Analyst offers reasoning for Love snub

ESPN’s College Football GameDay sent a tweet Friday listing college football analyst Kirk Herbstreit’s picks for “the most exciting players” in the upcoming season. The tweet said he “expects these guys to light it up in 2018.”

It listed five players: Penn State quarterback Trace McSorley, Clemson running back Travis Etienne, Oklahoma wide receiver Marquise Brown, Florida Atlantic running back Devin Singletary and South Carolina wide receiver Deebo Samuel.

Among the missing: Bryce Love, the Stanford tailback who last season uncorked an FBSrecord 13 runs of 50 or more yards, seven for 60 or more.

During an ESPN conference call Friday, Herbstreit was asked about the omission; he indicated the list wasn’t meant to be a complete list of the most exciting players. He said he was hoping “to spread the wealth” and show some love for players who might not be on everybody’s radar. (He gives personal awards, known as Herbies, in various categories.) Here’s a more complete reply: “Well, one of the things I do with Herbies list, and I’ve done this for a long time, is I try to spread the wealth. When you have a guy like Saquon Barkley last year, you could literally put Saquon Barkley, and he could win every category. That guy this year is Bryce Love. I think he ended up winning two Herbies, maybe more. I think I gave him the ultimate Herbie … which is the total package of, not just a great player, but a great person and a great teammate, kind of what the whole sport embodies, kind of what should be the face of the sport, and I gave that to Bryce Love.

“So I just can’t give everything to him. So that’s probably why he was not on that list. But my expectations for him, he’s probably the one player, outside of maybe Trace McSorley at Penn State ... I’m most excited to see play this year, mainly because he played, as you know, with that ankle last year. I don’t know how many times we saw him gimp off the field for four or five plays, then kind of show that determination and grit and go back in. Ends up getting over 2,000 yards basically playing with a hurt ankle for half the year.

“And that performance against Washington alone was heroic. So, no, I’m fired up to see him.”