Former Ohio State star takes shot at Kirk Herbstreit following analyst's comments on bowl opt-outs

Kirk Herbstreit got plenty of responses to his comments about bowl opt-outs on College GameDay Saturday morning. One former Ohio State star weighed in Saturday afternoon, as well.

Cardale Jones, who played for the Buckeyes from 2012-16, tweeted his reaction to Herbstreit’s comments about how “this era of players doesn’t love football” in light of recent bowl game opt-outs.

“I don’t think it’s fair to question a players love or commitment to a university for opting out of a bowl game when you have coaches jumping ship left and right during bowl season,” Jones tweeted. “But yet, y’all don’t look at a coach leaving as “abandoning his team” like a player opting out.”

Quite a few of college football’s big names opted out of bowl games this year. Pitt quarterback Kenny Pickett, Michigan State running back Kenneth Walker III and Ohio State wide receiver Garrett Wilson are among the group of players to focus on the NFL Draft.

Herbstreit, who also played football at Ohio State, was talking about people calling non-College Football Playoff bowl games “meaningless.” He later tried to clarify his comments in a tweet prior to the Rose Bowl, which he’s calling for ESPN.

Kirk Herbstreit attempts to clarify comments about players loving football

On College GameDay Saturday morning, Kirk Herbstreit made some interesting comments about current student athletes. Saturday afternoon, he went to Twitter and tried to clarify them.

Herbstreit came under fire for saying “this era of players doesn’t love football” ahead of the New Year’s Day slate of bowl games. After he said that, host Rece Davis gave him a chance to clarify on the air — and Herbstreit posted that video with his tweet.

“Just wanted to clarify some of my comments from earlier today,” Herbstreit tweeted. “Of course some players love the game the same today as ever. But some don’t. I’ll always love the players of this game and sorry if people thought I generalized or lumped them all into one category.”

The comments were regarding the amount of players opting out of bowl games. Plenty of big names decided not to play in the games to focus on getting ready for the NFL Draft. However, teams in the College Football Playoff had everyone as they compete for the national championship.