You may have heard a thing or two about football season being just around the corner, and ESPN has made a number of roster moves among its fleet of announcers.
First and foremost around these parts, Front Office Sports is reporting that changes are coming to the top teams at both SEC and ACC Network. The ACC Network news isn't shocking nor surprising. Wes Durham will have his fourth color analyst in as many seasons -- former Boston College coach Steve Addazio is out, and former USC and Pitt quarterback Max Browne is in. Durham has been the ACC Network's top announcer since its 2019 launch.
Elsewhere, FOS reports that Tom Hart, Jordan Rodgers and Cole Cubelic will not be back to call SEC Network's top games. The trio had worked together the past nine seasons. The site previously reported that Rodgers has been promoted to a more prominent role in the ABC/ESPN pecking order, but rather than move Cubelic to the booth or find another analyst, SEC Network will Matt Schumacker and former Georgia quarterback Aaron Murray will call the network's top games each Saturday night. Hart also calls basketball and baseball for SEC Network and Cubelic, a former Auburn offensive lineman, also provides color commentary to select ESPN weeknight games in addition to roaming SEC sidelines while also doing the same for UFL games in the spring, hosting a weeknight film breakdown show with Roman Harper on SEC Network, and hosting a popular morning radio show in Birmingham with former Alabama quarterback/ABC color analyst Greg McElroy.
With details scarce and more moves detailed below, it's possible that Hart and/or Cueblic are in line for promotions within the ESPN ecosystem, although if that's the case it begs the question why the folks in Bristol wouldn't keep the Hart/Rodgers/Cubelic team together after nine well-received seasons.
Elsewhere, ESPN announced Thursday it has signed Dave Pasch to an exclusive contract, thereby ending his 24-year run as the radio voice of the Arizona Cardinals. It's expected Pasch will pick up the extra games ESPN is responsible for after the acquisition of NFL Network, particularly the overseas games. If that's the case, that could take him off of college football duties on select Saturdays.
Dave Flemming, an ESPN announcer since 2010, has left the network for a job with NBC Sports. Primarily a baseball announcer (he's been the voice of the San Francisco Giants since 2003), Flemming also called the After Dark window for ESPN, in addition to college basketball work in the baseball offseason.
Finally, FOS also reported that former Missouri quarterback and longtime NFL backup Chase Daniel has joined ESPN. He'll replace Rodgers on SEC Nation, the network's version of College GameDay, and call ESPN Thursday night games alongside Matt Barrie. Barrie also takes over as host of SEC Network for Laura Rutledge, who stepped away after nine seasons as host to focus on her NFL duties for the Worldwide Leader.