Cris Collinsworth’s son Jac to be part of NBC’s Olympic coverage

We all know about Cris Collinsworth’s work on NBC. He’s the analyst for Sunday Night Football and this season, Thursday Night Football. In addition to his NFL work, Collinsworth has been an Olympic correspondent for NBC in Beijing and in London. But this year, Collinsworth is going to leave the Olympic reporting to his son, Jac who will be a senior at Notre Dame. Now, you may be wondering how Jac is going to be part of the record 170 on-air personalities working the Olympics while in college.

Notre Dame fans are already familiar with Jac as he’s been seen extensively on the school’s digital platforms hosting shows, producing features and maintaining a high profile for the Fighting Irish. The 21-year old Collinsworth will fill the role of social media correspondent at the Games most likely being seen on Facebook Live and Twitter with some occasional appearances on television. His role will be to interview athletes, NBC’s analysts and file various features on the social media platforms.

You might think Jac’s father might have gotten him the connections, but he’s been working with NBC on Notre Dame football games as a producer for the network’s sideline reports headlined by either Alex Flanagan or Kathryn Tappen. And he’s hosted “ND Live” online and a SiriusXM radio show. So he’s been hustling to get this Olympics gig.

Collinsworth tells WVXU’s John Kiesewetter that he’ll be seen extensively on the NBC Olympics social media platforms:

“We’ll be posting a lot of video mostly on Facebook Live, and on a Twitter and Instagram. On Facebook Live, your video can also have a shelf life. So they can pin that to a profile of an athlete, and you can view it whenever you want,” he says.

What’s interesting that when you see Collinsworth in one of the Notre Dame videos, he sounds a lot like his dad and also shares the same mannerisms as Cris, so the apple didn’t fall too far from the tree. And his on-air personality shows a down-home quality that could work on TV.

Here’s an online show, Collinsworths & Co. co-hosted by Jac and his brother, Austin, former safety with the Fighting Irish:

And here’s an edition of ND Live:

So it’s not like he hasn’t had the opportunity to host, but he’ll have a huge opportunity to be seen during the Olympics on NBC’s platforms. It will be quite the audience.

[WXVU.org]