Jesse Palmer

Jesse Palmer

College Football Analyst

Jesse Palmer joined ESPN in 2007 as a college football analyst after five seasons in the NFL. The former University of Florida quarterback has held prominent roles as analyst both in the studio on ESPN/ABC Saturday games, as well as in the booth on ESPN’s Thursday Night College Football and as lead analyst on SEC Network. He is currently teamed up with Joe Tessitore and Katie George for ABC/ESPN college football on Saturdays. In September 2021, he was named host of ABC’s The Bachelor and The Bachelorette.

In 2014, he was announced as the lead game analyst alongside legendary sportscaster Brent Musburger for SEC Network. Previously, Palmer served as a studio analyst on College Football Live, ABC Studio alongside John Saunders with pregame, halftime and postgame analysis, as well as previous studio work on ESPN2, the BCS Countdown and on an ESPNU show, Palmer & Pollack.

Palmer’s broadcast career began with Fox Sports Net, with analysis on Arena Football League games. He was later a game and studio analyst for CSTV in late 2005 and worked NFL games for Fox in 2006. He has been featured as an analyst on the NFL Network and has done studio work with MSG.

From 1997-2000 at Florida, Palmer alternated at quarterback with Doug Johnson and then Rex Grossman. In 14 starts through 27 games played, Palmer is 11th on the Gators’ career-record list with 3,755 yards passing, and 12th in career touchdown passes with 31. For his career, he completed 254 passes. He also was named to the Southeastern Conference’s academic honor roll in 1998, 1999 and 2000 and earned the Dr. Lombardi GPA Award in the spring of 1999.

Palmer was drafted in 2001 to the New York Giants. He spent four years with the Giants. In 2003, starting three of the six games in which he played, Palmer completed 60 passes for 532 yards and three touchdowns. In 2005, he briefly spent time with the San Francisco 49ers, and later played for the CFL’s Montreal Alouettes.

A native of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, Palmer is fluent in French. His father, Bill, also played in the CFL, with the Ottawa Rough Riders. Jesse’s brother, Billy, played college football at Notre Dame.

Palmer, a Montreal native, graduated from Florida with bachelor’s degrees in marketing and political science, now lives in New York City.

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