Q&A with ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit
Next Saturday, ESPN analyst Kirk Herbstreit will have a busy start to the college football season. He will be part of ESPN’s “College GameDay” crew at Lambeau Field in Green Bay to preview the No. 6 LSU-Wisconsin game before flying to Arlington, Texas, to call the No. 1 Alabama-No. 12 USC game that night for ABC. Herbstreit discussed college football, including the No. 3 Sooners, in a conference call Wednesday afternoon.
I love it. I appreciate Joe (Castiglione) and Bob (Stoops) agreeing to play those games. It’s great for us as fans to be able to get excited to watch OU in two big games before they even get to conference play. I think the one good thing about scheduling like that in September is the winter conditioning and spring football, and especially the two-adays, you get the players’ attention because they know what’s coming up and they know how they are going to be challenged. OU has been able to accomplish that this year with the schedule.
I think everybody knows about Baker Mayfield, Samaje Perine, the talented backfield they have. I think that’s the obvious thing. The questions are where will they be with the offensive line. Who is going to step up and take over for Sterling Shepard? overseas, the less he enjoyed it. He was separated from family and living in places where he wasn’t always familiar with the cities, the language or the food.
About six or seven years ago, Sanders decided he wanted to get out of basketball sooner than originally planned. He had always taken care of his money, so he didn’t feel financial pressure to extend his career. Still, he first wanted to figure out what would be next in life.
He decided to test drive being a personal trainer.
He started working with other pros in Dallas during his offseasons. He trained several NBA players, including Kenyon Martin, and quickly realized how much he enjoyed the work.
Three years ago, he decided he was done playing. He had two or three good contracts on the table, but neither the money nor the competition was enough to sway him.
“I was just ready to do something different,” he said.
He figured he’d train people for a few hours a day, and at first, that’s exactly what he did. But it wasn’t long before his reputation spread and his hours expanded.
After only a few months, he had nearly a dozen clients.
A few years later, he now works from 4:30 a.m. until 8 or 9 p.m. every day. He trains athletes and non-athletes, men and women, young and old.
“It’s really, really good,” he said, laughing.
So good, in fact, he’s looking to hire a couple assistants, a process that might be accelerated when his work is linked to the hottest rookie in the NFL.
Prescott had gotten to know
I did a year ago. I am looking in the Big 12 at TCU I think to kind of surprise people. They went through so many injuries a year ago. I think they will be a lot better. (Quarterback) Kenny Hill can make them pretty dynamic on offense. I think TCU could be the team to beat in the Big 12. fellow Dallas rookie Ezekiel Elliott, whose agent is friends with Sanders. Both newbies were going to work with Sanders, but Elliott ended up working with a trainer in Ohio, where he played college ball. That left Sanders to work with Prescott. And work, they did. In one of their drills, Prescott held a football while running an agility course, sprinting around cones and backpedaling and doing quick feet through a rope ladder. But the whole time, Sanders pulled on a cord tethered to the football.
Remember how built Sanders was during his OSU days?
He’s every bit as buff today, so Prescott had to hold onto that football with all his might.
“His work ethic is unreal,” Sanders said. “We’re in the Texas heat — it’s a hundred and something degrees outside — and he’s just out there working his butt off. You can obviously see that carrying over to the season.”
Seeing his athletes perform well has fanned the flames of Sanders’ competitive fire. Even though he’s not playing the games or hitting the shots or grabbing the rebounds, he gets excited when someone who he’s trained is a difference maker.
Prescott has been the very definition of that in the preseason.
“Shoot, the Cowboys got a steal in him,” Sanders said. “This guy actually is really good.”
Melvin Sanders is like everyone else in the sports world these days — he knows exactly who Dak Prescott is now.