Tagged: ‘Florida State’

posted by on February 6, 2013 1:52 PM

As high school recruits put ink to paper, ESPN’s college football analysts reminisce about their Signing Days

After signing at Houston in 1987, Andre Ware -- now an ESPN analyst -- eventually the Heisman Trophy. (Credit: University of Houston Athletics)

After signing at Houston in 1987, Andre Ware — now an ESPN analyst — eventually won the Heisman Trophy. (Credit: University of Houston Athletics)

Today, 18 of the nation’s elite undecided college football recruits will discuss their commitment decisions on ESPNU during the network’s daylong coverage of National Signing Day.

National Signing Day Coverage

ESPN Reporters In The Field

Tom Rinaldi – Alabama
Bob Holtzman – Notre Dame
Pedro Gomez – Texas A&M
Jeannine Edwards – Florida State
Josina Anderson – Michigan
Shelley Smith – Southern Cal
Allison Williams – Ole Miss
Holly Rowe – LSU
Cara Capuano – Florida
Quint Kessenich – Ohio State
Lowell Galindo – Texas
Paul Carcaterra – Auburn
Eamon McAnaney – Clemson

ESPN Studio Talent

Rece Davis
Dari Nowkhah
Derrick Dooley
Tom Luginbill
Gene Chizik
Craig Haubert
Mike Bellotti
Rod Gilmore
Kirk Herbstreit
Lou Holtz

Coverage of the event has expanded annually as fans’ appetites for recruiting news has increased. However, the first Wednesday in February has been
circled on players and coaches’ calendars for decades.

Front Row asked some of ESPN’s college football analysts to reflect on their own Signing Days.

Danny Kanell, QB, Florida State, 1992
Signing Day is a day I’ll never forget. I was 90 percent sure I was headed to Florida State, but it didn’t hit me until I signed on the dotted line that it would make me a Seminole for life. Henri Crockett — another high school senior headed to FSU — and I held a press conference at the Olive Garden and felt like superstars.

Andre Ware, QB, Houston, 1987 continue reading…

Filed in: Behind The Scenes, ESPN College Football

posted by on January 1, 2013 2:00 PM

Covering Discover Orange Bowl, ESPN sideline reporter Taylor continues fulfilling college goal

Maria Taylor on the sidelines. (Photo credit: Alexis Morgan)

Maria Taylor will be reporting from the sidelines during the Discover Orange Bowl Jan. 1. (Photo credit: Alexis Morgan)

A few years ago when she was a junior at the University of Georgia, volleyball player Maria Taylor filled out a questionnaire for the school’s athletic website. One of the questions was “what would be your dream job?”

Taylor’s response: “ESPN sports journalist.”

Flash forward to New Year’s Day, 2013, and Taylor will be doing just that as she works as a sideline reporter for ESPN’s live telecast of the Discover Orange Bowl in Miami (8:30 p.m. ET, ESPN). The Alpharetta, Ga., native is completing her first year with ESPN/ABC at one of the oldest and most revered college football bowl games.

What made her want to go from being a three-time All-SEC outside hitter on the volleyball court to asking questions on TV?

“We had a crew come in and do a game on us and we’d only been on TV like maybe once or twice,” Taylor said. “I had to sit down and do this interview with one of the analysts and I just thought it was the coolest thing ever.

“From that moment on, I changed what I wanted to do and decided that I wanted to work in sports broadcasting. I thought it would be an interesting job, to still be able to communicate with athletes, and be around the sports I love and the people, so that’s when it really started.” continue reading…

Filed in: Behind The Scenes

posted by on December 21, 2012 8:00 AM

ESPN Digital Media covers the college football bowl season from all angles

Mid-American Conference Champion Northern Illinois will play in the Orange Bowl on Jan. 1. (Getty Images)

With nearly 30 football games to cover in a span of about two weeks, this is indeed “the most wonderful time of the year” for the ESPN.com team covering the college bowl season.

The ESPN College Bowls 2012-2013 homepage will provide preview and post-game content on every game, in addition to breaking news, features, columns, video and other elements. Coverage will include in-depth looks at all five BCS bowl games with an individual page dedicated to each game.

In addition, the ESPN College Football app, ScoreCenter app and ESPN mobile web will allow fans to access up-to-the-minute video clips, news and scores wherever they are, while ESPN’s 34-game bowl schedule will be available live through WatchESPN on computers, smartphones, tablets and Xbox.

David Albright, Sr. Director of College Sports, spent a few minutes with Front Row to give us his take on ESPN’s digital bowl season coverage.

The bowl season is underway, but what are you most looking forward to over the next couple of weeks for ESPN.com?
First and foremost, I always look forward to the theatre that is the college football bowl season. Not every game ends up being competitive to the end but the volume improves the chances. Against that backdrop there is always potential for the unexpected to materialize and that’s a big part of what’s great for the fans and about the sport.

In addition to delivering those stories and highlights, ESPN.com also has planned feature content leading into each of the five BCS games. One example is a package of stories that will kick off our BCS coverage and examines college football dynasties and where Alabama might fit in should it win its third national championship in four seasons.

You’re a Northern Illinois grad. What’s the most important thing for unfamiliar fans to know about the Huskies, who face Florida State in the Jan. 1 Orange Bowl (ESPN, ESPN Deportes and ESPN Radio, 8:30 p.m. ET)? continue reading…

Filed in: Behind The Scenes

posted by on October 12, 2012 8:00 AM

Extra helpings: GameDay’s Roadkill Grill cooks with The Chew’s Symon

Last month, Front Row spent some time tailgating in Tallahassee, Fla., the site of ESPN’s College GameDay.

