Michael Strahan is feeling the love this morning on Good Morning America — but not before being also teased a good deal by his co-hosts.
The popular TV anchor, 54, was celebrated on the Wednesday, December 10 edition of the morning show for being inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame on Tuesday night, although he noted that he was "unfortunately" not able to actually be in Las Vegas to receive the honor.
© Getty ImagesHowever, even before then, the topic of his 15 years with the NFL's New York Giants was brought up, when Sam Champion led coverage of the news of Philip Rivers coming out of retirement to rejoin the Indianapolis Colts.
They also discussed his return "setting the clock back" per se, giving his new tenure with the team a renewed start to a potential campaign to be inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame, which clearly inspired Michael.
© Getty Images"Maybe I should go back," he joked, to which Sam earnestly replied: "Why not? Wait…," but it's when Michael started whipping out some of his old football moves that his regular co-anchors (turned close friends) Robin Roberts and George Stephanopoulos teased him over it too.
"You were talking a different noise before," she chimed in as laughter rang out from other parts of the studio, with the dad-of-four then noting how he's already sore from busting out his moves now, and George quipped in return: "Let us know which offers come in tonight."
That quickly left the former defensive end in hysterics, as he responded: "Zero, George." But cut to a few moments later in the show, and the entire team, including Lara Spencer and Ginger Zee, gathered to celebrate his momentous induction into the College Football Hall of Fame.
Michael played with the Texas Southern Tigers while in college, following in the footsteps of his uncle Art Strahan, an NFL defensive lineman who also played defense with the TSU Tigers. He was named to the All-America first-team plus the First-team All-Southwestern Athletic Conference, broke several school records, and was inducted into the Black College Football Hall of Fame in 2014.
The group applauded him on the air, as the touched anchor replied: "Thank you, thank you, big honor, I really appreciate that!" He mentioned that the current TSU Tigers coach Cris Dishman accepted it on his behalf. "I'm grateful that he was there…and I'm grateful to everybody who voted for me!"
He then joked: "It made me realize how old I am and how long ago college was," and when Sam noted that the image from college still looks "just like you in that jersey," Michael quipped that he was retaining "a little bit of water weight back then."
© Getty ImagesWhen Robin questioned why it took them so long, he simply noted that he was "wondering that myself," and she should just ask them herself. He did, however, cap off by stating that he hopes other players from Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) receive recognition sooner from such organizations, with Michael becoming the first from his alma mater to be inducted.
