Penn State Great to Serve As 'College GameDay' Guest Picker Ahead of Oregon Game

A top Nittany Lion of yesteryear is back.

LaVar Arrington will serve as 'College GameDay's' celebrity guest picker Saturday. / Sporting News via Getty Images

Ahead of its first big test of the 2025 season, Penn State is pulling out all the stops—including the deployment of an all-time program great.

Former Nittany Lions linebacker LaVar Arrington will serve as the celebrity guest picker on Saturday's edition of College GameDay, the ESPN show announced Thursday afternoon. Saturday's episode will air from University Park, Pa., ahead of No. 6 Oregon's much-anticipated visit to No. 3 Penn State.

Arrington, 47, played for the Nittany Lions from 1997 to '99. One of the best defensive players of his era, he finished ninth in the Heisman voting in '99 as a unanimous All-American on a 10-win team.

He made three Pro Bowls in a seven-year career with Washington and the Giants before a 2007 motorcycle crash hastened the end of his playing days. Since then, he has worked in several media and business roles.

Penn State's showdown with the Ducks is a rematch of last year's Big Ten championship, won 45–37 by Oregon.

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