The GameDay road crew (proud proprietors of the “Roadkill Grill”) and award-winning chef and co-host of ABC’s The Chew, Michael Symon, (@chefsymon) spent a fun-filled day shopping, prepping and cooking leading to a menu of beef tenderloin, beer-can chicken, local seafood and more. continue reading…

Filed in: Behind The Scenes

posted by on September 15, 2012 9:31 PM

All aboard: College GameDay headed for Tallahassee for Clemson at FSU

Next Saturday, ESPN’s College GameDay Built by the Home Depot is headed further south from Knoxville, Tenn., to Tallahassee, Fla., for the Clemson Tigers (3-0) versus Florida State Seminoles (3-0) in an early-season ACC matchup.

The show has been to Tally *eight times previously and last visited there Sept. 17, 2011 for then-No. 1 Oklahoma vs. then-No. 5 Florida State. During that visit, former Seminole standout and longtime GameDay analyst Lee Corso brought his triplet grandchildren onto the set decked out in Seminoles gear.

Still, he was not dissuaded from selecting the Sooners for the win, saying, “Nothing personal, this is business.” The Sooners defeated their hosts 23-13.

ABC will broadcast the game at 8 p.m. ET with Brent Musburger and Kirk Herbstreit calling all the action with reporting by Heather Cox.

College GameDay will air live at 9 a.m. ET on ESPNU and 10 a.m. on ESPN with host Chris Fowler, analysts Lee Corso, Kirk Herbstreit, Desmond Howard and David Pollack, and host/reporter Samantha Steele.

Past results from GameDay visits to Tallahassee.

10/7/95 – (1) Florida St. def. Miami, 41-17
11/30/96 – (2) Florida St. def. (1) Florida. 24-21
11/18/00 – (3) Florida St. def. (4) Florida, 30-7
10/13/01 – (1) Miami def. (13) Florida St., 49-27
10/26/02 – (6) Notre Dame def. (13) Florida St., 34-24
10/11/03 – (2) Miami def. (6) Florida St., 22-14
*11/15/08 – Florida A&M def. Hampton, 45-24
9/17/11 – (1) Oklahoma def. (5) Florida St., 23-13

Filed in: Announcements

posted by on February 1, 2012 8:00 AM

The Mag’s pictures tell thousands of words about top recruit Edwards

Wednesday, high school football star Mario Edwards plans to end the recruiting drama — and the deluge of mail to his Texas home — when he announces the college of his choice on National Signing Day.

The star at Billy Ryan High in Denton, Texas, has made a verbal commitment to Florida State.

But the letters from interested schools kept coming to the young man who is regarded as the top recruit in the country.

ESPN The Magazine decided to illustrate how much interest he generated.

Deputy Photo Editor Jim Surber wanted to shoot some still life recruitment letters to include in the overall Recruiting Issue (currently on newsstands).

That all changed when Mag writer Zach Schonbrun, who was covering the Under Amour All-America Game in Orlando, Fla., last month, discovered that Edwards was in possession of four trash bags filled with such letters.

The cover of the new recruiting issue of ESPN The Magazine

After Edwards and his father, Mario Edwards Sr. — who played defensive back at Florida State and in the NFL — agreed to sit for a shoot in Texas, the Mag decided to have a little more fun.

“We thought it would be fun to shoot [Mario Jr.] either in one of the bags with his letters, or buried in the letters,” said The Mag’s Director of Photography Karen Frank.

“We also did a shot of him pouring out the letters from one garbage bag, and a shot of just a pile of the letters on their own.”

While on location at Ryan High, photographer Jeff Wilson improvised in order to stay true to the initial “buried in the sand” conceit.

In order to show the composition of Edwards’ head popping out, illustrating the overwhelming decision the player faced, Wilson came up with this idea: “I basically just made a platform out of foam core and gaffers tape with a cutout for his head. The platform had 2-inch walls around the sides to keep the letters from falling off and it was split down the middle to make it easier for Mario to get into. It was suspended on light stands and lowered over his head.”

The results you see above; the “buried in the sand” photo served as the main art on the gateway page (page 55) to the recruiting content.

ESPNU’s National Signing Day Special (9 a.m. – 7 p.m. ET on Wednesday) will have all the news and analysis on recruiting’s biggest day. It will also be on ESPN3.com and WatchESPN.

Many of the nation’s top prospects, including Dorial Green-Beckham (No. 3), Andrus Peat (No. 9) and Eddie Goldman (No. 10), will make their decisions on ESPNU. Shawn Murphy, ESPNU producer, gave Front Row insight into those coverage plans Tuesday morning.

There will also be reporters stationed at campuses across the country. Join former Miami coach Randy Shannon and analysts Tom Luginbill, Craig Haubert, Corey Long, Jamie Newberg and Mark Schlabach to break it all down.

Check out this video to learn more about Mario Edwards Jr.

Filed in: Behind The Scenes

posted by on April 1, 2011 5:03 PM

Schwab’s collection: No. 3 seed

HOWIE SCHWAB’S MOST CHERISHED COLLEGE BASKETBALL MEMORABILIA

No. 3 seed: Authentic Toney Douglas Florida State jersey

This selection might be Schwab’s equivalent of  the 2011 Final Four’s Virginia Commonwealth team. Even Florida State fans might be wondering how this jersey makes the cut. While current Knicks guard Douglas is making waves as a second-year NBA player, he had a relatively low-profile college career. Schwab cherishes the jersey because it came courtesy of a Florida State fan from out of the blue, he said. continue reading…

Filed in: Behind The Scenes, In The Studio