Laura Rutledge is (Still/Again) LSU 'Ms. Two Bits'
Tuesday, December 8, 2020 | Football, Chris Harry
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By: Chris Harry, Senior Writer
Laura Rutledge didn't get to take her scheduled turn as "Ms. Two Bits" back in October when the Florida-LSU game was scratched after a COVID-19 spike in the UF program, but the orange-and-blue alum and ESPN studio host will be on the video board Saturday for the pregame tradition when the sixth-ranked Gators (8-1, 8-1) and Tigers (3-5, 3-5) meet at the "Swamp" in the rescheduled regular-season finale for the home team.
The below story has been updated for re-purposing.
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GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Laura Rutledge was well into what she already pegged the most chaotic week of her career — weekend college football studio duties, plus "Monday Night Football," had been added to her "NFL Live" daily schedule — when the ESPN star got a call on her cell phone one Friday in October that, at least momentarily, broke up the bedlam.
"I was completely shocked," she said.
In a good way.
Rutledge, as visible and distinguished alum of the University of Florida College of Journalism as anyone in the business these days, was extended and accepted an invitation to be the honorary (and virtual) "Ms. Two Bits" when the Gators take on reigning national champion LSU in their Southeastern Conference meeting Saturday night at Spurrier/Florida.
She was a student for some of the best of UF's athletic times, arriving by way of Celebration (Fla.) High as a freshman in 2007, to witness Tim Tebow's Heisman Trophy-winning season that fall, followed by the 2008 national championship, which happens to be the last time the Gators won the Southeastern Conference crown. While working her way through J-School, Rutledge did a ton of radio for WRUF, but also found a niche writing for recruiting websites, further honing her sports acumen.
Laura Rutledge, now of ESPN fame, during her days as a UF student journalist, including in a Tim Tebow media scrum during his time as Gators quarterback
But some of her most cherished memories, Rutledge said, came on game days.
As part of the WRUF radio crew, Rutledge spent her pregame scurrying about the field for remote reporting. She was down there for Gator Walk, down there for warm-ups, down there as the fans filed in, down there as the energy mounted, and, of course, down there for the real "Mr. Two Bits" to do his thing.
Rutledge was a sophomore in 2008, which was the final season George Edmondson, then 86, did his cheer.
"When I think about George Edmondson and what went into his life, even with his fame and this famous cheer that was synonymous to him, he still bought his season tickets every year," Rutledge said. "That kind of humility and lack of entitlement represented what a true Florida fan and college fan he was in giving to the game, instead of just taking from it."
It's time for Rutledge, now 32, to show her true Florida colors. Not that her UF allegiances haven't been clearly established to her viewers (that stuff tends to come up on air), but always with the right does of professionalism.
Not this time, though. Not when it comes to "Two Bits."
Rutledge isn't sure what her spin on the cheer will look like. She plans to get input from her husband, former major-league baseball player Josh Rutledge, and maybe incorporate their daughter, Reese, who turned 1 in October.
"I pride myself on being fair and objective, but that goes out the window for this. I'm all in with the orange and blue," she said. "What an incredible reminder of what got me to this point and how far I've come to have an opportunity like this that I could never even imagine."
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