DALLAS — Deron Brown’s phone wouldn’t stop buzzing.
Engrossed in the craziest Saturday that Brown can remember in nearly 30 years working alongside a lifelong friend — ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit , who Brown was helping make his 2,000-mile trek from “College GameDay” in Eugene, Oregon, to the Cotton Bowl in Dallas for OU vs. Texas in the Red River Rivalry — he often forgot he was in the center of the frenzy.
Brown attended Centerville High School in Ohio and played college football at Ohio State with Herbstreit. Brown was at the wheel of the white Mercedes-Benz convertible live on the show, taking Herbstreit to his next destination in Dallas.
“Safety first,” said Brown, Herbstreit’s spotter during broadcasts for the past 20 years, of what was going through his mind while driving on live television. “We didn’t rehearse it so no one really knew what it was going to be like on live television. But I give the team a lot of credit because it was creative, fun, a different element and they’ve never done that before.