Craig James ( American football ) Jesse Craig James ( born January 2 , 1961 ) is a former American sports commentator on the ABC and ESPN television networks . Prior to becoming a sportscaster , James was a professional football player for the New England Patriots of the National Football League and for the Washington Federals of the United States Football League . He ran for a seat in the U . S . Senate in Texas in 2012 , but was defeated in the first round of the Republican primary . Football . James attended Stratford High School in Houston , Texas , where he was a star on Stratford ' s 1978 Texas class 4A championship football team , setting the single - season Texas 4A rushing record with 2 , 411 yards gained in 15 games . James , a running back , also attended Southern Methodist University in Dallas , Texas . In the 1980 Holiday Bowl ( known as the Miracle Bowl ) , James ' offensive production of 225 rushing yards and 9 . 9 yards / carry were not enough as SMU lost the Holiday Bowl while he set records that stood for 13 and 15 years respectively . In 1982 , he scored on a 96 - yard touchdown reception to set a new record as the longest scoring play in Southwest Conference history . After his senior season in 1982 , James was drafted by the Washington Federals of the USFL with the 4th overall pick in the spring league ' s inaugural draft . James subsequently signed with the Federals a week after being drafted . His first pro season in Washington saw James and the Feds struggle to a 4 – 14 record . He rushed for 823 yards and 4 TDs in 14 games ( starting 14 ) . He also caught 40 passes out of the backfield that season . The following year , 1984 , James suffered a knee injury on Sunday , March 4 , in a game at RFK against the Philadelphia Stars . He was placed on injured reserve later that week . He was subsequently released by the cash - strapped Federals a month later , allowing him to join the Patriots for their training camp in August that year . According to James , speaking on an ESPN broadcast of the Florida State Seminoles vs . North Carolina Tar Heels , the first player to tackle him in the NFL was Lawrence Taylor . In the 1985 – 86 season , James rushed for 1 , 227 yards , becoming the last white player to rush for more than 1 , 000 yards in a season , until Peyton Hillis reached that mark in 2010 . In week 2 against the Chicago Bears he caught a 90 - yard touchdown pass from Tony Eason which was the longest touchdown from scrimmage in Patriots history at the time . He was a major factor in the Patriots ' 31 – 14 upset win over the Miami Dolphins in the AFC title game , rushing for a career postseason high of 105 yards . However , he was dominated by the Chicago Bears ' defense in Super Bowl XX , which held him to only 1 yard on 5 carries . James retired from the NFL after the 1988 season , having rushed for 2 , 469 yards and eleven touchdowns in his five seasons with the Patriots . He also had 819 yards receiving and two touchdown catches . Radio and television . After his retirement from playing in 1989 , James went on to become a radio analyst for SMU college football games and then the sports anchor for KDFW - TV . During this time , he also appeared on ESPN as a studio analyst on the " College GameDay " and " College Football Scoreboard " programs . Craig worked the Game Day Desk with Lee Corso and would pick up the nickname Mustang Breath from Lee in the ' Not So Fast ' segment on their pick ' em segment . In 1996 , he joined CBS where he served as a studio analyst on their " College Football Today " as well as " The NFL Today " programs before becoming a game analyst on " NFL on CBS " with Kevin Harlan . During his CBS stint , he served as a reporter during the NCAA Men ' s Basketball Championship as well as the 1998 Winter Olympics . In 2003 , James moved to ABC . He served as a studio analyst on their college football coverage through the 2008 season . He also appears as an analyst on ESPN ' s Thursday night package as well as other college football programs such as " College Football Live " . He then teamed with Mike Patrick and sideline reporter Heather Cox as game analyst for the 2009 season , working ESPN on ABC Saturday afternoon broadcasts , while still working the Thursday night package . On December 19 , 2011 , James announced that he was leaving ESPN to run for the United States Senate . James also operates his own broadcasting school , eponymously called the Craig James School of Broadcasting . James said in 1998 that the Wisconsin Badgers were " the worst team to ever play in the Rose Bowl . " Wisconsin went on to defeat # 6 UCLA 38 – 31 in the 1999 Rose Bowl . Afterward , Badger coach Barry Alvarez fired back , " Well , I know we ' re at least the second worst . " James is a voter in the AP college football poll , and has received some attention and criticism for his reported tendency to give low votes to teams from outside the Automatic Qualifying conference s , such as Boise State and TCU . Family . He lives in Celina , Texas , with his wife Marilyn and their four children . His brother Chris was a Major League Baseball player from 1986 through 1995 . Texas Tech controversy . James ' son , Adam , was the center of the controversy that resulted in Texas Tech suspending , and later firing , head football coach Mike Leach shortly before the 2010 Alamo Bowl . Leach allegedly had Adam twice stand in a shed for two hours during practice . In light of the allegations , ESPN removed James from announcing the Alamo Bowl , replacing him with Bob Davie . In a lawsuit filed by Leach against Texas Tech , he alleges that Adam " voluntarily placed himself into the electrical closet and apparently took pictures with his phone camera . " In response , James stated , " Since the James family is not a party to the lawsuit , we deem it inappropriate to discuss it . " Leach later filed suit against James and others for defamation related to the publicity surrounding this incident . Politics . In an interview with WFAA - TV in Dallas , James revealed that he was interested in getting involved in politics as a member of the Republican Party . James is a self - described conservative and states that government intervention in business and health care are his main concerns . He has founded a political group called Texans for a Better America . Run for U . S . Senate . On December 19 , 2011 , James announced he would run for the United States Senate as a Republican in 2012 for the seat being vacated by Kay Bailey Hutchison . He finished a distant fourth with about 4 % of the vote . Public Policy Polling found during the race that " as Craig James has become better known he ' s just gotten more and more unpopular . "