With Mack Brown returning to the sidelines at North Carolina, there was a void in ESPN‘s college football studio. With the season fast approaching, the Worldwide Leader has reportedly reached out to a former West Coast star to fill the void.
Citing unnamed sources, the New York Post is reporting that Mark Sanchez is retiring from the NFL and joining the ABC/ESPN lead college football studio show. Sanchez will be joined in the studio by Kevin Negandhi and former Miami Hurricanes great Jon Vilma.
Sanchez played his college football at USC from 2005-08. Much to the chagrin of his then-head coach, Pete Carroll, Sanchez left a year of collegiate eligibility on the table and made himself available for the 2009 NFL draft. The No. 5 overall pick by the New York Jets, Sanchez, aka Mr. Butt Fumble, spent 10 years in the NFL, including two games with the Washington Redskins last season. A free agent, Sanchez went unsigned prior to his retirement.
The Post also notes that Sanchez interviewed for a college football job with FOX Sports earlier this offseason. "[FOX] liked him, but didn’t really have a spot for him in its college studio or top games,” the newspaper wrote.
A pair of former USC standouts, Matt Leinart and Reggie Bush, are college football analysts for FOX, which will debut a new pregame show this fall that will attempt to compete with ESPN‘s juggernaut College GameDay traveling circus.