‘The Voice’ goes virtual: Deckerhoff readies for first remote FSU broadcast

Before this 2020 football season, the only time Gene Deckerhoff had ever called a game while watching a television broadcast was when he was auditioning color analysts.

But as we've all grown to understand in recent months, nothing is normal about 2020.

Deckerhoff, Florida State's legendary play-by-play man and "Voice of the Seminoles," will be calling his 42nd Florida State-Miami game on Saturday night.

It will be the only time, of course, he's done it while not being in the stadium, as the Seminole Sports Network will not be sending its radio crew on the road this year due to the coronavirus pandemic.

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Instead, Deckerhoff, analyst William Floyd and "sideline" reporter Tom Block will be in the home radio booth at Doak Campbell Stadium, watching a live video feed from the production truck to broadcast the game.

"Even though it's remote and virtual, it's FSU vs. Miami," Deckerhoff said in his familiar booming voice. "And that's all you need to know."

Deckerhoff, 75, has been calling Florida State games since 1979. And he's also been the play-by-play voice of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers since 1989.

On Sunday morning, after the Seminoles' game against the Hurricanes, he and his wife, Ann, will drive to Tampa so Gene can broadcast that game with partner Dave Moore. The Buccaneers are playing the Broncos that afternoon in Denver.

He also drove to Tampa for the season opener when the Bucs played the Saints in New Orleans. So, even in a remote broadcasting world, Deckerhoff still has to travel. But now, instead of going from Tallahassee to cities all over the country for his NFL duties, he's now just driving to Tampa. Whether the Bucs are on the road or at home.

And that opener against the Saints was the first time in his career he had called an actual live football game while not being in the stadium.

"It's different," Deckerhoff said. "And it is harder. The degree of difficulty is harder. But it's like everything else, once you do it, it gets easier."

The difficulty, of course, for both the play-by-play man and the analyst is not being able to see the whole field. The TV angle doesn't typically show how deep the safeties are, and it doesn't always provide an idea of what defense is being run before the snap.

Then when a ball is thrown downfield, Deckerhoff will find out along with the rest of us if the receiver is wide open or not.

"I think that the remote broadcasts are probably tougher for the analysts than it is for the play-by-play guy," he said. "Because I can tell you who the quarterback is. You don't know who he's throwing to, but I can say the catch is made. And then I can tell you who makes the catch and probably, hopefully who makes the tackle."

Floyd, like Moore on the Bucs broadcasts, will have a harder time because he won't always be able to decipher what defense is being run or perhaps who blew an assignment on the back end because he won't be able to see the entire field.

Deckerhoff explains the what. Floyd is supposed to explain the why. And that can become more challenging when you can't be there in person.

Though Deckerhoff would always prefer being at the game, he admits Saturday night's venue makes it a little easier to take.

"In Hard Rock, you're in a closet," he said of the broadcast booth. "You're in the end zone. The depth perception from that angle is so bad you can't tell what yard line it's on. ... It's my least favorite stadium to broadcast from."

Any time he calls a game down there, Deckerhoff said, he ends up having to look up at the TV monitor occasionally to see what happened anyway.

Now he'll be doing it from the comfort of Tallahassee.

Deckerhoff said he, Floyd and Block will have a television monitor in front of them in the booth on Saturday night. It won't have a delay like the regular folks watching at home will have. He'll also have a computer handy for live statistics. And a printer by his feet so he can print out the stats at the end of each quarter.

He's going to try to make it feel as normal as possible. And he wants the broadcast to sound just like it would in a normal year -- even though nothing about this year has been normal.

Deckerhoff hasn't actually been paid to broadcast a game since March. So he joked it's nice to start generating some income again.

"That's pretty important," he said with a laugh.

"But you know the one thing I really miss? I haven't been to a football practice since last August," Deckerhoff said. "I miss the smell of the grass, I miss seeing all the players. All I see is what I see on Zoom."

And for the first time in his distinguished career, all he'll see on Saturday night is what the TV audience will see.

That doesn't mean the excitement in his voice won't be there, though.

No chance.

"It's FSU-Miami," he said. "I won't have any trouble getting excited for this."

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Talk about this story with other Florida State football fans in the Tribal Council