Nashville (Tenn.) Montgomery Bell Academy 2021 tight end Zak Herbstreit continued a family tradition last Wednesday when he announced his commitment to Ohio State. Doing so as a preferred walk-on, Zak Herbstreit follows in the footsteps of his father Kirk Herbstreit, a quarterback for the Buckeyes from 1989-93 and longtime ESPN college football analyst.
Herbstreit put his son's pledge to OSU in perspective on Monday's episode of the CFB Podcast with Herbie, Pollack & Neghandi, opening up about a memorable development last week with second-year head coach Ryan Day.
"Yeah, that was a really cool day," Herbstreit said. "I mean ... it's been a weird year to be a guy who's getting recruited and looked at and you're not really able to go to games, not really able to get on campuses. And he's not a five-star kind of guy. He's kind of a guy that there were some schools potentially looking at making some offers and his heart was always set on Ohio State. And Ohio State was constantly in communication with him throughout the entire year, with a few of the coaches. And so, it became more and more enticing to him and more of a reality. And then the day I think he went on social media and announced it, coach Day reached out to him and made him an offer to join Ohio State as a preferred walk-on and he was elated. And coach Day was like, 'Get your parents. I want them to be able to hear this, too.' And coach Day was all fired up about it.
"And for our family ... I have two sons right now, identical twins, who are at Clemson. But my dad played at Ohio State for Woody Hayes and was a captain, going back to 1960. The very next year, he was secondary coach. They didn't do GA's back then. He was secondary coach with Bo Schembechler on the staff, Woody Hayes (1951-78). Bo got the Miami (Ohio) job (1963-68). He took my dad down to be part of that as defensive coordinator. So my dad was right in the thick of it.
"And then I came along and was a college football junkie, just with those names being my family history, and I played at Ohio State and I was a captain in 1992 and my wife's a cheerleader. So we're about as Ohio State as you can imagine. And then I end up doing the job that I have and love Ohio State — and contrary to what I get accused of from some fans. And two sons ended up going to Clemson (redshirt freshmen Jake Herbstreit and Tye Herbstreit).
"And Zak came along. He's got bigger size. More like me, he's about 6-3, 220, 225 — going in, anyway — and he's going to go in as like an H-back, fullback, tight end type of player. But all of a sudden, they offer him that opportunity to go to Ohio State and it was pretty cool to think about. Third-generation Buckeye in our family. And he's stoked, fired up for the opportunity and looking forward to moving up there in June and becoming part of Buckeye family."