Jac Collinsworth no longer the voice of Notre Dame football on NBC
NBC is making a change to its Notre Dame broadcast coverage, pulling Jac Collinsworth from his role as the play-by-play voice on Fighting Irish games.
According to a report from Andrew Marchand of The Athletic, NBC veteran Dan Hicks will team up with Jason Garrett to replace the outgoing Collinsworth.
Collinsworth spent two years serving as Notre Dame’s play-by-play voice. He is the son of legendary broadcaster Cris Collinsworth.
But going forward Notre Dame games will have a new feel as Hicks steps to the plate to take over for Collinsworth. Hicks had previously called Notre Dame games a decade ago, according to The Athletic.
NBC will leave itself some wiggle room in coverage when it comes to Fighting Irish games, as it will have the option of using its top crew on a Notre Dame game should it outweigh having that crew on the Big Ten game of the week.
NBC’s top crew is manned by Noah Eagle and Todd Blackledge.
The national network has long been a partner of the Fighting Irish, one of college football’s premier brands. Last fall NBC re-signed as the broadcast partner for the Fighting Irish through 2029.
Notre Dame ready to unlock Riley Leonard’s potential
As Notre Dame gets ready for the 2024 season, one thing the Fighting Irish will have to do is get Duke quarterback transfer Riley Leonard up to speed quickly.
ESPN analyst Greg McElroy sees plenty of room for improvement, which means the ceiling for the new Fighting Irish signal caller is remarkably high.
“Let’s be real for a second, I look at Riley Leonard, I think he’s got a really high ceiling,” McElroy said. “The problem is I don’t think he’s anywhere near where he can be, and this is gonna happen with downfield accuracy, accuracy on throws that travel 10 or more yards downfield.”
Leonard’s 2023 season was cut short by injury, so it’s impossible to know just how far he might have come in his development last year. But whether he can get there this fall is a pertinent question.
“If you watch him, he’s getting the ball out really quickly because his offensive line at that time they weren’t sure how they were going to gel,” McElroy said. “So they asked their quarterback, ‘Hey, get the ball out, don’t let this defensive line, don’t let this pass rush for Clemson get home.’ So he was getting the ball out and then he kind of got hurt.
“So it’s tough to evaluate the ’23 season for Riley Leonard, but I think there’s a lot left in the tank. It’s just can he get there? That’s a big question.”
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