What Kirk Herbsreit said about Clemson-OSU, Trevor Lawrence and his son’s trash talk
Kirk Herbsreit had divided allegiances in this Fiesta Bowl. He’s an Ohio State alum and prominently identified with the school. But his two sons Tye and Jake Herbstreit made the choice to go to Clemson this year.
He spoke ahead Friday of the teams’ matchup about the game, his family and some of this history. He’ll be on the call Saturday night for ESPN’s Fiesta Bowl broadcast.
On his seventh-grader talking trash to his two sons on Clemson’s roster:
“He’s crushing them. ‘You haven’t played anybody, you’ll see.’ So if Ohio State loses, Ohio State players are gonna be sad. Nobody is going to take it harder than Chase.”
On where his wife is sitting for the game:
“She’s sitting in the family section of Clemson. So I’d love to have a camera on her to find out because my seventh-grader will not sit in the Clemson section. So I had to ask Ohio State for tickets. So we bought tickets for Ohio State for my other sons because my son wanted to wear an Ohio State jersey. But my wife, I think she’s trying to pull for Clemson because of our kids, but I know she’s also happy for Ohio State. ... We’ve got a family text chain and they’ve been having a lot of fun with just getting after each other. I’m like, ‘Chase, they’re not fans, they’re on the team.’ You’ve got to draw the line on how far this trash talking goes. You’re not on message board here. This is the family here but you gotta know where the line is.”
How Clemson appealed to his two sons and won out over OSU:
“I think it was more of Ohio State not looking at them. You know, I think Ohio State had talked with them a little bit. But Clemson was sending them literature like every week, basically treating them like a recruit. And so I think there was a feeling of they were wanted by Clemson. And so it was almost a no-brainer for them. And there were other schools for them to look at. But I think it was the culture at the end of the day that they were really impressed with at Clemson. (How do they like it?) Love it. I mean, you’re a redshirt, so whether you’re a preferred walk-on or a five-star, as a redshirt, you’re kind of on the back bench. You’re not really talked to much, you’re on the scout team, but I kind of talked to them before that. I said, ‘When you get that scout team jersey, whoever you are, you go out and be the best guy that you can be that week.’ Right now one of them is Garrett Wilson and the other one is Shaun Wade, and they’re running around making plays and trying to help Clemson get ready. So I think they’ve gotten that, but I think where they go from here will be very exciting to see and their development you know, whether you’re, like I said, a highly touted kid or a redshirt walk-on freshman. It’s all about development.”
On getting a dad moment with kids in the Fiesta Bowl:
“I’m so proud of them just for where they are. They very easily could have gone to a smaller school, but growing up in my family, they travel with me all the time. They go to these kind of games. And so I think when they decided to do a preferred walk-on and decided to go to a place like Clemson, of course I applauded them and whatever they wanted to do. And now that they’re on this team, we kind of kidded when we first started, said one day, maybe you’re going to play Ohio State. And here they are a redshirt freshman playing Ohio State. So it’s somewhat surreal for them and for us as a family, but yeah, I think every day I do a pretty good job of stepping back, had dinner with him last night as a family. It’s very cool.”
On calling the game with so many connections:
“Like you guys have a job to do, it’s really no different for me. I guess when you’re doing your job, and the ball is in the air and the guys are running plays, I’m not talented enough to be thinking about Ohio State and my kids. It takes every ounce of energy I have to analyze the game, to just watch the play and talk about what just happened. I feel like it’s my job to help the viewer understand the hows and the whys of the of the game. Now before the game, it’s cool to sit here and talk about it, after the game, definitely talk about it. But during that broadcast, it’s just it’s no different than any other game. Just lock in and analyze the game.”
On Trevor Lawrence’s growth and development:
“I think you see the natural development of getting reps. But I think the biggest thing I see is the ability to run, his willingness to be a runner, both designed and especially scrambling. He’s 6-6, 220. When people watch him, I don’t know if they realize he’s 6-6, 220. But when he gets away from trouble, last year, he would throw it away or he wouldn’t create. This year he’s creating and I think that makes a big difference in his game. I think he also is recognizing, people are trying to disguise on him. Last year, I think at times, he would get tricked. This year, through those repetitions, he’s now seeing, ‘Oh, they’re faking the blitz here,’ and now he’s going to the to the right place with the football. So I think that’s also another big difference. ”
On the OSU-Clemson matchup on the front line:
“I think in the interior favors Ohio State, their center and their two guards. I think what Brent [Venables] does to kind of compensate, it’s not like they went from having first-rounders to just trash. I mean, they still have some guys that are pretty talented. This freshman Tyler Davis is a future first-rounder, number 13. What he does is he gets those linebackers involved coming downhill so much. So it really puts a lot on the O-line. The O-line, a lot of times they’re working together and then they want to climb to get to the linebackers. But if these linebackers are coming down before I can get off with this guy, it puts a lot on me. So it affects the rhythm and the timing. So J.K. Dobbins all of a sudden, he’s bottled up. And that’s why that’s why they bring the ‘backers down. Those two ‘backers are really good players. So I think on paper, again, the interior could favor Ohio State, but the style of defense that they play. I think it favors Clemson trying to bottle up J.K. Dobbins.”
