College GameDay announces celebrity guest picker for Week 12 show at Pitt
By Andrew Olson
Published:
The choice was obvious for College GameDay‘s celebrity guest picker for Week 12 at Pitt. On Thursday, ESPN’s traveling pregame show confirmed that Panther legend Aaron Donald is joining Saturday’s show.
Donald will be back on campus at his alma mater to have his jersey retired. Saturday morning, he will join host Rece Davis and analysts Desmond Howard, Pat McAfee, Nick Saban and Kirk Herbstreit at the desk to pick the biggest games of Week 12.
Aaron Donald is returning to Pitt to be this week's guest picker and have his jersey retired @AaronDonald97 pic.twitter.com/8nljMlE60y
— College GameDay (@CollegeGameDay) November 13, 2025
A native of Penn Hills, Pennsylvania, Donald played at Pitt from 2010-13, a time when the Panthers made the move from the Big East to the ACC, being named first-team all-conference in both leagues in his final 2 seasons.
Donald left Pitt with a career 66 tackles for loss and 29.5 sacks. He went out with a bang in 2013, posting 28.5 TFLs and 11 sacks. His outstanding season led to numerous awards and honors, including the Outland Trophy, Lombardi Award, Chuck Bednarik Award, Bronko Nagurski Trophy, ACC Defensive Player of the Year and Unanimous All-America.
After Pitt, Donald spent his entire professional career with the Rams franchise. A future Pro Football Hall of Famer, Donald was an 8-time first-team All-Pro and 10-time Pro Bowl selection. He was named NFL Defensive Player of the Year 3 times and made the NFL’s 2010s All-Decade Team.
Pitt announced Donald’s jersey retirement on Sept. 22 and scheduled it for the Notre Dame game. The latest College Football Playoff rankings have the game in the national spotlight as a showdown between the No. 9 Irish and No. 21 Panthers.
Andrew writes about sports to fund his love of live music and collection of concert posters. He strongly endorses the Hall of Fame campaigns of Fred Taylor and Andruw Jones.
