EXCLUSIVE

Great news for Brent Musburger ... 'cause Katherine Webb (the chick he ogled during the BCS championship game) has signed a deal to star in a new reality competition show ... which requires her to spend A LOT of time in a bathing suit.

TMZ has learned Miss Alabama USA 2012 -- aka the hot girlfriend of Alabama QB A.J. McCarron -- will be a contestant on the upcoming ABC show "Celebrity Diving."

We obtained pics of Katherine on the L.A. set today with some of her co-stars ... a cast that includes Detroit Lions badboy Ndamukong Suh, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Nicole Eggert, Kendra Wilkinson, Louie Anderson, Drake Bell, Chuy from the E! Network, and Keshia Knight Pulliam.

Kinda shocking that Katherine joined the cast ... considering Webb did everything she could to duck the media after she was thrust into the spotlight during the BCS game earlier this month.

As we previously reported, Webb's BF was upset that she was getting more attention than his team -- so Katherine issued a self-imposed media ban on herself. She also told TMZ she wanted to move to Alabama so she could focus on her relationship with A.J..

But when the show came a callin', Katherine decided she spent enough time in celebrity exile.

Ndamukong Suh is also a pretty shocking addition to the cast -- considering he's in the middle of a huge contract and NFL coaches don't usually love it when a star player risks his health by jumping off a high dive.