Jamie Erdahl, new "Good Morning Football" host, began as an KFAN intern

Jamie Erdahl was a junior at Breck when she landed an internship at KFAN. She had a sports itch that needed to be scratched.

"I don't know if I knew what it meant to have a career in sports television," Erdahl said. "All I knew is that I really liked to talk about football, that I really liked to talk about sports. And I would go out of my way at school to accommodate that part of my personality, almost to a fault."

She screened calls for the "Chad Hartman Show" but really enjoyed the entire sports talk vibe. She was 16. She was having a blast being around grownups as they yakked about sports.

"I'm like, what was up with me at that age," Erdahl said.

She's a big fan of sideline reporting royalty Michele Tafoya, who also is well-known in these parts, and has followed her career closely. Erdahl, during her internship, was ready with questions the day Tafoya arrived at KFAN to sit in on a show.

"I showed up early to catch the last hour of whatever show she was doing," Erdahl said, "and then I walked with her into the elevator, down the elevator, into the lobby then out to her car. She probably was like 'Why is this girl following me around?' "

"I just had this wherewithal that this is a moment in time that I should take advantage of."

Erdahl wasn't just getting her sports fix. The Bloomington native was laying the groundwork for a successful career as a sports reporter. She attended St. Olaf, where she played basketball and softball, before transferring to American University to work on a degree in broadcasting and communications.

Her career stops include the New England Sports Network, where she worked Boston Red Sox games, and the CBS Sports Network, where she was a sideline reporter during SEC football and basketball games and was part of March Madness coverage. That was Erdahl, on March 27, trying to interview blubbering North Carolina coach Hubert Davis following the Tar Heels' win over St. Peter's to reach the Final Four.

But after spending the last eight years with CBS Sports, Erdahl is taking a sizeable step forward. Last month, she was named the new host of the wildly popular "Good Morning Football," show on the NFL Network, a show that strikes the proper balance between being informative and zany. The other hosts occasionally dress up in costumes and role play while dishing out the latest on the NFL. The sports-humor mix works. Earlier this year, GMFB received a sports Emmy for outstanding studio show.

Erdahl landed the gig on July 11. Three days later, her family — which includes husband Sam Buckman and two daughters, ages 1 and 3 — left the Twin Cities for New York. On July 25, she debuted as the replacement for Kay Adams. She wasn't necessarily looking to move on, and she hopes she can occasionally work with CBS Sports in the future. But who turns down an opportunity to cover the NFL?

"For me, personally, it was the job title," Erdahl said. "To go from being just a sideline reporter to really expanding myself to be a studio host, once you have the skill no one can take it away from you."

Besides, roughly 20% of NFL players are from the SEC, the most from any conference. She already knows a chunk of the league.

"It's insane," she said with a chuckle. "I feel conscious about it. During the commercial breaks I'm like, 'Am I doing too much here?' Every time I pick someone, I'm picking an SEC guy. The other hosts, Kyle [Brandt], Pete [Schrager] and Jason [McCourty] are like, 'No, your perspective is great.' "

Erdahl sounded bewildered during a recent phone interview as she talked about a career — from intern to sideline reporter to host of a popular daily football show — in which the seeds were planted after working at a Twin Cities radio station.

"It's crazy to me," she said, "that something I voluntarily signed up to do when I was in high school and the fact it's what I'm doing now is kind of mind-blowing."