Last season, Kirk Herbstreit made it incredibly clear that he believes that some Ohio State Buckeyes fans, whom he described as the \u201clunatic fringe\u201d, take things too far when it comes to the on-field results of the program. But during a podcast appearance on Sunday, Herbstreit went into details about what exactly Buckeyes players have to deal with when it comes to the rabid fan base.<\/p>\n
During an appearance on The Learning Leader Show<\/a> with Ryan Hawk, where he talked in detail about bettering his own mental health, Herbstreit discussed the kind of things that athletes have to put up with in the day and age we currently live in.<\/p>\n In particular, Kirk Herbstreit described how it is incredibly unfair for collegiate athletes to have to deal with fans sending criticisms and even death threats towards players.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not easy what you guys are dealing with,\u201d said Herbstreit to a fan in attendance at the live show. \u201cAnd I don\u2019t mean just sports, I\u2019m talking social stuff. You get to college football, you are playing on national TV, you miss a field goal when the game is on the line, you get death threats. Death threats. That is real.\u201d<\/p>\n Herbstreit then revealed how Will Howard, who led Ohio State to a national championship this past season, received death threats following Ohio State\u2019s regular-season matchup with Oregon last year, where Howard made a crucial mistake by running out the clock<\/a> in the 32-31 loss on the final play.<\/p>\n \u201cWill Howard, he took a knee against Oregon,\u201d said Herbstreit. He played his a** off at Oregon. He took a knee because he lost the time. And he took death threats. It\u2019s so insane that these people have a voice to get to you. And you have just got to somehow insulate yourself the best you can. Because it is brutal.\u201d<\/p>\n \ufeff<\/p>\n This isn\u2019t something that Will Howard has discussed publicly. And given the fact that he won a national championship at Ohio State and is now set to play at the NFL level with the Pittsburgh Steelers, he may never open up about it.<\/p>\n However, this is not the first time that Kirk Herbstreit has broken this kind of news before in regards to his former program. He was, of course, the first one to publicly discuss the kind of threats that Ryan Day was getting from Ohio State fans, detailing how the Buckeye head coach actually had armed guards outside his house<\/a> following the program\u2019s loss to Michigan last year.<\/p>\n