Someone who knows this UGA-USC rivalry better than anyone is former volleyball and basketball star, Maria Taylor. But nowadays she’s traded in her for a court shoes for a microphone. Grady Newsource Reporter, McKenzie Lewis, sat down with Taylor this past weekend when she was back in Athens cheering on the Dawgs for the first time since graduation.

Eight years ago you may have seen Maria Taylor right here on Grady NewSource. But now she has the huge task of hosting SEC Nation. A show that features her Alma Mater and the rest of the South Eastern Conference.

“It’s our traveling version of gameday I call us baby gameday. We only focus on the SEC but it’s myself, Marcus Spears, Tim Tebow, and Paul Finebaum and Laura Ruteledge is the reporter and we just go from campus to campus putting on a two hour show trying to get you guys all set for the game.”

But Taylor says it’s not all business all the time,

“All we do is have fun, honestly. If you were on the bus for SEC Nation right now it would just be like ‘oh I’m getting my hair done and Marcus is blasting gospel music… and Tim is stretching and you know Laura’s dancing for some reason like that’s what we’re doing when the cameras aren’t actually on.”

And when the the camera’s aren’t on Taylor spends her time giving advice to young journalism students. She says if she could go back to those NewSource days she would tell herself one thing.

“I would just go back and say just one hundred and ten percent effort. Because everything you believe is a huge problem or too much to handle now… it’s not. You can do even more. Do it all.”