Former Alabama coach Nick Saban didn’t take long after announcing his retirement from coaching to find another way to stay active with college football.
Saban made his first official on-air appearance for ESPN during the 2024 NFL Draft, joining the College GameDay team in Detroit. Rece Davis, widely known for presenting College Gameday and other positions at ESPN, praised Saban after his debut.
“I thought he was sensational”, said Davis during his appearance on The Pat McAfee show.
Those five words just about cover what everybody thought of Saban’s appearance over the first two days of the draft. Saban’s performance should not come as a surprise to those who have followed his career.
Saban’s legendary head coaching career leaves no doubt that he knows everything there is to know about scouting players and understanding what teams see in a certain player. His preparation and his experience recruiting and coaching against players around the country gave him next-level insight.
“When Drake Maye gets drafted and we show the party at his high school, the celebration party at Myers Park High School, it was in the basketball gym,” Davis told reporters. “And when it appeared on the screen, Nick just kind of said, ‘Hey, I’ve gone to that gym. “I was in there watching him play basketball.”
Saban’s coverage of the draft sets him up very well to be on ESPN’s desk for a long time. His level of insight, experience, and knowledge is something that not many people have, and it will be exciting to hear from him at the desk now that he’s off the sideline.
