Former Ohio State quarterback and current ESPN college football analyst Kirk Herbstreit currently resides in Columbus and even has a regular radio gig in the heart of Buckeye Nation.
After his scorched-earth diatribe against the Buckeyes’s current starting quarterback on College GameDay this morning, a change of address -- or the witness protection program -- may be in the offing for Herbie.
In a discussion about the trials and tribulations of quarterback Terrelle Pryor, Herbstreit absolutely went off on the sophomore. I mean off off. Off in a “that man kicked my wife and slept with my dog” kinda way.
After fellow analyst Desmond Howard got the discussion started by saying he believed Pryor and the Buckeyes would get things back on track, Herbstreit hit the “FIRE!” button and launched his verbal assault.
“It remains to be seen if I think they can get it back on track,” Herbstreit said in a grouping of words that turned out to be the kindest, gentlest thing he had to say. “I think there are bigger issues here than just Terrelle Pryor had a bad game against Purdue.
“The thing that I see, is, Terrelle Pryor came in with all the attention and all the hype and all of the athletic ability, and you don’t see him progressing to become a complete ‘quarterback’. Knowing down and distance, knowing about the play clock, knowing what hash you’re on. Being able to read defenses, being able to just grow and develop as a quarterback.
“Listen, we’ve watched Tate Forcier as a true freshman have a better understanding of what it means to be a quarterback than Terrelle Pryor. We’ve seen Matt Barkley as a true freshman have a better understanding of being a quarterback and what that means than Terrelle Pryor. So he is not advancing as a quarterback, and to me that is more alarming -- and the fact they can’t find a system that fits his abilities -- is more alarming than any of the numbers coming off a bad game against Purdue.
“This is a big deal.”
Lee Corso then suggested that OSU run the football to take some of the pressure off Pryor. Herbstreit answered Corso’s suggestion with even more personal jabs at Pryor, and added some biting shots at the offensive line for good measure.
“They can’t run the ball because they have one of the biggest underachieving offensive lines in the last ten years in college football history. And they are uninspired, uninspired consistently, so you can’t run the football.
“Terrelle Pryor allegedly runs a 4.3 forty... that means you run away from defenders if you run a 4.3 forty. That’s like having a 100 mile-per-hour fastball. He’s playing like he runs a 5.3 forty, not a 4.3 forty. He lumbers horizontally. He doesn’t get up field and run with the football... he looks shackled, he looks confused, his body language is terrible. Other than that he’s playing well.”
Ummm, wow?
I don’t know who urinated in Herbstreit’s Cheerios this morning, but I’m thinking Herbie believes they were clad in Scarlet & Gray.