Friday, July 19, 2024.
College football fans will rejoice. Grown men will call out of work. People will tweet, probably unhappily. Transactions will be micro.
EA Sports expects to release its first edition of its College Football game since NCAA Football 14 released in the summer of 2013. The last version, a cult classic thanks to a lack of new releases in a post-O’Bannon v. NCAA world, as well as a crew of hobbyists-turned-conductors who have kept up a modded version of the game, is going to be supplanted by EA Sports College Football 25 in a few months.
EA has given us bits and pieces over time, but, per their Twitter, we are expected to get a full reveal of the game by the end of the month. This reveal hopefully gives us something we’ll be staring at on the home page of our consoles every time we pick up a controller: the cover athlete.
How EA chooses their cover athlete for its college football video games doesn’t appear to be an exact science. The company has approached the task in various ways from one year to the next since its first appearance of a real player in College Football USA 97. Prior to 97, the cover featured Stanford HC Bill Walsh in its first two releases, Bill Walsh College Football and Bill Walsh College Football 95, then generic players mixed in with USC mascot Tommy Trojan and the University of Wisconsin marching band in 96.
For College Football USA 97, EA chose Tommie Frazier, who quarterbacked Nebraska to an undefeated season and a national championship, beating Florida in the inaugural season of the Bowl Alliance. Frazier, who posted just under 2,000 all purpose yards and 31 total TDs in 1995, was the Heisman runner-up to Ohio State RB Eddie George. While he wasn’t stuffing the stat sheet, he was an electric player on a national champion.
The following two games had easy choices: Florida QB Danny Wuerffel and Michigan DB Charles Woodson were both Heisman winners on the national champion — Wuerffel in 1996, Woodson in 1997. Texas RB Ricky Williams, the cover star of NCAA Football 2000, was the 3rd consecutive Heisman winner, though his Longhorns finished 15th in the final AP Top 25 poll of the season.
EA broke tradition from making an easy choice with NCAA Football 2001, choosing Alabama RB Shaun Alexander, who finished 7th in 1999’s Heisman voting while the Tide finished 8th in the AP Top 25. Alexander’s 1,706 all purpose yards were 9th in all of college football for 1999, while his 23 TDs led all of Division I, with his 19 rushing scores tied for first with Heisman winner Wisconsin RB Ron Dayne. In the first 11 releases of EA’s college football game, Alexander is the only athlete who didn’t finish in the top 5 in Heisman voting in the previous year.
The next handful of releases featured easy pickings with well-known commodities at quarterback: Chris Weinke (Heisman winner), Joey Harrington (3rd overall draft pick in 2002), and Carson Palmer (Heisman winner and 1st pick in the 2003 draft). NCAA Football 2005 featured Pittsburgh WR Larry Fitzgerald, who placed 2nd in the Heisman race after a 1,600 yard, 22 touchdown season in 2003.
Another break from tradition came with NCAA Football 06, with former Michigan WR Desmond Howard gracing the cover. In some ways, it makes sense: Howard was a Heisman winner and top 5 pick when he went to the NFL. The problem: Howard won his Heisman and was drafted in 1991, 15 years before the release of the game. He was already out of the NFL for three years before the game’s debut. In a press release, EA Tiburon VP of Marketing Todd Sitrin noted that Howard “provided one of the most vivid Heisman moments in college football history, and what better way to capture the essence of NCAA Football 2006 than by putting his memorable Heisman touchdown pose on the cover of our game.” The “Heisman moment” referenced is Howard’s punt return against rival Ohio State, where he hit the Heisman after housing a 93-yard score. It seems the main reason Howard was chosen as the cover athlete, alongside his famous pose, was the game’s added “Race for the Heisman” mode, a bit similar to Madden 20’s “QB 1” mode, where the user gains control of a player (in 06, any position, in Madden, a QB, obviously) and tries to lead them to greatness.
After Howard and Heisman-winning USC RB Reggie Bush gracing the cover in consecutive years, EA started getting into some more interesting choices. NCAA Football 08 featured Boise State QB Jared Zabransky, who led a top 5 team in the AP poll but was not a top 10 finisher in the Heisman and was not a significant statistical performer. Zabransky led Boise State through two undefeated seasons and was part of the hook-and-ladder that led to an overtime win over Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl.
Another new cover athlete approach came with 09, which featured a different athlete for each console the game was released on (PlayStation 2 & 3, PSP, Xbox 360, and the Nintendo Wii). For the Wii version of the game, EA used a fan vote to choose a mascot that would grace the cover, with fans eventually choosing Michigan State’s mascot, Sparty. This was the second time a mascot was a cover athlete, after Tommy Trojan on College Football USA 96, though Tommy was relegated to a small image on the 96 cover while Sparty got his haunting mug plastered across the semi gloss paper.
