Josh Pate discusses new ESPN show, four faces of ESPN, Pat McAfee and future of media company with OutKick

Josh Pate is the most popular college football commentator on the internet. This fall, he will also expand his partnership with ESPN, co-hosting a new Friday television program with "Bussin' With the Boys" hosts Will Compton and Taylor Lewan from college campuses across the country.

This week, Pate spoke to OutKick about how, not long ago, he was making just $27,000 a year and was eventually evicted from his home. Today, he runs one of the most successful independent brands in sports media and says he turns down sponsorship opportunities to avoid overexposing himself.

During the discussion, I read aloud a text I received from a top sports media agent a few weeks ago, saying that the four people ESPN plans to build around for its future are Pat McAfee, Laura Rutledge, Peter Schrager and Josh Pate.

"Wow. That's company that I don't think I belong in, because I've got pretty big reverence professionally for everyone you just mentioned. I don't know Peter as well. Laura Rutledge is a living, breathing angel. Pat McAfee, to me, when you mention that name, you have to mention that name, and then you have to stop," Pate responded.

"I go back, I use this comparison sometimes. I grew up on pro wrestling, ironically, speaking of Pat. I remember since that Attitude Era, late '90s, when I would have been a kid growing up, there's been this whole industry that has scaled and blown up around retrospectively looking back at that era. One of the concepts that always stood out to me and slapped me in the face, because I can relate to it and apply it to my professional life, is when people talk about the impact Steve Austin had on the industry of pro wrestling," he continued.

"There have been big stars before. There have been guys who made a lot of money. But the transcendent ones, the ones that you look back on a quarter-century later, are the ones who not only created wealth and success for themselves, but created wealth and success for hundreds and thousands of other people merely because they existed. That's Pat McAfee in our space."

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While Pate wasn't interested in comparing himself to McAfee, he described his expanded role with ESPN as something that still feels like a dream.

"It's pretty surreal, to be honest with you. Myself, Will Compton and Taylor Lewan...we will be on a different campus every Friday...we wanted to be on campus. We wanted to be with college football fans...Friday is a different vibe, and if you're around college football, you know what I mean. A Friday in a college town, there's sort of this rising action vibe," he explained.

In addition to his new agreement with ESPN, Pate will retain ownership of his media company and his flagship "Josh Pate's College Football Show." Pate explained that the business has five or six primary revenue streams, including YouTube AdSense and other programmatic revenue, brand deals, public speaking engagements, merchandise and talent deals.

"We do a ton of revenue in merchandising because we have fun with it. So that is its own bucket. You've got public events, you've got appearances, you've got speaking engagements. That's its own bucket. You've of course got your talent deals, in this case ESPN," Pate said.

"Because of the way I structure it in my mind, I don't think of them as multiple streams, although they are multiple streams in the classic sense. So you're probably looking at five or six main ones just right there."

Pate told OutKick he has no interest in weighing in on topics simply because others believe someone with