People Are Still Shocked That Kirk Herbstreit's Sons Decided to Play for the Clemson Tigers

As the NFL season rolls on, we're doing everything in our power to stay as informed as possible — hich means a lot of Googling. In turn, that means reading up on Ohio State quarterback-turned ESPN football analyst Kirk Herbstreit.

Now, fans are especially curious to know about Kirk's four sons — Tye, Jake, Zak, and Chase. Here's everything you need to know about them!

Kirk Herbstreit has four sons: Chase, Zak, and the twins, Tye and Jake.

Tye and Jake, whose involvement in football has been documented since their high school days, are the most talked-about of the clan. They were athletes at Montgomery Bell Academy, and Tye now plays as a walk-on at Clemson University. Jake initially joined him but has since transferred to Ohio State to focus on academics.

Meanwhile, Zak graduated high school and joined the Ohio State football team as a preferred walk-on in 2021, as a tight end. Kirk's youngest son, Chase, will graduate from St. Xavier High School in 2025. He's been the starting quarterback since his sophomore season.

Now, on to the twins! The reasons why they chose the Tigers over the Buckeyes knowing their family legacy was actually explained by Kirk back in 2018.

“They’re going there as preferred walk-ons and a big part of that has to do with the culture. As a dad and as a broadcaster, I’ve been lucky enough to get behind the scenes at Clemson the last few years. I’ve been blown away by the culture that Dabo has created. It’s not just Dabo. It’s the entire staff — the secretaries, the trainers, the team doctors, the SID. It’s different when you go to Clemson and you need to go there to really see it and understand it," Kirk told 247Sports.

He continued, "And that’s a credit to him and his leadership. Another mark of a great coach to me, whether you’re the start quarterback or just a guy trying to make the team, you’re treated the same. I think it goes back to his own experience at Alabama as a player. He runs his program through the eyes of that player who was at Alabama.”

Kirk told The State about how they learned of Clemson, saying, "When it came time to go to school, they just happened to go to a Clemson camp going into their senior year and did pretty well, and Dabo kind of kept an eye on them and stayed in touch with them and offered them an opportunity to be preferred walk-ons. They decided to take him up on it. It was really as simple as that.”

It's also likely that the Tigers just recruited the twins way harder than the Buckeyes. “Urban felt awful on the back end of that. He apologized quite a bit — he and the recruiting coordinator. But listen ... this is my kids’ lives and my kids’ path, and I would love to have seen them go to Ohio State, but I’m not going to tell them, ‘You have to go to Ohio State’ when Urban Meyer hasn’t offered you a preferred walk-on ... it wasn’t really an option," Kirk said.