Keegan-Michael Key returns to Penn State as host for ESPN College GameDay

Keegan-Michael Key, the actor, producer, writer and James Franklin impersonator who guest coached Penn State’s spring football game six years ago, returns to Happy Valley on Saturday as a host for ESPN College GameDay. Key, who earned a Master of Fine Arts from the University of Pennsylvania, will appear on GameDay for the fourth time and first since the 2018 Penn State-Ohio game.

Key will be part of the GameDay broadcast outside the Bryce Jordan Center through Saturday. Penn State-Ohio Game. The first top-5 matchup in Beaver Stadium in 25 years also marks the first time two major college football pregame shows will be held on campus. The big noon kickoff on FOX will air from 10-11:30 a.m. ET from Gate B of the Bryce Jordan Center before moving to Beaver Stadium for the final half hour. ESPN College GameDay will air from Gate C from 9 to 11:30 a.m. before moving to Beaver Stadium.

ESPN College GameDay will broadcast the Penn State-Ohio State game for a record 13th time. Pennsylvania is hosting GameDay for the first time since 2021.

So how did Key, known for creating beloved 12th-year college football player Hingle McCringleberry on Key & Peele, become such a Penn State football fan? He told the story after a visit to Penn State in 2018 for a blue-white game, during which he was a guest coach with Franklin.

Key was born in Detroit and signed on. Pennsylvania football through family friends who lived in Pennsylvania and received a master’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania. During this time, Key became friends with some of the football players he taught in acting classes. Key was the grand marshal of the 2015 Pennsylvania homecoming parade, where someone remarked, “You look a little like the head coach.” From this point on, Franklin and Key became friends, and Key made numerous public appearances giving his best impressions of Franklin.

Key visited the Penn State football team several times, attended team meetings (in costume) and previously appeared on ESPN College GameDay as Franklin.

Before the 2018 Penn State blue-and-white game, Key took a photo with Franklin’s family that Franklin joked would be a family Christmas card. When Key’s then-fiancé suggested lining Key’s stomach with a pillow to improve the likeness, Franklin blushed. “Obviously, I need to get on the treadmill,” Franklin said at the time.

When asked about playing Penn State football, Key said so in 2018.

“The interesting part of my journey is that my parents’ best friends were Pennsylvanians, so I watched Penn State football as a little kid. When I had the opportunity to study here for graduate school, it turned out to be one of my best choices. For nostalgic reasons, I’m glad things worked out the way they did because I ended up going to a high-level university for what I studied.

“Here I taught acting to non-majors, so I had constant personal contact with the football team. I already had a feeling that I loved football and Penn State football, so that personal connection with the players meant a lot to me and resonated with me, so it was a big part of my life. When James came in, he really gave me a new energy and we started to become friends because we have the same views on what a student-athlete is. I get very excited when this happens. I see him
worry about how well his students are doing. I’m very happy when his students get benefits for having a higher GPA.

“It’s nice that academics are as important to him, and that’s where some of the love comes from. When I was here to be the homecoming grand marshal, it was really interesting because someone said to me, “You look a little like the new head coach,” and the rest is history, I’ll take it. If our genes are similar in some way, that’s another thing that brings me back to the program and gives me a real love for it. program, so be it.”

Penn State hosts Ohio State at noon ET Saturday on FOX.

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