Lee Corso, will be making his return to the set of ESPN’s “College Gameday” on Saturday in Knoxville, Tenn.
GameDay is making its second trip to Knoxville in four weeks, with the No. 6 Volunteers taking on No. 3 Alabama. The ESPN show was at Tennessee for the Vols’ 38-33 win over Florida on Sept. 24.
It will also be the 87-year-old Corso’s first appearance on the set after missing the last two weeks with an unspecified illness.
Lee Corso, seen here at the Michigan-Michigan State game in October 2021, returns to the set this weekend after missing the last two weeks. Joe Faraoni / ESPN ImagesOn Friday, ESPN PR tweeted a picture of Corso in production meetings, saying he’ll be on set for the highly anticipated matchup. During the show’s first trip to Lawrence, Kan., last week prior to Kansas’ game against TCU, host Rece Davis and analyst Kirk Herbstreit spoke about missing Corso and added that he was feeling better.
Corso has been a part of “GameDay” since its inception in 1987 and after he suffered a stroke in 2009 ESPN found ways to accommodate their long-standing star of the show. In 2016, the 20th anniversary of Corso’s first headgear prediction, he spoke about how much he loves being on the show.
“Are you kidding me? You don’t last this long in television! I’ve been there about 27 years and it’s amazing,” he said. “But again, you’ve got to remember, at the time I was in the most need, ESPN was at its best. Because the stroke affected my speech and I could hardly talk, and I eventually got back to talking and they stuck with me.”
Fans will tune in Saturday to see whether Corso will put Smokey’s or Big Al’s head on in his prediction for Tennessee-Alabama, which will kickoff at 3:30 p.m. ET on CBS.
