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Verne Lundquist has called SEC football games since 2000. He started his broadcasting career in 1963. (file photo)

Verne Lundquist will step down from his lead college football role at CBS Sports after the 2016 season, CBS announced in a press release on Tuesday.

"Being a part of the SEC on CBS since 2000 has been the most significant assignment I've been given in my more than five decades in this business," Lundquist said in a prepared statement. "Now, it's time to step back and take in the aroma of those tulips, those roses, and those daffodils that friends have been telling me about for years."

Lundquist, who has been the voice of the "SEC on CBS" since 2000, will continue calling regular-season college basketball, the NCAA Tournament and golf, including the Masters and the PGA Championship, per the release.

"Verne has set the standard for college football broadcasting," CBS Sports Chairman Sean McManus said in a statement. "Together with Gary Danielson he has played a key role in making the SEC ON CBS the highest-rated college football package in America."

It has been announced Brad Nessler will succeed Lundquist as the lead play-by-play announcer for the "SEC on CBS," joining analyst Gary Danielson and reporter Allie LaForce in the 2017 season.

Nessler will also call select SEC games in 2016 in the weeks that CBS Sports broadcasts two SEC football games.

"After an incredible 17 years, he will be handing the reigns off to Brad, who in his own right is highly acclaimed and respected as one of the premier play-by-play broadcasters in the business," McManus said. "I am very pleased that Verne will still have a prominent role in our college basketball and major championship golf coverage. We are fortunate to have one more football season to appreciate Verne's one-of-a-kind storytelling as we pave the way for a seamless and smooth transition to Brad."

"Verne is a legend in this business," Danielson said in the release. "I am extremely thankful to have had the opportunity to sit next to him for the past decade calling SEC games and so grateful that Verne gets to finish his football career calling the last play the way he wanted. I am thrilled with the news that my former partner will join us in 2017. I look forward to picking up right where we left off."

Nessler joins CBS after a 24-year career at ESPN. He began with ESPN in 1992, and added ABC assignments in 1997 while continuing to handle college football and basketball games for both ABC and ESPN. Nessler most recently called the ESPN College Football Primetime game on Saturday nights and the College Football Playoff semifinals.

The award is presented by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. NATAS president Bob Mauro said Lundquist is "one of the most iconic voices in sports television."

For years, fan bases have screamed foul over the perceptions the broadcast team has been biased when it comes to calling games. It has been Internet fodder to poke fun at Lundquist for mispronouncing names and apparent mistakes.

It has been such a hot topic that just last month, readers of AL.com began discussing who would replace Lundquist and Danielson in CBS lead role.