ESPN’s “College GameDay” will return to their second home in Tuscaloosa on Saturday, with “SEC Nation” also joining the fun for the Crimson Tide’s highly anticipated matchup against the Texas Longhorns. But forget football. Everyone wants to know: Who will be the celebrity guest picker in the show’s final segment on Saturday?

“GameDay” will broadcast from Denny Chimes (8-11 a.m. central on ESPN and ESPNU), while SEC Nation will air from Wade Hall (9-11 a.m. on SEC Network). You can bet the crowd will deliver the energy (and hilarious signs) with the show returning for the first time since the Iron Bowl in 2020. Alabama ranks second only to Ohio State as the school that has hosted the famed ESPN pregame show the most times, now with 55 total appearances (as one of the two participating programs featured) and 17 of them in Tuscaloosa.

The show remains beloved by college football fans all over the world and is a masterclass in building excitement for the Saturday slate and the sport’s general landscape. Helping them create that anticipation is the final segment of the broadcast: The celebrity guest picker, wherein a well-known person joins the analysts to run through the day’s games and select winners. Usually, the person has a connection to the host city, but often the show will invite a wild card visitor who happens to be in town.

Last year’s celebrity picker for Alabama-Texas: Austin native and “Top Gun: Maverick” star Glen Powell, who put on a fake mullet in honor of Quinn Ewers and picked his Longhorns to win, before they fell just short in a 20-19 thriller.

One thing we beg of you, ESPN: Invite an actual Alabama fan. Play to the home crowd a little bit. You book who you book, and we’re sure you’ll do just fine either way, but get that crowd going with someone who’ll drop a “Roll Tide” or two. In the past, when visiting T-Town, the show has gone with guests who are either fans of the opposing team (Brian Wilson in 2011) or neutral parties (Marcus Lutrell in 2014, Eric Church in 2015, Rick Ross in 2015, Verne Lundquist in 2016).

But they’ve also invited Tide alums and fans like Joe Namath, Derrick Henry and Jake Peavy. Either way, we can’t wait to see who joins Rece Davis, Kirk Herbstreit, Lee Corso, Desmond Howard and Pat McAfee as they get Tuscaloosa hyped for the Alabama-Texas showdown in Bryant-Denny Stadium.

See our picks for guest picker on Saturday.

RELATED: ESPN in Tuscaloosa: What happened every time ‘College GameDay’ and ‘SEC Nation’ came to town

Deontay Wilder

This one is long overdue, frankly. The Bronze Bomber once held the WBC boxing championship and stood tall as the most dangerous puncher on the planet with one of the biggest personalities in all of sports. Wilder remains a key figure in the heavyweight division with one potential fight looming after another, and his presence and penchant for killer sound bites would certainly spice things up on the set. And he could knock out any mascot head that isn’t Big Al’s.

Julio Jones

A bonafide Alabama football legend who left his mark on the 2009 national title season, which ended with a victory over Texas, the last time these two programs faced off until the 2021 meeting in Austin. The future NFL Hall of Famer is currently without a team as the pro season kicks off on Sunday, so we’re thinking he’s available to make his “College GameDay” debut.

Bryce Young

We get it. The reigning number one overall pick will make his NFL debut as the Carolina Panthers’ starting quarterback on Sunday, but he will play in Atlanta which is a short flight away and it would be a great way to hype up Young’s first game and the NFC division game’s TV ratings. But active NFL players typically join the picks segment during their bye week, so don’t expect to see the Heisman-winner on Saturday.

Justin Thomas

We spotted the 2-time PGA Championship-winner on the sideline for Alabama’s home opener versus Middle Tennessee State, so it’s possible he’s had his Tuscaloosa fix at least for now. And Thomas did a fine job as guest picker when Alabama faced LSU in 2019, aka Game of the Century Part Deux. So while it might feel like a rerun, but everybody loves JT down here. Give him a mulligan.

