Kirk Herbstreit had some unfortunate news to share ahead of the college football season.

While appearing on The Bret Boone Podcast, Herbstreit revealed that his dog, Ben, was diagnosed with Leukemia and had a major procedure. ESPN and Amazon Prime broadcasts have featured Ben alongside Herbstreit on the field pregame in recent seasons.

Calling it a difficult past few weeks for the golden retriever, Herbstreit remains hopeful that Ben will be able to join him on the road this fall.

“We’ve had a tough offseason. I haven’t really told anybody this, he got diagnosed with leukemia and most recently had to have an operation where they had to take a couple of masses,” Herbstreit said on the podcast, per Awful Announcing. “They had to open him up and took out his spleen where there was a mass and then another mass on his intestine, which is a pretty big procedure when you’re 10 years old.

“I didn’t know if we were going to lose him or what. He did not respond favorably the first three or four days; wouldn’t eat, wouldn’t go to the bathroom. This was just probably two-and-a-half weeks ago, and he’s slowly kind of coming out of that state and is back to taking walks and eating and wagging and starting to get back to his personality. So I am praying every day for him and hoping that he’s going to be OK – first of all just to be OK and then secondly, hope to be able to take him on the road with me again this year.”

Last week, Herbstreit confirmed in a social media post that Ben will not be making the trip to Dublin, Ireland. Herbstreit is traveling across the pond for College GameDay at the Week 0 game between Florida State and Georgia Tech. Herbstreit hopes that Ben will be up to traveling to Kyle Field for the Week 1 showdown between No. 7 Notre Dame and No. 20 Texas A&M. GameDay will be in Bryan-College Station for the big game.

Herbstreit is entering his 29th season at ESPN and 11th year alongside Chris Fowler calling Saturday Night Football games broadcast on ABC. ESPN has announced Herbstreit will call Notre Dame at Texas A&M on Saturday, Aug. 31 and LSU vs. USC in Las Vegas on Sunday, Sept. 1.

We hope to hear good news on Ben!