09’s other athletes were an interesting mix: well-known players like Boston College QB Matt Ryan, California WR Desean Jackson, and Arkansas RB Darren McFadden; Sparty; and… West Virginia FB Owen Schmitt, who covered the PSP edition of the game. None of the teams finished in the top 5 in final AP voting, with West Virginia and BC the only schools in the top 25 at all. McFadden had finished second in Heisman voting that year, posting nearly 2,500 all purpose yards and 21 touchdowns, and Ryan (4,500 all purpose yards and 33 TDs) finished 7th. Ryan was drafted 3rd overall, McFadden 4th, and Jackson was a 2nd round pick, so it wasn’t a slew of unknowns covering the game, but Sparty and Schmitt were interesting choices.
NCAA Football 10 was another release where EA chose a smattering of athletes featured on the cover of the game for different consoles, even after discontinuing making the game for the Wii. 10 featured Texas LB/EDGE Brian Orakpo, Utah QB Brian Johnson, USC QB Mark Sanchez, and Texas Tech WR Michael Crabtree. None of these players were Heisman winners or national champions, but Orakpo, Sanchez, and Crabtree were all top 10 picks in the following draft, and Johnson’s team finished 2nd in the final AP poll.
11 and 12 went back to a more traditional path, with 11 using Tim Tebow, one of the biggest names in football and a Heisman winner, and 12 featuring Mark Ingram, another Heisman holder from a blue-chip Alabama program. The one difference from past cover athletes with these two: Tebow had won his national championships in 2006 and 2008 (prior to his final season in 2009), and both Tebow and Ingram won their Heisman prior to their final seasons (Tebow in 2007, Ingram in 2009). 13 was a return to form, using Heisman winner Robert Griffin III after a historic season.
14, released seven years before the current generation of consoles, had its cover graced by former Michigan QB Denard Robinson, fresh off an 8–5 season and a loss to South Carolina in the Outback Bowl where Jadeveon Clowney made his hard-hitting, spine-shivering highlight play on the national stage (Robinson mostly played running back in this game, as he did throughout most of the 2012 season, with Devin Gardner completing the first of his three seasons quarterbacking for the Wolverines). Robinson was chosen by fan vote, the first and seemingly only time the cover athlete for all consoles would be chosen this way. We have not seen a cover since Robinson’s in 2013.
Now, that will change. And with NIL issues a thing of the past, EA plans to approach it differently.
According to Extra Points’ Matt Brown, EA Sports College Football 25 will feature “multiple” cover athletes, as EA plans to release multiple versions of the game. Each cover athlete will be a current college football player who plays in a different power conference (for posterity’s sake, we’re down to four in 2024). And each athlete plays a different position.
This opens a pretty significant well of athletes that could be chosen for the cover.
To recap, here’s an arbitrary pattern of how EA has chosen their past cover athletes for NCAA Football.
Heisman Winners:
QB Robert Griffin III, Baylor (NCAA Football 13)
*RB Mark Ingram II, Alabama (12)
*QB Tim Tebow, Florida (11)
RB Reggie Bush, USC (07)
*WR Desmond Howard, Michigan (06)
QB Carson Palmer, USC (2004)
QB Chris Weinke, Florida State (2002)
RB Ricky Williams, Texas (2000)
DB Charles Woodson, Michigan (99)
QB Danny Wuerffel, Florida (98)
National Champions:
**QB Tim Tebow, Florida (11)
DB Charles Woodson, Michigan (99)
QB Danny Wuerffel, Florida (98)
QB Tommie Frazier, Nebraska (97)
Fan Votes:
QB/RB Denard Robinson, Michigan (14)
***RB Barry Sanders, Oklahoma State (13)
***Sparty, Michigan State (09)
Wild Cards/Stat Stuffers:
LB/EDGE Brian Orakpo, Texas (10)
QB Brian Johnson, Utah (10)
QB Mark Sanchez, USC (10)
WR Michael Crabtree, Texas Tech (10)
WR Desean Jackson, California (09)
QB Matt Ryan, Boston College (09)
FB Owen Schmitt, West Virginia (09)
RB Darren McFadden, Arkansas (09)
QB Jared Zabransky, Boise State (08)
WR Larry Fitzgerald, Pittsburgh (2005)
QB Joey Harrington, Oregon (2003)
RB Shaun Alexander, Alabama (2001)
*did not win Heisman in year he was named cover athlete
**did not win national championship in year he was named cover athlete
***was not a current player
Given the timing of 25 and the supposed release of information coming this month, we can probably cross off the idea of fan voting for this game. So let’s look at the three remaining categories and try to determine who could be a choice in the current college football world, with recent Heisman vote receivers and recent national champions still in college.
