Mike Monaco and Jordan Rodgers will be paired together for Friday night college football games on ESPN this season, along with sideline reporter Dana Boyle, sources told Front Office Sports.
ESPN is putting three rising talents together in a window that is attractive because there are fewer college football games on at the same time to compete with.
Monaco has reached a new multi-year deal with the network, sources said.
An ESPN spokesperson declined to comment.
Monaco, who was on FOS’s list of rising play-by-play broadcasters last year, had previously been paired with analyst Kirk Morrison. He is a Swiss-Army-knife announcer for ESPN, also calling MLB, NHL, major tennis (including Wimbledon, the U.S. Open, and the Australian Open), and college baseball and basketball. Earlier this month, he also called NBA Summer League action in Las Vegas.
Rodgers had for years worked on SEC Network’s popular top team with Tom Hart and Cole Cubelic. He is also departing the SEC Nation studio show and will instead be part of the ESPN/ABC Saturday studio team, in addition to making regular appearances on Get Up and First Take during football season.
Rodgers won a Sports Emmy last year for his work as a game analyst. He previously starred at Vanderbilt, won The Bachelor in 2016, and later married JoJo Fletcher. The 37-year-old is the younger brother of future Hall of Fame quarterback Aaron Rodgers.
Boyle has been a sideline reporter for ACC Network college football games and also worked NFL Flag Football championships and PLL and WLL games for the ESPN family of networks.
FOS previously reported that the new top SEC Network announce team will feature Matt Schumacker on play-by-play with former Georgia quarterback Aaron Murray as the color commentator.
When ESPN airs ACC football games on Friday nights, the broadcasts regularly include real-time referee audio during replay reviews.
