Kirk Herbstreit describes how Dabo Swinney beat Urban Meyer to punch

Herbstreit poses with his sons in New Orleans.

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Thu Oct 08 15:01:03 GMT-04:00 2020

ESPN college football analyst Kirk Herbstreit loves Ohio State and wanted his twin sons to go to his alma mater, but Dabo Swinney once again beat the Buckeyes to the punch.

Jake and Tye are redshirt freshmen in head coach Dabo Swinney’s program. Jake is a safety and Tye is a wide receiver, and both grew up big Ohio State fans – Kirk played quarterback for the Buckeyes and their grandfather Jim played and coached for the Buckeyes.

“You can’t control lunacy. I learned that a long time ago covering this sport," Herbstreit said on a media call of any Ohio State detractors after two of his sons picked Clemson. "My family, our family, we are passionate -- we’re not going to excuse who we are. We are passionate Ohio State people. My dad was a captain there. He coached with Woody (Hayes). I was a captain. I knew the fight song when I was three years old. My four boys knew the fight song when they were four years old. Their whole lives that was all they knew and cared about.”

Dabo Swinney intervened.

“And when it came time to go to school, they just happened to go to a Clemson camp going into their senior year and did pretty well,” Herbstreit said. “Dabo kind of kept an eye on them and stayed in touch with them and offered them an opportunity to be preferred walk ons, and they decided to take him up on it. And it was really as simple as that. Urban (Meyer) felt awful on the back end of that. He apologized quite a bit.

“He and the recruiting coordinator. But listen, this is my kids’ lives and my kids’ path. I would love to have seen them go to Ohio State, but I’m not going to tell them you have to go to Ohio State when Urban Meyer hasn’t offered you a preferred walk on. It wasn’t really an option. So it was really a simple thing. Dabo thought well enough for them to be invited to come to Clemson and they wanted to do it.”

Herbstreit said he trusts Dabo to do right by his sons.

“I have so much respect for Dabo and his program and how he runs it and the fact he was a former walk on himself,” he said. “So I knew they would be treated the right way. And since they’ve been there, I really go out of my way not to investigate and ask questions and probe other than how you guys doing? You feeling OK? You know, especially throughout this COVID they’ve been there since May 31. I inquire about their health. They’ve been quarantined a couple different times for contact tracing. Neither one of them have contracted the virus yet. So other than that, I just stay out of their way.

“I try not to be one of those parents that’s nosing around and putting them or me in a really uncomfortable position. So I’m glad that they’re enjoying it. I’m glad they love their program.”

There is still hope for the Buckeyes – Zak Herbstreit is in touch with the Ohio State head coach Ryan Day.

“And other than that, I have another son who’s coming up who’s he’s actually in contact quite a bit with Ryan Day and Ohio State,” Herbstreit said. “And I would guess he could very easily end up going up there. But, you know, people are crazy and they think and hear whatever they want to hear. You will not be able to sleep at night if you stay up worrying about what what people think and that kind of thing, especially in this sport where it’s so passionate, opinionated, and to me, it kind of is what makes it fun.”