Rece Davis called it “preposterous” that anyone, especially CAA super agent Jimmy Sexton, has any influence on “College GameDay” personalities and their opinions.
In an appearance on the “SI Media” podcast this week, the anchor for ESPN’s popular college football preview show reacted to the idea Sexton influences his clients’ takes.
“I’ve been at ESPN for 30 years,” Davis said. “Never has an executive said, ‘Say this, don’t say that,’ whatever. Never. Not one time.
“And while I’m very friendly with Jimmy, I’m a CAA client. Jimmy is not my rep directly; Matt Kramer is, but I’m friends with Jimmy. I have great respect for him. He would never do that. He would never come to me and say, ‘Hey, I need you to say this.’ He just wouldn’t do that. That’s not the kind of person he is. Now, is he a tough, hard-negotiating agent? Is he powerful? Of course he is. But it would never occur to him to come and try to tell us what to say about any of this. Or at least, in my experience, (he) wouldn’t. So that aspect of it is kind of preposterous to me. But everybody loves a good conspiracy theory.”
The idea that opinions on “GameDay” aren’t those of his colleagues is disrespectful, he said.
“It’s ridiculous,” Davis said. “Think about the guys that are up on that stage. Take me out of the equation, I’m glad to say what I would feel about it. But you really think that Desmond Howard and Kirk Herbstreit, Pat McAfee are going to take a directive from somebody about what they’re going to say?”
The topic became a narrative as Nick Saban and others on the show defended the idea that Lane Kiffin should be allowed to coach Ole Miss through the college football playoffs even after accepting the LSU job.
College football fans can decide for themselves when Kiffin joins “GameDay” ahead of the SEC Championship Game on Saturday.
