ESPNBy Ian Casselberry on

Following their departures from SB Nation (preceded by furloughs during the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequently accepting buyouts from Vox Media), acclaimed college football writers Spencer Hall and Richard Johnson are joining ESPN’s SEC Network for a revamped Thinking Out Loud show.

Hall and Johnson team up with Georgia alum Brandon Boykin and host Alyssa Lang on the college football talk show, replacing Marcus Spears and Greg McElroy. Spears moved over to NFL Live and appears regularly on Get Up, while McElroy continues his work as a game analyst with Joe Tessitore for ESPN, along with appearances on Get Up and College Football Live.

Hall had been with Vox Media since 2009, moving his site Every Day Should Be Saturday to SB Nation. He became an editorial director for the outlet before helping to launch the Shutdown Fullcast podcast and Banner Society, a vertical devoted to college football.

Hall and ESPN were already familiar with each other, with the writer appearing regularly on ESPN programming such as The Paul Finebaum Show and SportsCenter with Scott Van Pelt. Johnson wrote for ESPN.com before moving to SB Nation and has also appeared frequently on Finebaum’s show.

Boykin, who played cornerback at the University of Georgia before six years in the NFL. He’s worked as a radio and TV analyst, including appearances on NFL Network.

“The loss of Marcus and Greg is big as the show was created to showcase their personalities and analysis,” said SEC Network coordinating producer Pete Watters in an official release, “but we think we have found an equally entertaining and informative group to carry on the fun tradition of TOL.”

[ESPN Press Room]

About Ian Casselberry

Ian is a writer, editor, and podcaster. You can find his work at Awful Announcing and The Comeback. He's written for Sports Illustrated, Yahoo Sports, MLive, Bleacher Report, and SB Nation.

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