ESPN and Omaha Productions’ This is Football, hosted by Kevin Clark, is a unique mix of interviews, stories, and anecdotes. Moreover, it is a vehicle for Clark to showcase his skills as a rising media star. I caught the December 11, 2025, ESPN2 version of the show and really liked the brief but very cool open, with high-tech graphics and football images moving across the screen.
This is Football is not just another fluff interview show. Clark obviously puts time into his questions and show prep. He truly is one of the new wave of talents across the football media landscape – casually dressed, slightly unshaven, and always ready for a raucous good time on air.
The contemporary feel that characterizes This is Football has become the new normal across multimedia platforms. Gone are the days of the suited-up, tie-wearing, straight-laced, cookie-cutter host. NFL Network has taken this route with a lot of its fantasy programming, and ESPN has followed suit. It’s actually quite similar to when ESPN first launched ESPN2 in 1993 and had personalities like Suzy Kolber, Keith Olbermann, and Stuart Scott dressed in extremely casual clothes – a departure from the suit-and-tie SportsCenter personalities.
This new look is clearly an attempt to capture a younger audience, one that loves football but is not stodgy, curmudgeonly, or trapped in the past. I think the impact of Barstool Sports is important to mention here. The “guy you want to have a beer with” personality on television works. Clark takes this to another level by adding a ton of knowledge, background, and depth.
His first guests were Hall of Fame offensive lineman Joe Thomas, joined by Jackson Cantwell, this year’s Gatorade National High School Player of the Year and the first ever offensive lineman honored with the award.
Cantwell attends Nixa, Missouri, High School and has already committed to play football at the University of Miami. Clark asked him how he felt being on the show with Thomas, and Cantwell said that he was “on cloud nine” and that he has watched a lot of footage from Thomas’s career with the Cleveland Browns. Thomas called Cantwell “a generational talent” and said that he had been following the young lineman’s career since middle school.
Clark, himself, is a University of Miami grad who previously worked for the Sun-Sentinel newspaper, The Wall Street Journal, and The Ringer. He brings a vast array of experience across different sports to This is Football.
To me, Clark is first and foremost an interviewer. He clearly enjoys delving into athletes’ backgrounds, asking unique questions, and truly listening to their answers.
One of the great things about This is Football is that it allows Clark to do lengthy interviews. This is not a quick blurb-and-sound-bite show. Clark talked to Thomas and Cantwell for the first half of the show, bringing the program to its first break almost fifteen minutes into the telecast. I like this.
The long interview is truly a lost art on television. Even so-called long-form features on national programs often run no more than five to seven minutes. Clark has the time and space to ask questions, offer follow-ups, and react to the guests’ answers.
After the break, Clark featured another excellent interview with ex-Chiefs, Bills, and Jaguars offensive lineman Mitch Morse.
Clark’s first question to Morse was fantastic. He didn’t just ask him about his former teams. Instead, he referenced an anecdote where, after winning one of their AFC West Championships in Kansas City, actor and Chiefs fan Paul Rudd came into the KC locker room. Morse humorously recalled giving Rudd an AFC West championship hat and related that the actor behaved like a “4 year-old,” so authentically excited to be there and get the hat.
Morse hosts the Monday Mornings with Mitch podcast. It was his first ever appearance on This is Football, a feather in Clark’s hat for opening the doors to new media talent heretofore unknown by mainstream viewers.
Clark seamlessly segued to a question on what has been wrong with the Chiefs in 2025. Morse responded that the team’s offensive line has been decimated with injuries, a huge part of their failures this year. Morse gave a brutally honest answer, saying that he really could not pinpoint one particular reason why the Chiefs have fallen so far this year.
He then shared a neat story about Andy Reid from the 2015 season. The Chiefs had lost five games in a row, and Reid told them to relax because he knew how to fix their issues. KC then ran off a long winning streak. This is a first-hand warning to those who think the Chiefs are done competing for Super Bowls. With Reid at the helm, this team is going to reshape, reload, and be a championship contender again very quickly.
This is Football is a basic studio show. There are no highlights from coaches or players. It’s basically Clark’s deal. If he’s not right, the show is not right. Thankfully, he is usually right. Clark is marvelously prepared with a list of questions that go beyond the usual “What do you think?” or “How do you feel?” He gets in-depth and specific when doling out a question to a guest. He also taps into that guest’s strengths.
With Morse, he asked about the Bills, getting some real talk from someone who played for that team. One question he asked Morse was that if the Bills were to win the Super Bowl this year, what would be the reason. It wasn’t just a stock, trite, hackneyed question, and Morse really had to think about his answer – a sure sign of a good query. Morse responded that the Bills need to let Josh Allen be Josh Allen and do the things that only he can do. He also stated that they need to be more explosive on defense.
This actually played out in the Bills’ win over the Patriots three days later. Allen ran and threw for the victory, and the defense basically shut down New England in the second half.
The interview morphed more into just a really nice conversation between Clark and Morse. The exchange even led to a funny story about Morse being ill for a game in 2023 and, let’s just say, having an accident during that game. Clark was beside himself laughing, especially at the fact that Morse went into the blue medical tent to get cleaned up and refreshed – great intimate stuff.
If you want to learn something you didn’t already know, check out This is Football. It truly is a unique and entertaining exchange of thoughts – not just question, answer, question, answer. In short, Kevin Clark gives a master class in thoughtful and intelligent interviewing, resulting in candid and interesting responses.
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John Molori is a weekly columnist for Barrett Sports Media. He has previously contributed to ESPNW, Patriots Football Weekly, Golf Content Network, Methuen Life Magazine, and wrote a syndicated Media Blitz column in the New England region, which was published by numerous outlets including The Boston Metro, Providence Journal, Lowell Sun, and the Eagle-Tribune. His career also includes fourteen years in television as a News and Sports Reporter, Host, Producer working for Continental Cablevision, MediaOne, and AT&T. He can be reached on Twitter @MoloriMedia.
