Former Ohio State Buckeyes quarterback Kirk Herbstreit is one of the most well-known faces in sports media today, but even he’s been through some tough times.
In fact, in a recent interview with The Mental Game, the player-turned-broadcaster admitted to going to therapy while at Ohio State in the early ’90s. At the time, support for athletes with mental illnesses was less common, and Herbstreit became afraid of being judged by his peers and teammates.
“I ended up going to this doctor,” Herbstreit says, “and I’ll never forget the courage it took to go into his office at Ohio Stadium in 1990 or ’91, and they gave him his own little corner.”
“In the apartment, he kept looking over my shoulder, worried someone might be watching him. Then there was a knock on the door. I was still looking around.”
Some fans sometimes forget that college athletes are young people still trying to find their way in the world, and for football players in particular, the pressure to perform on the big stage often rivals that of the professional level, even before the NIL era.
Current Ohio State running back Treveyon Henderson recently opened up about his own struggles with mental health, something Herbstreit feels he didn’t have the luxury of doing during his college years.
“Isn’t it strange to be so afraid?” Herbstreit asked rhetorically. “I’ll be honest with you, I was 20 or 21 and I didn’t want people to make fun of me. I didn’t want people to think I was weak because of the way I was trained. But at least I had the courage to knock on his door.”
Herbstreit finished his collegiate career playing in 38 games and completing 183 of 317 passes for 2,263 yards, five touchdowns and 11 interceptions.
