Erin Andrews on Les

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He is nuts. But he's such a great guy. I know a side of Les that a lot of people don't know. When everything happened to me a couple of years ago, I had countless numbers of coaches that actually reached out and left me messages, and almost motivated me to get back to work, and to not let what happened to me really affect me coming back. I didn't really have much of a relationship with Les. I knew him, I'd covered his games, but he wasn't someone I'd call up if I needed something. And he called me out of the blue one day. I remember I was sitting on the back porch, and I was just kind of reading, getting some sun, and he called me and he said, "Do you have a few minutes?" And he said, "I just want to talk to you about what happened." He said, "I can't imagine what you're going through, but I don't want to hear that you're not coming back because of this, and you need to be back out there." He started lecturing me, to the point where I was ready to run through a window or the wall; I was ready to tackle someone. It was awesome. I was like, this must be what guys feel like before they take the field. And I didn't have much of a relationship with him for him to do that. He has a couple of daughters, and maybe he did it because he's a dad. So I've always looked at Les that way. But then I spent a full day with him when I went and did this all-access piece when we were getting ready for the first game against Alabama, and that was amazing. I drove to work with him, I saw how he was with his kids, and his daughter was like, "Daddy, drive up on the sidewalk like you usually do." He's just a nut. He doesn't do things like Nick Saban would, who is very by the book—everything is tucked in, everything is straight-laced. Les is just different, and I think that's what makes him one of the coolest characters in college football right now.

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