There were some odd scenes around Week 1 of the 2023 college football season, but a fully clothed Robert Griffin III jumping into a body of water and full-on splitting his pants might just take the cake.
Griffin was on assignment for ESPN for Washington’s season opener against Boise State. He was talking up Huskies starting quarterback Michael Penix Jr., who very well could be among one of the first quarterbacks selected in the 2024 NFL Draft. During his standup, which he did on a boat for some reason, he talked up Penix and the Washington Huskies for ” making waves” last season.
You can see where this is going, right?
Yes, Griffin used the “speaking of making waves” reference to intrude into the fact that he was so excited for the college football season to be back that he was going to make a “splash.” And that he did. But what he didn’t account for is that by leaping into the water, his pants would give way.
Griffin’s pants held on for dear life until they couldn’t hold on any longer.
He later posted a behind-the-scenes video, which shows him saying that he couldn’t have planned this “any better.”
https://twitter.com/RGIII/status/1698077448540229999?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1698077448540229999%7Ctwgr%5E096abf5bedd64414e32f303dfa19f4413a983460%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fftw.usatoday.com%2F2023%2F09%2Frobert-griffin-iii-ripped-pants-espn-college-football-washington
So you mean to tell us that Griffin planned on ripping his pants?
Whatever his intention was, it was quite the introduction. It wasn’t Mark Ingram II riding a horse into his Big Noon Kickoff debut, but hey, that’s a high bar to reach. We’ll have to see if ESPN has Griffin jump into any other bodies of water, or perhaps rip other garments of clothing for Week 2.
[CJ Fogler, Robert Griffin III]
About Sam Neumann
Since the beginning of 2023, Sam has been a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. A 2021 graduate of Temple University, Sam is a Charlotte native, who currently calls Greenville, South Carolina his home. He also has a love/hate relationship with the New York Mets and Jets.