On the talent between the two teams:
“Just the personnel on the field on both sides, it gets you really excited to want to see this matchup. It feels like a national championship. When you look at the big-play ability of Clemson, the playmakers of Ohio State, Justin Fields and Trevor Lawrence, the backs. I mean, [Travis] Etienne probably hasn’t gotten a national exposure he deserves, and what JK Dobbins has done has been remarkable at Ohio State. The receivers and the secondary on both sides, of course Chase Young and his ability to rush the passer. It’s what you hope for when you get to this moment the season, and we have it. Now you just kind of, as a broadcaster, as a guy doing the game, it’s like, get us to the fourth quarter, let’s have a great game that comes down to the wire because on paper it has that kind of feel to it.”
On the matchup he’ll be most curious about:
“I think a game within a game will be Clemson wide receivers against the Ohio State secondary. I think that’s going to be a fascinating matchup, Tee Higgins and Justyn Ross, their length, both of them around 6-5, long arms and they’re going up against (Jeff) Okuda, who’s gonna be a top five pick possibly, 6-1, long arms. Damon Arnette, who’s a big physical corner, even though, he has the broken hand, he’s still been able to play with physicality. And Shaun Wade, who many Clemson fans probably aren’t familiar with, he’s probably a first-rounder if he decides to come out this year. I mean, think about all that talent going head-to-head in the style of defense that Ohio State plays, these guys are going to be on islands and it’s going to be who wins. So that to me is going to be fascinating to watch, and then the Chase Young factor in this game, how Clemson handles him. Did they think, ‘Hey, we’re Clemson. We don’t worry about guys like Chase Young. We’re going to play him straight up?’ Or do they think, ‘We’re trying to play man up but you know what, we’ve got slide or we’ve got to chip with a backer’? How do they handle Chase Young, the potential of what he can do to disrupt an offense?”
On the chess match between Ryan Day and Brent Venables, and one broadcast tweak he wants:
“I asked our producer and director for the broadcast that we want to watch the game and I want to give the viewer — because they don’t see this often — I want to put in the corner, I want to show Ryan Day with the headsets and as the quarterbacks getting ready to snap the ball. You’ll see Fields look over to the sideline. I want to show people what he’s looking at, and then I want to show what Brent Venables is doing and what Ohio State, as you say, is doing a chess match. Ohio State’s making an adjustment. I want the viewer to see Ryan Day. He sees the coverage. He makes an adjustment. And then Venables will react to that. And I want to just try to show people kind of a game within a game of the chess match that’s going to go on between Ryan Day as a head coach and play caller and Brent Venables.”
On expectations for OSU QB Justin Fields and his knee:
“I think going into the game, I think he’s going to play with a smaller brace. I don’t think, like when I watched him against Wisconsin, I thought, ‘Man, he’s not at 100%.’ I think after having three weeks to get recovered with treatment, I think he’s gonna go in there and play. If Ohio State’s gonna be competitive, he’s gonna have to run the football. And I think he’s a big factor, not just designed run, zone read, but especially third and 7, as he’s done all year, things break down and he takes off for a first down. That’s a big part of who their identity is. I think going in it’s OK, but we’ll see what happens throughout the game.”
On if he expects a higher- or lower-scoring game:
“I’m always the guy that comes into these games thinking points. I think a 38-34 kind of feel to it. I haven’t looked at the over/under. I don’t know what it is. But looking at the potential of the offenses, I’d be surprised if it were lower I’d be surprised. Nothing against the defenses. These defenses have played well all year. I just have that much respect for the play-making ability and the offense of both these teams.”
On one difference from the 2016 meeting:
“This is a better Clemson team too. I think Deshaun Watson was phenomenal. It was a great team, but Dabo [Swinney], when we talked with him, he feels that this could be the best offense he’s ever had, with Trevor Lawrence, these receivers, again, Travis Etienne. If you’ve not watched him a lot, this kid is scary good. Just like maybe people nationally don’t know J.K. Dobbins, you can say the same thing about Travis Etienne.”
Looking back on the 1978 Gator Bowl between the teams, when Woody Hayes threw his famous punch:
“I remember being a little kid watching that game and crying when Woody Hayes did that. My dad coached with Woody Hayes. And that was a pretty big deal to watch that. And I do think that there was an angst towards Clemson because if you go back and think about it, the Ohio State perspective is that he took the ball and was kind of waving it, not that he deserved to be punched, but he’s kind of waving it. And I think that’s the image that Ohio State fans have, old school Ohio State fans have, and of course they’re gonna blame it on Clemson. But I think at this stage in 2019, it’s more about 31-0, the Orange Bowl before that. I think it’s more of a focus on that. You got to be diehards like us to go back all the way back to 1978.”
This story was originally published December 27, 2019 at 2:18 PM with the headline "What Kirk Herbsreit said about Clemson-OSU, Trevor Lawrence and his son’s trash talk."
