Edwards becomes 9th member of Committee
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark., Sept. 21, 2016 – Famed ESPN football analyst Herm Edwards has joined the Burlsworth Trophy Selection Committee.
He joins a legendary list of committee members with College Football Hall of Famer and legendary Arkansas Head Coach Frank Broyles, College Football Hall of Famer and legendary Alabama Head Coach Gene Stallings, former Arkansas and Clemson Head Coach Danny Ford, former Arkansas, Air Force, Clemson, and Rice Head Coach Ken Hatfield, former Arkansas ’64 National Champion and University of Arkansas Board Member Jim Lindsey, 35 year NFL Assistant Coach Howard Mudd, former Harrison (Ar.) Head Coach, and current Huntsville (Ar.) Athletic Director Tommy Tice, and NFL Hall of Famer, Broncos and Falcons Head Coach and former player Dan Reeves.
Edwards, a former NFL head coach and player, joined ESPN in March 2009 as an NFL studio analyst. He appears primarily on NFL Live and SportsCenter, while also contributing to and ESPN Radio and the company’s annual Super Bowl coverage.
Among Edwards’ other responsibilities, he called weekly SEC prime time college football games alongside Clay Matvick on ESPNU in 2010, and he worked alongside Rece Davis and Chris Spielman in August 2009 to call the Dike-New Hartford at Aplington-Parkersburg (Iowa) high school football game on ESPN. The game marked the emotional return to the field for Aplington-Parkersburg, which lost its legendary football coach Ed Thomas in a tragic school shooting two months earlier. Edwards also participated in the 2011 SportsCenter series “Back to School,” where he returned to his hometown of Monterey, Calif., to coach his former high school team, the Monterey H.S. Toreadores.
Before officially joining ESPN, Edwards worked a brief stint in Bristol during the 2008 NFL offseason as a guest analyst.
Edwards spent eight years as an NFL head coach with the New York Jets (2001-05) and Kansas City Chiefs (2006-08). He led his teams to four playoff appearances, including 2004 when his Jets squad finished with a 10-6 regular season record and advanced to the AFC Divisional Playoffs. Edwards, who also guided the Chiefs to a Wild Card berth in 2006, is one of only four NFL coaches to lead two different teams to the playoffs in his first season as head coach with those teams.
The first graduate of the NFL’s Minority Coaching Fellowship (1987), Edwards began his coaching career as a defensive backs coach at San Jose State University (1987-89). He joined the NFL ranks as a scout with the Chiefs in 1990 and was with the club for four seasons (1992-95) as a defensive backs coach and in his final year as a member of the pro personnel department before joining Tony Dungy’s staff in Tampa Bay. He served as the Bucs assistant head coach and defensive backs coach from 1996-2000.
Edwards played defensive back for 10 NFL seasons (1977-86), mostly for the Philadelphia Eagles where he recorded 38 career interceptions. He played seven games for the Atlanta Falcons and Los Angeles Rams during his final season in 1986. Edwards was a member of the Eagles’ Super Bowl team in 1980 and is also known for recovering the fumble by Giants quarterback Joe Pisarcik – and returning it for a game-winning 26-yard touchdown — on one of the most unusual plays in NFL history, dubbed “The Miracle at the Meadowlands” during the closing seconds of the Eagles-Giants game on Nov. 19, 1978.
A native of Seaside, Calif., Edwards graduated from Monterey High School, attended the University of California, Berkeley for two years before graduating from San Diego State University with a degree in Criminal Justice. He was appointed a charter member of the Fritz Pollard Alliance, named a member of the Positive Coaching Alliance’s National Advisory Committee in 2003 and sits on the Santa Catalina School Board of Trustees. Edwards also remains active in numerous charitable and philanthropic endeavors, including the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) and the Herman L. Edwards Family Youth Foundation, which he created in 1985 with the goal of making a direct impact on the lives of children on the Monterey Peninsula.
Edwards has been recognized by multiple organizations for his work in the community. He received the 2012 Walter Camp Foundation Man of the Year Award for his longtime contributions to the game of football; he was honored with Team ESPN’s Commentator of the Year Award in 2013; and in 2015 he received the prestigious Shell Legacy Award from the Shell Oil Company. Known for his dynamic motivational speaking, Edwards regularly addresses football players of all ages, as well as corporate groups. He spoke to incoming players at the NFL Players Association’s Rookie Premier in 2011, and coached teams at both the Under Armour All-America High School Football game (Head Coach 2011-Present) and has also coached the NFLPA Collegiate Bowl college all-star game.
Edwards co-authored the book You Play to Win the Game – Leadership Lessons for Success On and Off the Field with ESPN’s Shelley Smith, and he was involved in longtime NFL referee Jim Tunney’s book, It’s the Will, Not the Skill – Principles and Philosophies of Success as Seen Through the Eyes, Mind and Heart of Herm Edwards. He also worked local broadcasts of Eagles preseason games in 2009.
A passionate golfer, Edwards appeared in Golf Channel’s original series “The Haney Project” with professional instructor Hank Haney in December 2011. Edwards also plays a number of high-profile celebrity tournaments each year, including the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am and the American Century Celebrity Golf Championship in Lake Tahoe.
Edwards and his wife Lia are the proud parents of three children: Marcus, Gabrielle and Vivian.
The Burlsworth Trophy is named in honor of Brandon Burlsworth. Without one D1 scholarship offer, Burlsworth walked on to the Razorback team in 1994, became a three-year starter, and was eventually named an All-American in 1998. Burlsworth was selected with the 63rd overall pick by the Indianapolis Colts in the 1999 NFL draft, but was tragically killed in a car accident 11 days later. The Brandon Burlsworth Foundation was created in his memory and supports the physical and spiritual needs of children, in particular those children who have limited opportunities.
The Burlsworth Trophy is awarded to the most outstanding division one college football player in America who began his career as a walk on.
Burlsworth’s life is also the subject of a new major motion picture, “GREATER”, which is released in select theaters.