on one side and his sons on the other.
“Of course you want Ohio State to win every game they play. I'm a human being,” Herbstreit said. “It's not like I turned in my Ohio State colors being an analyst. I remember taking a knee after Ohio State beat Oregon [in the 2014 national championship game] after the confetti came down. All the holding back, I'm an objective professional, eight weeks of that came out and I was crying. I was so happy and proud for that team.
“You don’t lose that, but you have a job to do and you turn a switch on when you analyze the game. When I evaluate for Clemson, [my kids] aren’t on my radar. I’m prepping for the game right now and the last thing on my mind is that I went to Ohio State. I’m trying to figure out Trevor Lawrence, Justin Fields, Travis Etienne, and Brent Venables.”
First Published December 26, 2019, 10:58 p.m.
