ESPN broadcaster Laura Rutledge has seen her career expand in the last year with additional NFL-related duties on television as she continues to be a host of “SEC Nation” on the SEC Network.

In a recent podcast segment with Pat Dooley on “Another Dooley Noted Podcast,” Rutledge explained how the conversation played out when she was approached about hosting “NFL Live.” Rutledge told Dooley that a boss at ESPN admitted that she knew college football was important to Rutledge and that she would still host the Saturday morning pregame show on the SEC Network.

“That’s something I’m really grateful for every step along the way in my career I’ve still had a chance to do that, and I think they know how much that matters to me and so I hope I can continue to keep that component no matter what,” Rutledge said.

Rutledge also mentioned the recently announced deal with ESPN and the SEC to replace CBS as the premiere network for SEC games on Saturday afternoons.

“That’s something that I’m really excited about and hope that I can be a part of too at that point, with the NFL job that I have now,” she said.

Dooley noted that many SEC fans became accustomed to the “pageantry” of 3:30 p.m. “Game of the Week.”

“I can’t give away too much, but I know a lot of people already have their brains on that and trying to maintain that pageantry,” Rutledge said. “Even talking about the iconic music that we all think of. That might stick around, I don’t want to break news here necessarily. But there are a lot of conversations that are being had right now to try as hard as we can to not only continue that pageantry but accentuate it.”

Rutledge also noted how this new deal gives ESPN, the SEC Network, ABC and Disney the ability to feature SEC programs throughout Saturday.