C.J. Bacher threw for 7,319 yards and 43 touchdowns as a Northwestern quarterback from 2005-08. Good numbers, to be sure, but after getting cut by the Bears, Bacher put his Masters degree in communication into use.

Football, though, remains in his blood. Ultimately, it led him to his new enterprise, HuddlePass.com. The video provides an explanation.

Danny Ecker of Crain’s Chicago Business writes:

That’s the basis of HuddlePass.com, the 27-year-old’s college sports commentary website, which launches today and brings together the written insights and opinions of 92 former players (to start) into a single hub.

It’s free for users, and it’s different from popular “message board” sites like Scout.com and Rivals.com, which offer “insider” information about teams from week to week. “Huddle experts,” as they are called, will write articles that provide context to what coaches might be thinking, why teams ran certain plays and what players go through on a day-to-day basis.

Here’s more from Bacher in a Q/A.

Short version: How do you describe this concept to people who ask you about it?

HuddlePass is a platform for former college athletes to share their unique perspective with Fans and ultimately bring the Fans closer to their favorite programs. This perspective is focused on two things: providing a behind-the-scenes look at the day-to-day routine of the team and teaching the strategy of the game.

What made you go in this direction?

Over the past three years, I had been writing segment for Wildcat Report focusing on the same type of information (providing an insider’s perspective & teaching the game) and the segment generated a lot of interest from Wildcat Fans. I wasn’t doing anything special and I’m not an exceptional writer; I just focused on what I knew about the program and about the game and the reception of this information was better than expected. Fans want to be closer to the Huddles of their favorite teams.

Talk about some of the people who are contributing?

We’ve got a great group of contributors for HuddlePass in 2013. Kyle Kleckner (Illinois DB), Brandon Villarreal (Purdue OL), and Chris Malleo (Northwestern QB/TE/LB) have assembled a team with a strong emphasis on “diversity of perspective”, which our Chief Brand Officer TJ Jones (Northwestern WR) has stressed. Football is a completely different game for different positions and there is a lot to learn. I have found myself learning the game in more depth from some of our guys that played other positions, particularly DL and LBs. Some of the more notable Experts that will be contributing to HuddlePass include Eric Crouch, Craig Krenzel, Juice Williams, Zack Mills, Jeff Smoker, Stuart Schweigert, Bobby Carpenter, Brandon Williams, Tyrone Carter, Keith Conlin, Josh Gaines, Justin Kershaw, and many more. We were very selective in our choosing of Ambassadors from each school, who in turn put together their team of Experts. They have done a great job and our new Ambassadors that we are recruiting in our National Expansion efforts are doing a great job too.

Will they be getting paid. If not, why are they doing it?

First off, I want to mention that the site is completely free to Fans. 50% of all revenue that we generate will be split with our contributors based on the metrics their Huddles generate. Additionally, every Ambassador and Expert that is with us through 2013 will own an equity stake in HuddlePass. It’s really less about the money and more about improving the Fan experience and the Student-Athlete experience at our respective programs, but as Stuart Schweigert put it at our HuddlePass Conference that we held in Chicago in July, “Profit is not a bad word.”

How will your site be different than the myriad of other college football sites out there?

This is a great question. Most sites that are currently out there do a great job of telling Fans the “What.” Our focus is on the “Why”. Why did the Head Coach decide to punt on 4th and Inches? Why did the curl-flat combination work against Cover 3? Why did the team get off to a slow start? This is information that is covered well at the National Level by ESPN and covered at the Conference Level by the Conference Networks like BTN, but not really covered well at the Program-Level.

How would you define success for this site?

Success is defined by the enhancement of the Student-Athlete experience, which is a byproduct of the Fan experience. College Football is such a thrilling experience and it’s really the Fans that make it so great. The more engaged that we can get the Fans and the more knowledge that they have, the more thrilling the Student-Athlete experience will be.

Anything else?

Many people ask us when we will be expanding to other schools and if we are going to expand to other sports. We are currently expanding rapidly to other schools across the country utilizing the network that we have built. As soon as we have the correct infrastructure behind a Program’s Huddle (Ambassadors and Experts, Managing Content Editors, a solid Marketing/PR plan, Program Support, and much more), we will release that school on HuddlePass. We are probably a week or so away from releasing Maryland and Rutgers and we are getting close with other schools like Alabama, Oregon, Oregon State, Boston College, Georgia, and many others. As for other sports, we have begun the process of building out Basketball Huddles, which is going great, and we have plans on expanding to other sports from there.