It’s the most dependable tradition in sports media, more reliable than any preseason poll: ESPN picks a song, plays it about 4,000 times between kickoff and the College Football Playoff, and by Halloween you’ll be able to hum it in your sleep, whether you wanted to learn it or not.
ESPN announced Friday that “High Noon,” Shaboozey’s new track featuring Gunna, is the official 2026-27 college football season anthem. The song comes off Shaboozey’s new concept album, “The Outlaw Cherie Lee & Other Western Tales,” and dropped at midnight ET to coincide with the announcement. ESPN has picked a new artist for the anthem tradition every year for the past 13 seasons, with past artists including mgk, Jelly Roll, Post Malone, Imagine Dragons, DJ Snake, and Yungblud.
Let’s take a listen for the first, but certainly not the last, time.
“It’s so exciting to have ‘High Noon’ as the anthem for this upcoming college football season on ESPN,” Shaboozey said in the announcement. “I’m excited for the song to be part of the energy, tradition, and memories of game day.”
“ESPN is the home of college football, and our annual music anthem has become a signature part of how fans welcome the season,” Maggie Lewin, ESPN’s director of marketing, said. “It has grown into a tradition of its own, a signal college football is back, and it sets the tone for everything fans love about the sport. We are extremely excited to collab with both Shaboozey and Gunna and welcome them into this seasonal tradition.”
ESPN’s college football coverage kicks off for real on August 23, with Bill Belichick’s North Carolina squad opening against No. 23 TCU in Dublin as part of the Aer Lingus College Football Classic. That means fans have roughly three weeks of grace period left before “High Noon” becomes as unavoidable as a targeting review. Enjoy the silence while it lasts.
About Sam Neumann
Since the beginning of 2023, Sam has been a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. A 2021 graduate of Temple University, Sam is a Charlotte native, who currently calls Greenville, South Carolina his home. He also has a love/hate relationship with the New York Mets and Jets.