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'College GameDay' Announces Celebrity Guest Picker for Oklahoma-Michigan
NBA All-Star Trae Young NATHAN J. FISH/THE OKLAHOMAN / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

ESPN’s College GameDay will roll into the University of Oklahoma campus on Saturday for a top-25 clash between No. 18 Oklahoma and No. 15 Michigan — and Sooners basketball great Trae Young will serve as the show’s celebrity guest picker.

Young, a four-time NBA All-Star with the Atlanta Hawks and former consensus All-American at OU, announced this week he’ll join the desk in his hometown of Norman. “Excited to welcome y’all to my hometown … and be this weekend’s celebrity guest picker,” Young said in a video shared by the show. The appearance will be his second time in the role after he picked games during the 2020 Bedlam edition in Norman.

The visit marks a quick return for the traveling pregame show, which was on the South Oval last September when Oklahoma hosted Tennessee in the program’s first SEC home game. Saturday’s broadcast will also be among the first in the post-Lee Corso era after the longtime analyst’s retirement following Week 1.

Young’s growing ties to the athletic department extend beyond a guest-picker cameo. In March, Oklahoma announced the 26-year-old as assistant general manager for men’s basketball — an unprecedented move for an active NBA player — and said he pledged $1 million to support the program. The school said Young will assist with roster-management planning and brand-building for student-athletes under head coach Porter Moser.

The Wolverines-Sooners matchup headlines ABC Saturday Night Football and is one of the best early non-conference games of the season. Michigan, led by freshman quarterback Bryce Underwood, rose to No. 15 in the latest Associated Press poll while Oklahoma sits three spots behind after a 1–0 start under fourth-year coach Brent Venables. Chris Fowler, Kirk Herbstreit and Holly Rowe are on the call.

SARAH PHIPPS/THE OKLAHOMAN / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Michigan handled New Mexico 34–17 behind Alabama transfer RB Justice Haynes (159 yards, three TDs) and true freshman QB Bryce Underwood (251 yards, first career TD). Oklahoma routed Illinois State 35–3 as Washington State transfer John Mateer set a school mark for most passing yards in a Sooner debut (392 yards, three TDs) and added a rushing score.

This is just the second ever between these programs and the first since the 1976 Orange Bowl, a 14–6 Oklahoma win that capped the Sooners’ national title run.


This article first appeared on CFB-HQ on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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