Rece Davis weighs in on future of headgear picks without Lee Corso

ESPN’s Rece Davis has been responding to the recent announcement by ESPN regarding the retirement of Lee Corso.

The long-running co-host of “College GameDay,” Corso has been best known for his show-ending pick segment, where he ends GameDay with his headgear pick, donning the head (or helmet, or suit) of the team he predicts to win the game of the week. The segment has been a fan-favorite for decades and ignites both viewers at home and those at the on-campus host site.

But, on Thursday, GameDay revealed that Corso is officially retiring after one final show at the start of the 2025 college football season. That final broadcast will come on Aug. 30 during Week 1 of the season with Corso retiring afterwards.

So, what becomes of the headgear pick segment once Corso rides off into the sunset and the GameDay crew carries the show into Week 2? According to Davis, he believes the segment should end with Corso’s final show.

“I think I’m going to have to tackle anybody that tries to do a headgear pick, other than Lee Corso,” said Davis during an interview with CNN. “That, to me, is his signature moment, and it should stay with him, in my judgment. And I will fight very hard not to be overruled or vetoed on that, because many people tell me it’s just something they look forward to every week. I think that is his and his alone.”

Will anyone else ever don headgear on the set of College GameDay? To Davis’s point, it would feel unnatural to hand the task off, especially with Kirk Herbstreit’s broadcast duties and Nick Saban maintaining his connection with Alabama.

But will GameDay have to find a way to emphatically close out their weekly episodes without the headgear picks? Maybe, but it looks like fans will have to wait until Week 2 to find out what that will look like.

Paul Harvey

Paul is a lifelong fan and student of all things college football. He has been covering college football since 2017 and the B1G since 2018.