Kirk Herbstreit explains options for 2020 season, says Dabo is ‘all systems go’
ESPN analyst Kirk Herbstreit made headlines last month for comments he believes were “kind of misconstrued” and “misrepresented.”
Herbstreit said during an appearance on ESPN radio in March that he would be “shocked” if college football occurred in 2020, a statement he clarified during a conference call to preview the NFL draft on Monday.
“I was talking to a friend who works for ESPN radio — Ian Fitzsimmons. I was almost thinking out loud. It was the day baseball was supposed to start... we were reminiscing about how sad it is that we weren’t having any baseball. And I was like, ‘Hey man, but this thing’s scary. We may not even have football,’” Herbstreit recalled. “So I was kind of thinking out loud at that point.”
Herbstreit added that since his initial comments he has had talks with several decision makers in college football.
Herbstreit is not ready to make a prediction on what will happen during the 2020 season, but he did say that there are several options on the table.
“I think what they’ve done is they’ve built like three to four contingency plans based on what happens with this virus,” Herbstreit said.
The first contingency plan involves players arriving on campus in July, getting to work and the college football season being played as scheduled beginning in late August, according to Herbstreit.
If that doesn’t take place?
“Then they build it all the way back, the second (plan), the third, the fourth, all the way back to willingness to start in like late February or early March,” Herbstreit said, “turning it into a spring sport and playing in March and April and May and playing postseason in June — I think a last-ditch effort, which just proves how willing I think the administrators are with the NCAA and the conference commissioners and ADs and presidents, to having a college football season. So they’re going to do everything that they can, if it comes to that extreme, to be able to potentially have a 2020 season.”
Herbstreit is in a unique situation from most college football analysts in that he has sons currently playing the sport.
His ton Tye is a wide receiver at Clemson, while his son Jake is a cornerback for the Tigers. Herbstreit said Clemson coach Dabo Swinney has been optimistic with his sons and the rest of Clemson’s roster, just as Swinney was during a conference call with reporters earlier this month.
“There are some people whose glass is half full and there’s other people whose glass is almost overflowing. He’s just all systems go,” Herbstreit said. “He’s very similar to how he is when he talks with the media. He’s moving forward as if players are going to be on campus in June and getting them ready for camp in August and getting ready for the season in late August, early September.”
This story was originally published April 20, 2020 at 12:29 PM.
