After graduating from high school in Alabama, Herring enrolled at Auburn in 1942 before quitting to serve in the military during World War II.
He returned in 1946 and played football at Auburn through the 1948 season, when he was team captain and was named an All-Southeastern Conference (SEC) player by sportswriters.
He was the linebackers coach for the Chargers in 1970, but then left the professional ranks to oversee sports at a junior college outside of Atlanta.
[2] Herring was named an All-Southeastern Conference (SEC) player that year, when Auburn finished with a 6–4–1 win–loss–tie record under head coach Jack Meagher.
[12][13] Struggling financially, the AAFC dissolved in late 1949 and three of its teams – the Cleveland Browns, San Francisco 49ers and Baltimore Colts – were absorbed by the NFL.
[16] In Cleveland, Herring joined a team that had won all four of the AAFC's championships behind an offense that featured quarterback Otto Graham and fullback Marion Motley.
[17] The team finished with a 10–2 record in 1950 and beat the Los Angeles Rams to win the NFL championship in its first year in the league.
[25] Auburn was fined $2,000 by the SEC in December 1955 after Herring gave $500 each to Harry and Robert Beaube, a pair of twins he was recruiting to play halfback.
[25] Despite not playing in a bowl game, Auburn won the college football national championship by finishing first in the AP Poll.
[25][29] Herring stayed through the 1965 season, a 13-year tenure during which his defenses led the nation in fewest points allowed six times and were always among the top ten.
He attended graduate school following his playing career, and wrote a doctoral dissertation entitled "Defensive Tactics and Techniques in Professional Football".
[9] Herring won a lifetime achievement award for assistant coaches from the All-American Football Foundation, and was inducted into the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame in 2002.