Todd Blackledge
Birthday: February 25, 1961
Todd Blackledge was born in Canton, Ohio, and grew up around the game as the son of Ron Blackledge, a college football coach. He became a star quarterback at Penn State, leading the Nittany Lions to an 11-1 record and the 1982 national championship with a win over Georgia in the Sugar Bowl, and capped his college career with the Davey O'Brien Award as the nation's top quarterback. The Kansas City Chiefs took him seventh overall in the celebrated 1983 NFL Draft quarterback class that also included John Elway, Jim Kelly, and Dan Marino, though his seven-year pro career with the Chiefs and Pittsburgh Steelers never matched the promise of his college days. Blackledge found his true second act in broadcasting, working as a college football analyst for ABC, CBS, and ESPN across nearly three decades, including a long run as lead analyst on ESPN's Saturday primetime broadcasts, before joining NBC Sports in 2023 as analyst for Big Ten Saturday Night. Along the way, he became known not just for his sharp game analysis but for his popular "Todd's Taste of the Town" segments, spotlighting local restaurants in college towns each week.
