Guest picker for ESPN's 'College GameDay' in Columbia revealed
South Carolina head women’s basketball coach Dawn Staley will serve as the guest picker for ESPN’s broadcast of ‘College GameDay’ prior to South Carolina’s home matchup against LSU in Columbia, it was announced on Thursday.
The program will broadcast live from Gamecock Park on Saturday from 9 a.m. to approximately 11 a.m. ET before heading into the stadium for the final hour. The show will be available on ESPN and ESPNU. It is South Carolina’s eighth time hosting College GameDay and the first time since Sept. 27, 2014.
Staley will join the crew at 11:40 a.m. to make her picks for Saturday’s key games.
Host Rece Davis is at the helm for his 10th season, joined at the desk by GameDay analysts Lee Corso, Kirk Herbstreit, Desmond Howard, Pat McAfee and Nick Saban. College football insider Pete Thamel, college football betting analyst ‘Stanford Steve’ Coughlin and reporters Jen Lada and Jess Sims round out the GameDay cast.
The set for College GameDay will be located on the Tommy Suggs Garnet Way, between the Spurrier Indoor Practice Facility and Williams-Brice Stadium. The set will also be the location of SportsCenter hits throughout Friday and the College Football Live show at 4 p.m. on ESPN2. Gamecock Park will be open for fans on Friday to be able to watch the shows.
All Athletics controlled parking lots, including Gamecock Park, and all areas of LMC Fair Park will open at 6 a.m. for fans with the appropriate pre-purchased parking pass. All of these lots are sold out and will not offer single game parking.
Starting at 5:45 a.m. on Saturday, only at the Russell House, a shuttle will run for students and fans. The shuttle is free for students with a CarolinaCard and fans will be able to ride for $5. The first 600 students will get a free breakfast and a T-shirt. The Bull Street garage will also open for public parking for $20 per car. This early shuttle will drop riders off inside Gamecock Park. The ESPN GameDay pit will open at 6:30 a.m. for fans.
At 8 a.m., the normal game day shuttle will begin with stops at three locations for pickup (Colonial Life Arena, Russell House and Campus Village). The shuttle drop off will be inside of the Fairgrounds starting at 8 a.m.
[Win two tickets to the South Carolina-LSU football game]
The ESPN GameDay set in Gamecock Park will host SportsCenter hits on Saturday morning from 7:30 – 9 a.m. The set will host the ESPN GameDay Show from 9 – 11 a.m.
Gamecock Village presented by Farm Bureau Insurance, located next to Gamecock Park will open at 8 a.m. on Saturday and will have live music, sponsored games and activities, inflatables and interactives for fans. Gamecock Walk will occur at approximately 10 a.m. in Gamecock Park.
The ESPN GameDay set will broadcast from the Williams-Brice Stadium sideline from 11 a.m. – noon.
Gamecock Athletics will recognize former quarterback, radio color analyst and donor Tommy Suggs prior to the game with the “Tommy Suggs 2001 Gamecock Football Entrance” and the 2024 NCAA Champion women’s basketball team will be recognized at halftime.
The show will be live until kickoff of the Gamecocks game against LSU, which starts at 12:12 p.m. on ABC Sports.
