Chase Daniel explains how Kirk Herbstreit helped him in broadcasting career
Published:
Chase Daniel played the quarterback position with a certain flair for many seasons, especially while he starred at Missouri from 2005-08.
He went on to a 14-year career in the NFL, spending almost all of it as a journeyman backup, and even though he’s retired from playing. Daniel is still firmly entrenched in the game. Daniel joined ESPN prior to this season to call college football games with play-by-play guy Clay Matvick, who has been with the network for nearly 2 decades.
While Daniel is surely learning a lot from Matvick, he gave credit to Kirk Herbstreit, another longtime ESPN voice, for showing him the ropes regarding the college football analyst’s role.
“I remember when I got my first game interview or mock game for ESPN two years ago,” recalled Daniel during a recent appearance on the Awful Announcing Podcast. “I went down to Charlotte and I called a half of Georgia and Missouri. And I’ll tell you what, I was about as bad as you could possibly be because I’d never done it. It’s like a skill.”
But Herbstreit was there for Daniel when he needed him. Daniel spent 2 weeks on the phone with Herbstreit before the mock game, and he asked Herbstreit about everything he could possibly think of, from eye discipline to word choice to what Herbstreit does as he processes the game he’s watching in real time.
Attention Missouri residents! Sports betting will be legal in your state soon! Here’s a complete guide to all the best Missouri sports betting promos you can choose from!
The phone calls between Daniel and Herbstreit kept coming, and Herbstreit kept reaching out to Daniel, the former standout quarterback at Missouri who threw for 12,515 yards and tossed 101 touchdown passes during his 4 seasons in Columbia.
Daniel is still early in his broadcasting career and even earlier in his career at ESPN. But he’s developed a real bond with Herbstreit that started when Herbstreit was announcing Daniel’s games at Missouri way back when.
All these years later, Daniel is getting some solid advice from Herbstreit that is carrying him into his new football life.
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
