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If there’s one sport Holly Rowe loves more than any other, it might be college football.

It goes back to time growing up in Bountiful, Utah, and her days of watching BYU football, even rushing the field when they beat then No. 1 Miami.

“I was old enough to know better but dumb enough that I was gonna still do it,” Rowe said during her visit with the Selma Quarterback Club on Monday.

That love of college football is what fueled her to have the career that she always wanted: being a sideline reporter for college football.

“I tell you all this because I have grown up to get to cover college football, and I still can’t believe they’re not on to me yet, that they are paying me to go to games that I would go to for free,” Rowe said. “But this is my 29th year with ESPN and ABC, and I’m really proud of that because in 29 years, I haven’t missed one game. I have been on the sidelines every Saturday for 29 straight years, and I’m really proud of that.

Rowe last visited Selma in 2018 while she was in the middle of her four-year battle with metastatic stage four cancer. Even through that, she didn’t miss a game.

“I still kept working,” Rowe said. “I kept showing up to work because work is what makes me happy. And when I say work, it’s not that much work to go to a college football game.”

Rowe said she is also excited to work with former Alabama head coach Nick Saban, who is now on the ESPN College GameDay crew.

“It has been really fascinating this year because every time we are at a game where game day is Nick — I can’t even call him Nick. That just sounds disrespectful. Coach Saban comes to all of the meetings with us,” Rowe said.

Last week, she and Saban were meeting with Georgia head coach Kirby Smart to prepare for the Georgia-Tennessee game this past weekend. While Saban may know more about football than anyone else, Rowe is still impressed with Saban’s curiosity.

“It’s been really interesting to get to be on that side of it with Coach Saban and listen to him ask questions and listen how curious he still is with other coaches,” Rowe said. “Like he could be too big for this, he could be too cool for this, but he’s is got such a curious mind that he wants to go and keep learning football from other people.”

Rowe didn’t have much to say about Auburn just because she hasn’t been assigned to any of their games.

“Auburn fans, I’m sorry I don’t have a lot for you tonight ’cause I haven’t had an Auburn game this year, and I’m really sorry about that,” Rowe said. “I know you never thought you’d hear someone say this, just hold on, it’s almost basketball season.

“Their field is the best field in college football. You can be proud of that as well.”

Rowe has been impressed by how quickly 17-year-old Alabama freshman wide receiver Ryan Williams has taken the nation by storm.

“Ryan Williams is just absolutely incredible,” Rowe said. “There is this freshness and effervescence to him. I don’t know if you guys listen to his podcast that he’s doing, but it’s wonderful. I listen every week like I’m a big fan. He is a transcendent player right now in college football.

“And we have seen that four (Jalen Miroe) plus two equals six combination be really cool and really dynamic for Alabama football.”

Rowe also encouraged Alabama fans to have some patience with Kalen DeBoer, who she got to know well covering Washington football games last year.

“I hope you will because he is a wonderful man,” Rowe said. “Behind the scenes, quietly Kalen would just like take everybody out for breakfast or take a guy to out for brunch or or breakfast or lunch. And he wanted to talk to guys, why do you care about Alabama football? What’s important to you? How can we maintain traditions? That’s cool. You know, he can be perceived as an outsider and he’s not one of us. He doesn’t understand us, but he has taken the time to get to know us. And I think that’s really important.”

Rowe said over the past couple of years that she’s cut back the number of sports she covers because she only wants to cover the sports that make her happy. That list now includes college football and women’s sports, meaning she even cut out men’s college basketball.

However, she wanted to make sure she was doing what she was passionate about.

“I’m doing the biggest moments in men’s basketball, and I just realized I didn’t have the love and passion for it that I had for the women,” Rowe said.

In realizing the sports she was passionate about, it also allowed her the opportunity to cover Caitlyn Clark over the past two years.

“Now my time is freed up so I can go. I was at every single game where Caitlyn Clark broke a record last year. I get to do her draft interview when she walks across the stage and she gets drafted to the WNBA, I get to do her first All-Star game and the interviews with her there,” Rowe said. “So I just felt really good about making a hard decision in my life of what do I really care about. I think that might be a good message for all of us in here because we get caught up in what’s next. I’ve got this and I have my whole list and my day planner of all this stuff I’m worried about. But I thought it was really important for me to sit down and say what makes me happy every day.”