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Dawn Staley is 'GameDay' guest picker for South Carolina football vs LSU

COLUMBIA — There's one person from South Carolina who has been in the spotlight quite a bit in the last year, and that's South Carolina women's basketball coach Dawn Staley.

Now, Staley can add appearing on ESPN's "College GameDay" as a guest picker to her resume, after it was announced Thursday that Staley would be the special guest voice on Saturday's show in Columbia, ahead of the South Carolina vs LSU Week 3 game (12 p.m. ET, ABC).

"College GameDay" revealed the news on X, formerly known as Twitter, following the original announcement that the Gamecocks (2-0, 1-0 SEC) would be featured following their win against Kentucky in Week 2.

COLLEGE GAMEDAY IN COLUMBIA: ESPN's 'College GameDay' coming to Columbia for South Carolina vs LSU on Sept. 14

In July, during the Olympics in Paris, Staley appeared on NBC during the USA men's basketball game with studio host Mike Tirico, getting some studio analyst experience.

The pre-show, which runs at 9 a.m. until noon every Saturday, is anchored by Rece Davis and features analysts Lee Corso, Kirk Herbstreit, Steve Coughlin, Desmond Howard, Pat McAfee and former Alabama football coach Nick Saban In July, ESPN honored both Staley and Saban with respective awards at the 2024 ESPYS. Saban gave a shout out to Staley in his speech, and now the two will sit besides each other at the "College GameDay" desk on Saturday.

Coach Shane Beamer speaks highly of Staley and what she's done for the school, and at SEC Media Days in July, revealed that some of his recruits wanted to meet Staley when they were visiting South Carolina.

"(Staley) is fantastic, it's great for me to be able to watch her coach, learn from her, go and watch her team practice ... there's a lot of things I've learned from her. She's willing to do anything for our program," Beamer said July 15.

Staley and her team just returned from their White House visit, where the Gamecocks celebrated their 2024 national title with President Joe Biden in a ceremony on Tuesday morning.

DAWN IN DC: How President Biden honored Dawn Staley, South Carolina 'legacy' at White House ceremony

Lulu Kesin covers South Carolina athletics for The Greenville News and the USA TODAY Network. Email her at lkesin@gannett.com and follow her on X, formerly known as Twitter, @Lulukesin

This article originally appeared on Greenville News: Who is 'GameDay' guest picker this week? Dawn Staley of South Carolina