Laura Rutledge stepping away from SEC Nation, veteran ESPN personality to reportedly succeed host

Nine seasons after taking over as host, Laura Rutledge is stepping away from SEC Nation. Sports media reporter Andrew Marchand of The Athletic broke the news on Wednesday. Per Marchand, Rutledge will be succeeded by veteran ESPN personality Matt Barrie. Rutledge, 37, has been a familiar face to college sports fans for more than a decade. A Florida alumna, she joined ESPN and began appearing on the SEC Network in 2014. In May 2017, the SEC Network announced that Rutledge would be the new host of SEC Nation, the network’s traveling SEC football pregame show in the style of ESPN’s...