Kirk Herbstreit Not Continuing Iconic College Football Role

ESPN college football analyst Kirk Herbstreit will no longer be a part of one of his iconic roles.

ESPN College Gameday analyst Kirk Herbstreit before the game between the Texas Longhorns and the Ohio State Buckeyes. | Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

Despite a tremendous playing career during his time as Ohio State's quarterback, it's safe to say that Kirk Herbstreit's impact on the sport of college football has been felt tremendously through his work in the media.

Herbstreit joined ESPN's "College GameDay" in 1995 as a sideline analyst, before being called up to the desk as a part of the iconic pregame show the following year. Since then, Herbstreit has become synonymous with ESPN's college football coverage, providing the calm to Lee Corso's oft-rowdy and spicy coverage.

While Herbstreit is best known for his role with ESPN and, more recently, Amazon Prime's "Thursday Night Football' coverage for the NFL, he has also been featured on 14 editions of the iconic college football video game. A sentiment that, according to On3's Pete Nakos, will not be the case for "EA Sports College Football 27."

"Sources also told On3 that ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit is not appearing in the 2027 edition of the video game," wrote Nakos. "He’s appeared in the last two editions as part of the “Big Game” broadcast with Chris Fowler."

ESPN analyst Kirk Herbstreit at media day for the 2025 College Football Playoff National Championship. | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

Before he was a part of the "big game" coverage on the two most recent renditions of the game, Herbstreit was a frequent presence in each of the games from 2003-14, with both Brad Nessler and Corso.

It's unclear at this time why Corso walked away from being a part of the video game, but for many fans who grew up playing the game and grew accustomed to him questioning our play-calling our aggressiveness on fourth down, it will certainly take some getting used to.

Some other notable personalities that were featured in the game this past year include former Florida quarterback Jesse Palmer, former Georgia defensive lineman David Pollack and ESPN college football analyst, Rece Davis.

At this time, EA Sports has yet to announce a full roster of personalities in terms of who will be in the game. With that being said, considering the covers for the game were revealed on Monday, it's hard to imagine that fans won't soon find out who replaced Herbstreit.

In terms of who is on the cover, Oregon quarterback Dante Moore, Miami wide receiver Malachi Toney and Ole Miss running back Kewan Lacy are on the Standard Edition. As for the Deluxe Edition, it features Texas EDGE Colin Simmons, Notre Dame cornerback Leonard Moore, USC quarterback Jayden Maiava and Indiana coach Curt Cignetti.

As announced by EA Sports, fans worldwide will get access to the game on July 9.