Joel Klatt

Joel Klatt (born February 4, 1982) is an American college football color commentator and analyst for Fox Sports.

Klatt played college football for the Colorado Buffaloes.

He was the first three-year starter at quarterback for Colorado since Kordell Stewart ('92–'94).

He also played minor-league baseball for two seasons.

Klatt was born in Arvada, Colorado.

He was coached by his father, Gary Klatt, the head coach at Pomona High School in Arvada, Colorado.

As a junior, he had 4 interceptions playing in the secondary, helping the team to a 9–3 record, and winning the Jefferson County league championship.

As a senior at QB, he led the team to a 6–5 record and earned second-team all-state honors with a 78–125 passes (62.4%) for 1,250 yards and 16 touchdowns.

He played primarily at shortstop in baseball, earning first-team all-state in his senior year and helped his team finish runner-up in the state tournament.

He earned the following records at his school in baseball: HRs (40), RBIs (66), H (51), and SLG (1.226).

He also set three summer school records: HRs (26), RBIs (99) and SLG (1.147).

He also played basketball at guard.

Klatt lettered in football, basketball, and baseball all four years of high school.

He is one of 4 true freshman walk-ons to see action since 1986 for Colorado and was the Scout Team Offense Award Winner for the Colorado State game.

The Buffs were Big 12 North Champions that season and played in the Alamo Bowl.

The following year, Klatt earned the starting position at QB and went on to set 19 school records and tied one.

He earned all-Big 12 honors and Colorado's John Mack Award (CU's Offensive Player of the Year).

He was 233–358 for 2,614 yards and 21 touchdowns.

Klatt made his first QB start in Colorado's first game of the season against Colorado State.

He went 21–34 for 402 yards and 4 touchdowns, winning the game with a 6-play, 75-yard drive with 40 seconds left in the game.

For his performance, he was named National Player of the Week by The Sporting News, SI.com, and collegefootballnews.com, and won Big 12 Conference Offensive Player of the Week.

He suffered a sprained shoulder injury during the Washington State game causing him to miss two starts against Florida State and Baylor.

He returned from the injury with a record setting game against Kansas going 38–54 with 419 yards.

Klatt was drafted in the 11th round of the 2000 Major League Baseball draft by the San Diego Padres as a third baseman.

He played for the Arizona League Padres in Peoria, Arizona, that summer where he led the team with 12 doubles and batted .209 with one home run and 15 runs batted in (RBIs) in 51 games.

In 2001, he was with Idaho Falls Padres, where he batted .208 with two home runs, 10 RBIs, and three stolen bases in 45 games.

In 2002, he told himself if he did not move up to the Class A-Advanced level, he would give college football a try.

After he reported for spring training with Eugene Emeralds, he realized he would never make it to the major leagues.

He then left the team and walked-on at the University of Colorado.

Klatt walked-on to Colorado as a QB in 2002.

As a true freshman, he played in 3 games, mostly on the punt return team as a rusher/blocker against Missouri and Iowa State.

Against Baylor, he went 0–3 passing.

For the 2004 season, he started 12 games and played in all 13, being benched in the Iowa State game for lackluster performance.

He was 192–334 for 2,065 yards and 9 touchdowns but had 15 interceptions.

He was placed on scholarship status for this season, having played the previous two in walk-on status.

He continued to set records at Colorado and led the team to the Big 12 Conference North title, losing the championship game to Oklahoma.

He then went on to lead his team to victory in the Houston Bowl against UTEP.

He set 8 school records and recorded his first and only reception going for 18 yards on a throwback with Bernard Jackson against Texas A&M.

He was on the official watch list for the Davey O'Brien Award (one of 42 candidates), and Street & Smith’s selected him as an honorable mention preseason All-American.

His two 400-yard throwing games ranked 4th and 5th most passing yards in a game by a walk-on (or former walk-on) in NCAA Division I history prior to the 2005–06 season.