Former TE Michael Colubiale joins UCF radio broadcast crew
In his six seasons as a tight end at UCF, Michael Colubiale has seen some of the best and the worst of the Knights.
He’s been a part of a Bowl Championship Series win, a winless season, a record-setting undefeated season and a 25-game winning streak with back-to-back appearances in New Year’s Six bowl games from 2013-18.
Colubiale will lean on many of those experiences when he steps into the role of guest analyst on the pregame show for UCF’s radio broadcasts on 96.9 FM. It all started with a text from Marc Daniels, the play-by-play announcer for UCF sports, asking to give him a call.
“I had no idea [what it was about] and he said we had this idea and we think you would be great at it,” Colubiale said. “It’s just doing some pregame show stuff. I told him yes before he went into everything.”
But Colubiale had some concerns, particularly about what would be required of him.
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“I told him, ‘I don’t know what you’re expecting from me because I don’t track the team thoroughly anymore,’” he said. “He was like, ‘No, we just want to talk some ball, talk about your experiences.’”
The plan is for Colubiale to do several short segments with Daniels and sideline reporter Scott Adams during the pregame show. While he had no ambition to get into sports broadcasting, the lure of being around the program and football again was too much for him to pass up.
“I don’t work around football anymore and I miss the game and I miss talking about it,” Colubiale said. “Maybe it could lead to something. I don’t know.
“It’s a good opportunity to follow the team more in-depth and get some experience talking with those guys.”
One of the first things he did was connect with former teammate McKenzie Milton, who worked on the broadcast team last year.
Colubiale lives in DeLand with wife, Jenna, and their 8-month-old daughter, Blakely, but he tries to attend as many UCF home games as possible. He admits he’s not into the tailgating scene, but he’s looking forward to watching with his family.
“It caught me off guard a bit, but I’m excited,” Colubiale said.
Email Matt Murschel at mmurschel@orlandosentinel.com or follow him on Twitter at @osmattmurschel.
