HERBSTREIT

With the football season about to kick off, ESPN college football analyst Kirk Herbstreit tackles some questions from Post columnist Steve Serby. Q: How surprised are you that Sam Darnold could be the Jets’ Week 1 starter? A: I’m not necessarily surprised. I remember saying I would love to have seen him come back and play one more year of college ball. The reason was not his skillset, not what he can do. I just wanted to see him work through his progressions from the pocket instead of at times taking off and running, which a lot of the college guys do when they get into trouble. ... We’ll see. It’s one thing in the preseason to do this, another thing when they start dialing up the zone blitzes and the combo coverages and try to create some confusion. I mean, everybody from Troy Aikman and Peyton Manning and everybody in between struggled their first year in trying to pick up defenses when they kind of turn up the creativity. So let’s see how things go. I personally am a huge fan of his. I’m not surprised. I think eventually he’s gonna be a superstar in the NFL. But as we all know, there’s growing pains with firstyear starters in the NFL. Q: What do you think of Browns topoverall pick Baker Mayfield? A: I’m a huge Baker guy. I thought he should have been the first pick in the draft. You talk about kind of that “it” factor where you get your guys to want to play for you — Baker Mayfield has that. You could see if you watched “Hard Knocks,” he has one of those infectious personalities. He’s a guy who can make any throw with a big, strong arm. I’ve compared him to Drew Brees as far as his style of play. Q: How good a pro will Saquon Barkley be? A: Man, you’re hitting all my sweet spots here! That’s my guy (chuckle). I’ve never covered a guy, maybe since Reggie Bush, and maybe Adrian Peterson, that I’ve been more excited and watched them play in the NFL than Saquon Barkley. I’m happy he got to go to a team where they’ve got a lot of receivers, so he doesn’t have to run into a concrete wall, eight or nine guys at the line of scrimmage to stop him. I think there’s enough diversity there that Eli [Manning] will be the beneficiary. But I think New York is gonna fall in love, if they haven’t already, with Saquon Barkley. His personality and big smile, just one of those kids that’s very easy to root for. And another thing is you can get him out in space, match him up with a linebacker or a safety from a slot position. He runs routes like a receiver. It’s not just him running the football. I think people will see there’s a variety of ways he can hurt defenses. He’s probably the No. 1 guy I’m most excited to watch this year in the NFL that left the college game from a year ago. Q: What makes Alabama coach Nick Saban, Nick Saban? A: It’s not one thing. It’s the ability to recruit, and he never takes his foot off the accelerator. That’s No. 1. No. 2 is his ability to de-recruit these guys and get them to buy in to the Alabama Way, which is you’re not special individually, we need to buy into a team that the culture of how we win here. And he gets them all to do that. Q: Describe the pressure on Michigan coach John Harbaugh and does Urban Meyer’s three-game suspension at Ohio State add to that pressure? ure? A: I don’t see all that. I know he’se’s kind of an easy target right now for people.eople. But if you really look at the games thathat he lost against Michigan State and againstainst Ohio State and Penn State, a lot of thosehose games have come down to the last feww minutes, and then just not finding ways to win. So I think they’re a lot closer than people think. I think he’s gonna have a great year. Q: Chip Kelly returns as the UCLA coach. A: Fired up to have him back. I think his brand maybe tarnished a bit becauseecause of his NFL experience. All I think of when I see Chip Kelly, is him in a visor standinganding on the sideline in Eugene, Oregon,n, scoring 50 points a game. And if he can make Oregon quote-unquote cool, for the Pac-ac-12 kids growing up, he’s definitely gonnanna make UCLA a cool brand. It’s not if, it’s when he makes UCLA a powerhouse. Q: Jimbo Fisher has moved from Florida State to Texas A&M. . A: I think Jimbo Fisher is one of the better offensive minds in the game. I don’t know what kind of team he’s inherited.ed. I don’t know if he has the quarterbackk to give him a chance to win right away. Butt I think between the resources that theyey have in College Station — very similarilar to Nick Saban — his relentless styleyle of recruiting, I think it’s pretty wellelldocumented his ability to workk with quarterbacks. Give him a year or two, I think Jimbo Fisher again becomes a very challenging game ame for Alabama and Nick Saban, much like Georgia right now and nd Kirby Smart. Q: Your championship quartet: rtet: Alabama, Clemson, Penn State and Washington. ... Alabama’s weakness. A: Breaking in an entire new secondary. They lost 10 guys that were major contributors on defense. So while Nick Saban recruits at an incredibly high level, will that defense gel? Who will become the leader? Q: Clemson’s biggest weakness or concern? A: Who’s gonna be their quarterback? Kelly Bryant, who was kind of the guy a year ago and proved that he couldn’t quite get enough to where they needed to go throwing the ball against ’Bama, and now here comes Trevor Lawrence, a true freshman, that they think can be another Deshaun Watson. I don’t know if it’s a weakness, but I think it’s a question mark to see who eventually emerges to become their go-gto guygy at qquarterback. Q: Penn State’s weakness or concern? A: The obvious would be when you lose a player the magnitude of Saquon Barkley. Can Miles Sanders and others step in and provide that big-play ability to be able to come up with enough offense to take some of the pressure off of Trace McSorley feeling like he needs to do it. The other thing I would say is they’ve been so successful with the vertical throws with McSorley. ... Does he have receivers that can provide that kind of big-ability? ... They’ve had some great guys over the last couple of years, so who becomes their go-to guy downfield I think is a big part of that offense. Q: Washington’s weakness or concern? A: The start of the season which is such a big game. Gotta travel all the way across the country and basically going to Auburn’s backyard and take on a team that a lot of people think can be challenging for the playoff this year. And if they win that game, the sky’s the limit. And if they lose that game, it could affect the team as far as their confidence and what they’re trying to do. On the field, the one thing would be, another team that’s lost their receivers — [John] Ross two years ago, [Dante] Pettis last year — have they recruited well enough in that area to give them ability to throw the ball with Jake Browning and have balance in that offense? Q: Which team can be a Cinderella? A: I think Michigan State is a team that seems to be a team that’s forgotten every year. They’ve got an experienced quarterback now in Brian Lewerke, they got LJ Scott, who’s a physical back, they have a tenacious defense led by Joe Bachie. Q: What is it like being Kirk Herbstreit? A: Lucky. I’m just a college football junkie, and I just can’t believe I have

this job.