Ohio State's Zak Herbstreit, son of ESPN's Kirk Herbstreit, hospitalized in Columbus

Kirk Herbstreit’s son Zak Herbstreit was hospitalized, according to a report from ABC 6 in Columbus. The condition was not immediately made clear.

The report stated Zak Herbstreit was in stable condition. The younger Herbstreit plays football at Ohio State as a tight end.

Kirk Herbstreit provided a text message to ABC 6.

“His family is with him and appreciate everyone’s concerns and prayers,” Kirk Herbstreit told ABC 6 via text message on Tuesday.

Zak Herbstreit joined Ohio State as a preferred walk-on in 2021. He’s listed as 6-foot-2, 240 pounds.

As a member of the Class of 2021, Zak Herbstreit was not ranked, according to the On3 Industry Ranking, a weighted average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies. He played his high school football at Nashville (Tenn.) Montgomery Bell Academy.

Zak’s older brothers Ty and Jake walked on at Clemson and opted not to go to Ohio State. Kirk Herbstreit was just fine with that decision.

“When it came time to go to school, they just happened to go to a Clemson camp going into their senior year and did pretty well, and (head coach) Dabo (Swinney) kind of kept an eye on them and stayed in touch with them and offered them an opportunity to be preferred walk-ons,” Kirk Herbstreit previously told reporters. “They decided to take him up on it. It was really as simple as that.”

Ohio State head coach Ryan Day opted to offer Zak Herbstreit a preferred walk-on spot with the Buckeyes, something not previously done by Urban Meyer.

“Urban felt awful on the back end of that,” Herbstreit said. “He apologized quite a bit — he and the recruiting coordinator. But listen… this is my kids’ lives and my kids’ path, and I would love to have seen them go to Ohio State, but I’m not going to tell them, ‘You have to go to Ohio State’ when Urban Meyer hasn’t offered you a preferred walk-on… it wasn’t really an option.”