Andy Staples

B.S. Journalism, 2000

Andy Staples covers college football and all barbecue-related issues for The Athletic. He covered college football for Sports Illustrated from 2008-19. He also hosts The Andy Staples Show.

Previously he covered UF sports for The Tampa Tribune and University of Tennessee sports for the Chattanooga Times Free Press.

At SI, Staples has flown on a private jet with a freshly minted Rhodes Scholar trying to make the second half of a football game. He has mapped the hometowns of the BCS-conference football players to see if there was any correlation between location and success and has chronicled the exploits of Johnny Manziel.

Staples received first place honors from the Football Writers Association of America’s 17th annual Best Writing contest—for his 2008 game story on Georgia-Alabama—and earned an honorable mention in the 2004 edition of the Best American Sportswriting anthology. Staples also makes frequent appearances on sports-talk radio stations throughout the country.