Jason Isbell

The Grammy-winning singer/songwriter from Green Hill, Alabama, rolls with the Tide and would make an excellent picker, perhaps one day. Isbell and his band The 400 Unit are slated to perform in Iowa City Friday night and then Grand Rapids, Minnesota, on Saturday. Planes go real fast, so the turnaround is not impossible, but the doesn’t appear to be in the stars this weekend.

Paul Finebaum

With “SEC Nation” in town, the Mouth of the South will make his own picks down the road in front of Wade Hall, and OK, it wouldn’t make a lot of sense to make an internal hire for this gig. But Finebaum is such an SEC staple everyone knows and loves (or hates, tbh) in these parts, that it would be fitting to see him do the honors for one of his favorite team’s biggest games of the season. The polarizing radio legend speaks in pithy soundbites that should help this hurried segment cruise smoother than others will. So just this once, GameDay, call PAWL.

Acceptable Texas candidates…

Matthew McConaughey

The betting favorite to land this role, the Oscar-winning movie star made a splash in Alabama while filming a new movie over the summer. Best known for his roles in “Dazed and Confused,” “Interstellar” and “Dallas Buyers Club,” McConaughey popped up at various Birmingham restaurants or Pell City parking lots where he even teased fans he would “See you in September,” of course referencing this showdown between the Crimson Tide and his beloved Longhorns. We expect to see him on Saturday regardless, but it would be alright, alright, alright with us to see him making picks for the first time since his September 2019 appearance in Austin.

Neil deGrasse Tyson

You may not know the New York native received a master’s degree in astronomy after majoring in physics at Harvard. The astrophysicist is fantastic television and knows how to play to a crowd. Above all, we’d just want to hear the scientific explanation for every single pick he’d make with the ESPN panel.

Kevin Durant

The Longhorns hoop legend and Twitter god has attended several Texas football games since he left for the NBA, and he’s somehow never served as guest picker. Durant can be a polarizing figure who performs extremely well under pressure, so the Bama fans’ boos wouldn’t bother him as they run through the Saturday slate.

Owen Wilson

The “Wedding Crashers” and “Marley & Me” star attended UT-Austin (where he met a future collaborator we’ll get to in a minute). But Wilson seems like a great fit for this segment, though we can’t confirm any subsequent allegiance to the Longhorns since he attended the school.

Wes Anderson

College football is definitely this man’s scene. The “Rushmore” and “Fantastic Mr. Fox” director is coming off of a brand new feature film in “Asteroid City” and recently premiered a new Netflix short film “The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar,” so he’s in marketing mode, especially with the actors on strike. Anderson, a Houston native, graduated from UT-Austin in 1991 before embarking on an illustrious filmmaking career. OK, if nothing else, someone dial up one of those A.I.-generated videos…if Anderson directed “College GameDay.”

Wild Card: Dan + Shay

The Grammy-winning country artists from Nashville tweeted they will perform live from the “College GameDay” set, so it would be a short walk up to join Herbstreit, Corso, Howard, McAfee and Davis. The show retweeted the announcement, but would they reveal their hand about the guest pickers so soon?

Wild Card: Parker McCollum

The Texas-born country star will perform at the Tuscaloosa Amphitheater the Friday night before the game. Will he hit the road right after the show (his next stop is in his home state), or will he spend the night to wake up bright and early for the picks segment. We also know McCollum went to school and pursued music in Austin, and he has love for the Longhorns, having released a hype video for the Texas baseball team in 2022. “College GameDay” has long welcomed country music stars like Eric Church and Luke Bryant, but does McCollum have guest picker clout?

More:

Alabama vs. LSU: Go inside ESPN ‘College GameDay’ & ‘SEC Nation’ with behind the scenes look

ESPN College GameDay behind the scenes: Take a look at Joe Namath, Nick Saban, others on set

History of ESPN College Football Shows in Tuscaloosa