The television segment idea was absurd. Then again, many thought the Longhorn Network itself was too. And during LHN’s launch year in 2011, producer Ande Wall was willing to take chances. 

Thus, ‘Fozzy’s Safari Spectacular,’ starring Texas Longhorns senior captain Fozzy Whittaker, was born. 

LHN’s internal motto was to personalize and then analyze the UT athletes it covered, and Whittaker had a whole lot of personality. Texas’s running back never led with the fact he was Texas’s running back. He was kind of… a nerd? Whittaker loved Marvel, video games and playing the tuba.

He also had 17 pets (although he admits it included every fish in his fish tank) and was down to dress like "The Crocodile Hunter," Steve Irwin, and show them off on the nightly ‘Longhorn Extra’ show. Whittaker held up a dog, lizard, snake, Wall even remembers a duck making its way in there, and proudly described it for the audience. 

“Fozzy has something,” Wall said. “He is just such a likable human being, and that is just not the case with everyone on TV.”

The 2024 season is Whittaker’s first in the booth as an ESPN color commentator. But his television career officially started in that studio as a senior in college. Not only was Whittaker getting practice reps answering interview questions as a two-year captain at one of the most popular football programs in the country, but he also saw behind-the-scenes production.

LHN, as Fozzy participated in it, is gone, but he is part of the new generation of media talents it produced. There’s Emmanuel and Sam Acho, Jane Slater, Sam Ponder, Kaylee Hartung, and that lapel-wearing goofball who wasn’t afraid to not take himself too seriously.

“It was probably the most impactful thing that happened at the University of Texas to shape my life after the football career,” Whittaker said.