ESPN’s ‘College GameDay’ guest picker revealed for South Carolina stop

After a days-long debate who might get the nod, who might sit at the desk alongside Nick Saban, Pat McAfee, Lee Corso and Kirk Herbstreit during the first “College GameDay” visit to Columbia in a decade.

On Thursday, we learned that ESPN has chosen USC women’s basketball coach Dawn Staley to be the celebrity guest picker on Saturday ahead of No. 16 LSU at undefeated South Carolina.

After the announcement, “College Gameday” posted a video of Staley thanking South Carolina fans for their support and advocating for her to be this week’s guest picker.

“When you speak people listen,” Staley said. “I want to thank you for choosing me to be the guest picker on ‘College Gameday.’ ... I need to see you out there because we’re gonna blow this thing out.

“We’re gonna make sure they know who were are,” Staley continued, “what we do and make sure our football team feels you.”

The decision comes 10 years after ESPN was at South Carolina and chose country star Kenny Chesney to be the guest picker despite Chesney having no affiliation with the school.

In response to that decision back in 2014, “College GameDay” producer Lee Fitting offered a little insight into how the show chooses a celebrity guest picker, noting that there is no rule the guest picker has to be affiliated with a school. In saying that, he also added that schools will often offer up recommendations of potential guest pickers.

Guest picker aside, Saturday’s version of “College GameDay” in Columbia will look completely different that it did a decade ago — forget even the recent additions of Saban and McAfee to the group.

In 2014, the show was set up on the Horseshoe — scenic backdrop that Fitting touted back then. On Saturday, “GameDay” will go live from from Gamecock Park from 9 to 11 a.m., then broadcast the final hour from inside Williams-Brice Stadium up until the noon kickoff.

It will be the eighth time the Gamecocks have hosted the show.

According to USC, Staley will join the “GameDay” set in Gamecock Park at 10:50 a.m. for a segment. She will move to the in-stadium set to share her picks for Saturday’s key games at 11:40 a.m.

The USC women’s basketball team will be signing autographs at Gamecock Village from 9:15-10 a.m., weather permitting. During the game, the team will be recognized at halftime for winning the 2024 NCAA Championship as the Gamecocks became just the fifth program to complete an undefeated national championship season.