One of the biggest questions to come out of the USFL is how much it will act as a proving ground for players to move on to the bigger stage. Perhaps we should have been asking that question about its announcers as well.
Following in the footsteps of Jac Collinsworth and Jason Garrett, it sounds like football analyst Kyle Rudolph is getting the call-up from the USFL to Big Ten football.
In a piece on The Athletic by Pete Samson, the former Notre Dame player says that he will “call select Big Ten games for NBC this fall.”
That would mean Rudolph may be paired with a yet-to-be-announced play-by-play announcer for NBC/Peacock’s Big Ten “B” games. NBC’s Big Ten Saturday night football package calls for 14-to-16 games on the network and nine Peacock-exclusive football games a year, per the latest release. Presumably, Rudolph will be on some of those Peacock broadcast calls.
Noah Eagle and Todd Blackledge will be NBC’s “A” team for Big Ten games, with Kathryn Tappen serving as sideline reporter.
A former Notre Dame tight end and 12-year NFL veteran, Rudolph has been quickly working his way up the ranks at NBC. He called Notre Dame’s Blue-Gold Game on Peacock in April. He’s also called USFL games for NBC Sports this past season.
NBC’s Big Ten broadcasting team is starting to take full shape. Along with Eagle, Blackledge, and Tappen, their studio show will be hosted by Maria Taylor and feature analysts Joshua Perry and Matt Cassel. There are likely to be a few more names still to come as well as the 2023 college football season gets closer.