Past Heisman Vote Getters:
QB Jalen Milroe, Alabama (SEC)
RB Ollie Gordon, Oklahoma State (Big 12)
Recent National Champions:
RB Donovan Edwards, Michigan (Big 10)
TE Colston Loveland, Michigan (Big 10)
QB Carson Beck, Georgia (SEC)
This compiles a pretty short list, and only covers 3 of the Power 4 conferences. I would bet on Carson Beck as a real-deal candidate for the cover of 25. I would be surprised if Edwards or Loveland made it as they aren’t big stars and played behind more well-known players that are now off to the NFL. Milroe is an okay option given Alabama’s constant presence on the national stage, but his lackluster performances . Gordon is another reasonable option coming off being 7th in Heisman voting in 2023 and an All-American season, but is the name recognition there?
Now, let’s consider some other big names in college football across each conference to see who might fit the bill.
Big 10:
^QB Dillon Gabriel, Oregon
QB Drew Allar, Penn State
^RB Quinshon Judkins, Ohio State
WR Zachariah Branch, USC
WR Emeka Egbuka, Ohio State
EDGE Jack Sawyer, Ohio State
EDGE JT Tuimoloau, Ohio State
DB Denzel Burke, Ohio State
DB Jabbar Muhammad, Washington
Big 12:
QB Shedeur Sanders, Colorado
QB Noah Fifita, Arizona
RB Devin Neal, Kansas
WR/DB Travis Hunter, Colorado
WR Tetairoa McMillan, Arizona
SEC:
QB Quinn Ewers, Texas
QB Jaxson Dart, Ole Miss
WR Luther Burden, Missouri
LB Danny Stutsman, Oklahoma
DB Billy Bowman, Oklahoma
ACC:
^QB Cam Ward, Miami
^QB Grayson McCall, North Carolina State
^QB DJ Uiagalelei, Florida State
QB Cade Klubnik, Clemson
RB Phil Mafah, Clemson
WR Xavier Restrepo, Miami
DL/EDGE Rueben Bain Jr., Miami
EDGE Patrick Payton, Florida State
EDGE TJ Parker, Clemson
^Transfer
Based on no information at all, I am not sure transfers will be seriously considered for the cover, but again, a baseless thought.
If I had to make a final guess as to who the four cover athletes are, here’s probably who I would go with:
Big 10: Emeka Egbuka — Egbuka has been a staple of Ohio State’s offense for two straight seasons and one of the most well-known names on a top team in the conference. Michigan’s exodus of talent (13 draft picks in 2024) led to their omission from the cover, and a Big 10 veteran earns the spot here. I decided not to include transfers, and quarterback was reserved for another player, so Gabriel was excluded, and the same for Quinshon Judkins, who will be another focal point for the Buckeyes in 2024.
Big 12: Ollie Gordon — It was tough not to choose Hunter, the star of the Buffaloes’ offense and defense, but Gordon was 7th in Heisman voting in 2023, and won the Doak Walker Award after leading college football in rushing yards and yards from scrimmage. Fifita and McMillan make a fun duo as well, and Neal was part of a fun Jayhawks team, but we’ll give it to someone who better fits historical criteria.
SEC: Quinn Ewers — This was a tight race between Ewers and Beck, who put up a similar stat line and is technically a former national champion (though he was not the Bulldogs’ starter in 2022), but we’ll lean on a popular name who made it to the CFP Semifinal this past season. Ewers isn’t a surefire first round pick in 2025 like the names above him, but he’s a known commodity who has been closely followed since his freshman year at Ohio State.
ACC: Reuben Bain, Jr. — Miami has never had a cover athlete in an NCAA Football game, which feels pretty wild given the bevy of talent they had in the late 90s and early 00s. Cam Ward was out due to my self-imposed transfer rule and already-chosen QB, so we went with Bain, the first defensive player on the cover of 25. Florida State fans would probably cry seeing this, but, similar to Michigan, so much of their talent is now gone to the pros. Miami has been a pioneer of the NIL game (not without issues), and they get a budding star on the cover of a highly anticipated game. Bain wasn’t a stat sheet stuffer, but posted 7.5 sacks and 12.5 tackles for loss as a true freshman. His teammate Xavier Restrepo was also considered, but a better-known receiver took his spot.