It’ll be a complete, country music takeover this weekend when ESPN’s College GameDay rolls into Athens, Georgia. ESPN’s flagship college football pregame show is headed to the campus of the University of Georgia for the highly anticipated matchup between the Bulldogs and the undefeated Ole Miss Rebels. College GameDay will be down south for the weekend, and all signs are pointing towards them leaning into a theme of country music. The likes of Kirk Herbstreit, Rece Davis, Desmond Howard, Pat McAfee, and Nick Saban will be set up to break down all things college football and predict the biggest games of the weekend, with the marquee matchup being No. 9 Georgia’s home game against Lane Kiffin’s talented No. 5 ranked Ole Miss squad. And fans of football that also don’t mind the stylings of Luke Combs, Jelly Roll, and Bailey Zimmerman will be pleased to know that the three country stars will also play a part of the big day in Athens. It was announced earlier this week that Luke Combs and Bailey Zimmerman would be putting on a live performance during College GameDay, which will air live from the University of Georgia’s campus. If you’ve ever wanted to take in a high-energy, Luke Combs concert before the clock even strikes noon… here’s your chance. Seeing Luke Combs (and Bailey Zimmerman) that early in the day will probably be enough to replace one of your Saturday morning cups of coffee: College GameDay in Athens featuring a live performance from @baileyzimmerman and @lukecombs Saturday is going to be ELECTRIC pic.twitter.com/cLW9osSJv6 — College GameDay (@CollegeGameDay) October 16, 2025 And country music’s presence will continue to be felt when College GameDay gets around to its beloved game-picking segment. ESPN always brings in a celebrity guest picker to each location, and they usually go with someone that has some sort of connection to the school (or one of the teams) they are in town for. This time will be an exception though… because they just announced that Jelly Roll will be the lucky celebrity that will pick against and alongside the panel of college football experts. It seems like it would have made more sense for the rapper-turned-country-artist to participate in an episode of College GameDay that featured Vanderbilt, since he hails from Nashville, Tennessee. But Jelly, whose real name is Jason Bradley DeFord, must have been available for this matchup between Georgia and Ole Miss, and was evidently willing to take on the opportunity. Country music star turned celebrity guest picker See you Saturday in Athens, @JellyRoll615! pic.twitter.com/AAG5tBrn3v — College GameDay (@CollegeGameDay) October 16, 2025 Jelly Roll is everywhere, isn’t he? I can’t wait for a patented Jelly Roll hype-up speech. If they have him on College GameDay and they don’t let him go full-on preach mode, then ESPN will have missed the mark (in my opinion). And speaking of opinions, I’m not so sure how Georgia fans will feel about Jelly Roll being the celebrity guest picker, considering the “Need A Favor” singer was sporting University of Tennessee gear at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville, Tennessee just last weekend. Jelly Roll is a very popular man at Neyland Stadium. #Vols pic.twitter.com/lRvEE2igas — Sam Rothman (@samrothman_) October 11, 2025 If Jelly goes with the DAWGS to hand Ole Miss their first loss of the season, Georgia fans will forget all about that. All in all, it’s nice to see that country music will be front and center on this weekend’s edition of College GameDay. Though it will be Jelly Roll’s first time in the role of celebrity guest picker, he played a pivotal roll in last year’s coverage of ESPN college football. The artist’s song “Get By” was the anthem for ESPN College Football in 2024, and now feels like as good a time as any to fire it up: “Get By” The post ESPN Taps Jelly Roll To Be Week 8’s Guest Picker On ‘College GameDay’ first appeared on Whiskey Riff.