Seeing his longtime partner struggling to get words out, 89-year-old Lee Corso leaned over several times to comfort Herbstreit. It was a pretty special moment for the two colleagues who have worked on the show together since Herbstreit joined in 1996.

As the years have gone by and legendary ESPN College GameDay host Lee Corso has shown more signs of age, he has had no better advocate than co-host Kirk Herbsteit. The relationship between Corso and Herbstreit goes well beyond that of coworkers ...

Herbstreit, 55, has referred to Corso as a father figure. Corso has been a GameDay mainstay and took a young Herbstreit under his wing when the former Ohio State quarterback joined the traveling pregame show in 1996. Herbstreit’s special bonds with Corso and Ben have brought smiles to many fans over the past few seasons of GameDay.