ESPN 'College GameDay' announces guest pickers for first round of College Football Playoff

The 2025 College Football Playoff is set to begin on Friday.

No. 8 Oklahoma (10-2, 6-2) hosts No. 9 Alabama (10-3, 7-1) to open the first round on Friday (8 p.m. EST, ABC). No. 7 Texas A&M (11-1, 7-1) will face No. 10 Miami (10-2, 6-2) in Kyle Field on Saturday (Noon EST, ABC).

The remaining two games will be broadcasted on TNT, featuring No. 6 Ole Miss (11-1, 7-1) hosting No. 11 Tulane (11-2, 7-1) at 3:30 p.m. EST and No. 5 Oregon (11-1, 8-1) hosting No. 12 James Madison (12-1, 7-1) at 7:30 p.m. EST.

Ahead of the weekend, ESPN's College GameDay show announced it would broadcast two of the four opening-round games in the 2025 College Football Playoff.

The show will visit Norman, Oklahoma, for the Friday night game before heading to College Station, Texas, for the first of three games on Saturday.

College GameDay's final segment of each show features game picks with a celebrity guest picker who is affiliated with the host school more often than not.

The show announced it would feature former Sooners linebacker Brian Bosworth on its Friday show and Texas A&M Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Johnny Manziel on its Saturday show.

Two shows, two guest pickers 👏

🏈 Friday in Norman: Sooners legend Brian Bosworth | @GotBoz44

🏈 Saturday in College Station: Aggies legend Johnny Manziel | @JManziel2 pic.twitter.com/bXxK7nAzv6
— College GameDay (@CollegeGameDay) December 18, 2025

Bosworth played for Oklahoma from 1984 to 1986. He earned All-Big Eight first team and All-America honors in all three seasons in Norman and Big Eight Defensive Player of the Year and the Dick Butkus Award in each of his last two seasons with the Sooners.

Manziel was Texas A&M's quarterback for the first two seasons of its membership in the SEC. He won a laundry list of awards in the 2012 season, including the Heisman Trophy, SEC Offensive Player of the Year, Davey O'Brien Award and AP College Football Player of the Year.

Both Bosworth and Manziel have appeared on College GameDay as celebrity guest pickers in years past.

Bosworth has been a celebrity guest picker on multiple occasions. Some notable examples include Oklahoma's game against Florida State on Sept. 11, 2010, and the 2018 Orange Bowl when the Sooners faced Alabama in the College Football Playoff semifinals.

Manziel is of an age when College GameDay has featured him both as a player and as a celebrity guest picker. He was selected as a guest picker for Texas A&M's 2024 season opener against Notre Dame at Kyle Field.