No one is immune to the charms of “Wagon Wheel” — not even Alabama football legend Nick Saban.
Darius Rucker is a noted college football fan, and for College GameDay on Saturday (Sept. 14), the country star was back in his home state to support his team, the South Carolina Gamecocks, during their match-up against the LSU Tigers. He delivered a pre-game performance, offering renditions of “Beers and Sunshine” and, of course, his quintessential hit “Wagon Wheel.”
“Wagon Wheel” is arguably the most popular sing-a-long in country music, or in any genre, period. Fans watching Rucker’s performance were singing their hearts out, and so was Saban, who got caught on camera jamming out to “Wagon Wheel” from his spot at the commentator’s table.
“Every Saturday night we had a karaoke party at our house in recruiting, and the No. 1 requested song was ‘Wagon Wheel,'” Saban commented as Rucker concluded his performance.
“Wagon Wheel”‘s origins date all the way back to 1973, when Bob Dylan wrote and recorded an early portion of the song. Years later, Old Crow Medicine Show’s Ketch Secor finished writing it, and his band put it out in 2004, eventually earning Platinum status.
A big hit for Old Crow Medicine Show became an even bigger hit for Darius Rucker when, in 2013, the rocker-turned-country-star put out a cover version with Little Big Town on backing vocals, to astronomical success. Rucker’s “Wagon Wheel” went 8x Platinum in 2020.
Despite Rucker’s support, the South Carolina Gamecocks couldn’t quite squeak out a win on GameDay. They lost to the Tigers 36-33.
See Country Stars Who’ve Played Football
Darius Rucker played football when he was young. Kenny Chesney and Garth Brooks played in high school while Trace Adkins, Chase Rice and Lee Brice played college ball. See a short list of country singers in their football uniforms.