The Tribune

VETERAN ESPN SportsCenter anchor and college football commentator Steve Levy, 1991 Heisman Trophy winner and Super Bowl XXXI MVP Desmond Howard and sideline reporter Laura Rutledge are expected to call the 2018 Makers Wanted Bahamas Bowl.

The game between FIU (8-4) and Toledo (7-5) is scheduled for 12:30pm EST December 21 at the Thomas A Robinson National Stadium. Levy has been ESPN’s play-by-play voice for every game in the bowl’s history. Howard (analyst) will work his second- straight assignment at the bowl (2017), and Rutledge (sideline) will work for the third time in the Bahamas (2014, 2017).

Levy has hosted SportsCenter from many of the biggest events in sports, including the Super Bowl, NBA Finals, Final Four, College Football Playoff and more. He and ESPN hockey analyst Barry Melrose have covered the Stanley Cup Finals for ESPN every year since 1995.

The Washington Redskins selected Howard fourth overall in the 1992 NFL Draft. Howard spent three years with Washington, then moved on to the Jacksonville Jaguars – with whom he scored the first game-winning touchdown in team history – the Green Bay Packers, Oakland Raiders and Detroit Lions. He was selected to the Pro Bowl in 2000 while playing with the Lions.

Steve Levy is one of ESPN’s longest-running SportsCenter anchors, having joined the network in August 1993. He is most often seen on the 11 p.m. ET edition or other late-night shows, as well as on the SportsCenter program on the ESPN App. In addition to his SportsCenter duties, in 2016, Levy returned to the college football play-by-play booth to work a weekly ABC/ESPN afternoon game.

Desmond Howard joined ESPN in 2005 as a college football analyst. The 1991 Heisman Trophy winner and Super Bowl XXXI MVP joined the network a few years after his remarkable 11 seasons in the NFL. He has been an analyst on the eight-time Emmy-Award winning College GameDay, the network’s signature Saturday morning show originating from the site of one of the day’s best games, since 2005 and also calls ESPN’s mid-week games.

Laura Rutledge joined ESPN’s coverage of the Southeastern Conference in 2014 as a reporter on SEC Network and ESPN. She recently signed a multiyear contract extension in summer 2018.