Kirk Herbstreit Names OSU Star Who Endured Death Threats Before Ryan Day’s Family Fell Victim to Same

College Football may not have the global reach like the NFL, but it offers a unique charm, personality, and moments that no pro football team can ever replicate. The passion that fans, players, and even coaches have for college football is unmatched. It’s like how Fran Brown put it last year, “When we lose, I don’t even get in the shower until the next morning. I just get mad and brush my teeth. I don’t deserve soap, and I don’t deserve all that. … Winners get washed. If I’m a loser, I just gotta wait a little bit.” But sometimes, in this passion, the boundaries between criticism and trolling get blurred, as we saw with Ryan Day last year. And now? Another OSU star was reported to have fallen to trolls, and they aren’t ordinary trolls. They come with death threats.

Take, for example, last year when Georgia played Texas, the actions of the fans crossed all limits. Empty bottles rained down from the stands to influence a controversial defensive pass interference call. The call was even reversed later, after the debris didn’t stop raining down, giving the appearance that the unacceptable act was responsible for it. Even Kirk Herbstreit couldn’t hold back his criticism of the fans’ act. “Why does that have to become a thing this year?” Herbstreit said on ABC. “Some idiots do this at Texas, and now all of a sudden we see it popping up in college football. Enough’s enough, clowns.”

Moreover, with more social media visibility, the trolling of football players has become a regular occurrence, and with the lack of consequence, has emboldened many. Ryan Day, despite winning the natty last year, he had to endure a bitter and terrifying barrage of trolls after he lost against Michigan for the fourth time consecutively. His son, RJ, summarized the experience. “It was some of the hardest stuff I’ve ever had to deal with in my life; dealing with really grown men coming after me for something I didn’t have a part of ….” Now, Kirk Herbstreit reveals that Will Howard had to face those trolls after the regular season loss against Oregon last year.

On the June 1st Episode of Ryan Hawk’s podcast Herbstreit was asked by a fan, “how he prioritizes his mental health.” The announcer pointed to his “faith” that helps him in that, but still presented a horrifying scenario that people like him had to face, giving Will Howard’s example. ” You get to college football and you play on national TV and you miss a field goal and the game’s on the line. You get death threats. Death threats. That’s real. You know, Will Howard, he took a knee against Oregon. He played his a–off at Oregon. He took a knee because he lost time, and he received death threats. “ The loss was unexpectedly close, and the fans poured out their anger unfairly on Wil Howard.

Even Will Howard recalled how brutal that Oregon loss was and how it motivated him to finally seek redemption in the Rose Bowl rematch in the playoffs.“Man, I still have nightmares about that play. I still run it over in my head. How could I have — what could I have done better? I get a chance to go out there and right the wrong from that game,” said Will Howard.

The Oregon loss was gut-wrenching for the whole Ohio State team, but their QB, Will Howard, had to face the extremes of trolls that day. With just six seconds left in the fourth quarter, the score was 32-31 in favor of Oregon, and Ohio State was in possession. All eyes then were on Will Howard with just six seconds left, and Howard, instead of a Hail Mary pass, went scrambling for a field goal attempt. However, he lost track of time, and before he could reach the destination, the clock struck zero, and he slid in disappointment to the ground.

Ryan Day opens up on overcoming the death threats

Ryan Day probably had the most brutal experience after that Michigan loss. Death threats started coming in from OSU fans. He had to endure widespread criticisms that crossed all boundaries. Things escalated to such a degree that the head coach had to hire armed security guards to protect his home, as the trolls didn’t even spare his wife and his family. Day opened up on the whole experience and how he coped with that.

“As a dad and as a husband, you’re like: All right, I got to get this thing fixed fast. Because they didn’t do anything, they have no control over it, and I think that’s probably the hardest thing as a man, is just to see your wife and your kids, who have zero, literally no control over any of it, have to deal with it. So you have one choice, you better pick yourself up off the ground and get it figured out fast, and that’s what we did, but yeah, I think that’s probably the biggest challenge.”

These growing incidents of the boundaries being blurred between fair criticism and mindless trolling need to be deeply introspected. It’s one thing to support a team and be passionate about it. But when the same passion spirals into death threats for the players and coaches, that becomes concerning. The NCAA and schools need to implement tough regulations and create a safer environment for coaches, players, and their families.