"He is all in": College GameDay host Rece Davis swoons over Nick Saban's enthusiasm to excel in post-coaching life

Nick Saban took on a new endeavor this season after announcing his retirement as a college football coach in January. The former Alabama coach embarked on a full-time career as a broadcaster, joining ESPN and becoming a member of the College GameDay crew.

His introduction to the GameDay crew hasn’t only been fascinating to fans but also to other crew members of the pregame show. Host Rece Davis described what it's been like working with Saban during his appearance on a recent installment of 'The Paul Finebaum Show.'

“The thing that I’m not surprised by, but very impressed by, is the level of his engagement,” Davis said. “He’s in our meetings during the week, and we’ll talk to him aside from the meetings. He’s all in, constantly learning, always wanting to be great and be perfect.”

“And not one time has he come across in such a way that he’s like, ‘Hey, look at my seven championship rings and everybody listen to me.’ He would certainly have the résumé to do so and the credentials to do so if he wanted to. But he hasn’t approached it that way,” he added.

Nick Saban is getting along well with College GameDay

This is only Nick Saban's first season on the College GameDay desk, however, the legendary coach has been able to get along with the show seamlessly. Considering his level of knowledge about the landscape, he's been able to command the respect of millions of viewers.

The seven-time national championship winner is also getting a lot of respect from his colleague on College GameDay. Although Rece Davis thinks Nick Saban would prefer other crew members to treat him as just another voice at the table, the GameDay argues they’d be remiss not to occasionally defer to his expertise.

“We’d be foolish if we didn’t take advantage of the fact that he has coached so recently and, obviously, the credentials and so forth,” Davis said on ‘The Paul Finebaum Show.’

“It’s rare that a show gets a coach of that magnitude, who stepped away at the height of his game, and then comes into television and is such a gifted communicator that he can do it in all walks of life,” he added.

College GameDay heads to Tuscaloosa this weekend for the coverage of the game between Alabama and Georgia. This is undoubtedly a special one for Nick Saban as he returns to a place where his name has been written in gold in a new look.

Ironically, the first GameDay edition held in Tuscaloosa under Saban's reign was against Georgia in 2007. Kalen DeBoer starts his tenure with a similar schedule.