Kirk Herbstreit 'Shocked' if There's College Football in Fall

Former Buckeye, ESPN analyst can't see wisdom of putting players at risk

The power of Kirk Herbstreit's bully pulpit as the best college football analyst out there gives greater weight to his comments on the sport than anyone else in his profession.

Couple that reality with a non-existent news cycle and paranoia about the future of any sport in the COVID-19 precautionary era and you have the stew that boiled over in a full-on, college football universe freak out on Friday when Herbstreit said he would be "shocked" if the NFL or college played this fall.

Speaking on the Paul Finebaum Show, Herbsteit asked how schools could open locker rooms to players or "let stadiums be filled up" amid public health concerns.

“I’ll be shocked if we have NFL football this fall, if we have college football,” he said. "I’ll be so surprised if that happens. Just because from what I understand, people that I listen to, [say] you're 12 to 18 months from a vaccine.

"I don’t know how you let these guys go into locker rooms and let stadiums be filled up and how you can play ball. I just don’t know how you can do it with the optics of it.

"Next thing you know you got a locker room full of guys that are sick. And that’s on your watch? I wouldn’t want to have that.As much as I hate to say it, I think we’re scratching the surface of where this thing’s gonna go."

Obviously, Herbstreit is not a doctor, but the former Buckeye quarterback asks some pertinent questions the college football czars much grapple with if they decide to resume normal activity.

• What if a player or head coach gets sick; how long are they quarantined?

• What if the bulk of a team is infected; must it forfeit? One game? Two games? How many?

And the worst-case scenario is, of course, a player dying from the disease after contracting it during the season.

Is that an optic the NCAA or any conference wants to confront?

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