NBA players value their 2K ratings. NFL players are celebrated for their Madden ratings. With the new EA Sports College Football 25 video game out now, what are Alabama's player ratings entering 2024?
Cody Goodwin
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Video games have carved out their own lane within the greater sports discourse. NFL players are celebrated for their Madden ratings, for example. NBA players take pride in their 2K ratings.
Could the new EA Sports College Football 25 eventually play that same role for college football players? It may already be trending that direction, if it isn't there already.
With relaxed rules regarding athletes' name, image, and likeness, EA brought back its famed college football video game to great fanfare. We got our hands on a copy of the game, courtesy of our friends at EA Sports (shoutout to Edwin and the gang).
We've been playing the game for the last month, primarily as Alabama. We wanted to see what it was like to play with the players we've covered and written about. We wanted to see how realistic it was — which meant analyzing the player ratings.
The following is a closer look at how EA did when it came to creating Alabama's roster. These ratings are from the most-recent update, which dropped a week ago. We looked at the Crimson Tide's top players, who's the fastest and the strongest, and more.
Top-15 Players
- Parker Brailsford, OL/C, 93 overall
- Malachi Moore, DB, 92 overall
- Jaeden Roberts, OL, 92 overall
- Jalen Milroe, QB, 91 overall
- Tyler Booker, OL, 91 overall
- Deontae Lawson, MLB, 90 overall
- Keon Sabb, DB, 88 overall
- Graham Nicholson, K, 88 overall
- Kadyn Proctor, OL, 88 overall
- Justice Haynes, RB, 86 overall
- Jam Miller, RB, 86 overall
- Domani Jackson, CB, 86 overall
- Germie Bernard, WR, 85 overall
- Jihaad Campbell, MLB, 85 overall
- Ryan Williams, WR, 85 overall
Thoughts: The top six — Brailsford, Moore, Roberts, Milroe, Booker, Lawson — were in EA's Top 100. It makes sense that they're Alabama's top players. The other nine behind them make sense as some of the Tide's best for 2024, although Tim Keenan III and LT Overton, at Nos. 16 and 18 respectively, probably had cases for the top 15.
Obviously the game developers are high on both Sabb and Nicholson, two transfers. Sabb played important snaps for Michigan a year ago, so it'll be interesting to see how he holds up all season. Nicholson, of course, was the nation's top kicker.
Proctor earning an 88 means the developers probably valued in-season growth over full body of work. Proctor's 2023 season was, largely, a struggle, but he did improve greatly over the course of the season, earning Freshman All-American honors.
Funny to see both Haynes and Miller, Alabama's interchangeable RB1A and RB1B, with the same rating. Jacksoncracking the top-15 on the roster might be more because of his 5-star rating as a recruit, because he struggled some last year at USC.
Bernard and Campbell both earning 85 overall ratings make sense. They're good players with the potential to breakout and become big-time contributors this fall. Williams, the 5-star freshman receiver, also earning an 85 tells me the developers follow recruiting pretty heavily and they're as excited as the rest of us to see him play.
Top-5 Freshmen
- Ryan Williams, WR, 85 overall
- Jaylen Mbakwe, CB, 79 overall
- Zabien Brown, CB, 79 overall
- Zay Mincey, CB, 79 overall
- Daniel Hill, RB, 77 overall
Thoughts: This list shouldn't be too surprising, with Williams topping the list, followed by the three 5-star cornerbacks, then big Daniel Hill rounding out the top five.
If you look at Alabama's 2024 recruiting class, it went almost exactly in this same order: Williams, Mbakwe, Julian Sayin (who's since transferred to Ohio State), Brown, Mincey, Noah Carter (who didn't opt into the game, so far as we could tell), Caleb Odom (who's listed as a TE recruit but switched to receiver), Jeremiah Beaman, then Hill.
While playing the game, Williams doesn't look out of place as a player. We didn't use him too much when we played through Alabama's season, but he was on the field frequently. Same with Brown, who basically started at corner in our Dynasty Mode.
What will be worth following with regards to the game is how the ratings will change/improve as the season goes. If Williams truly does become a star in Alabama's offense, or if Brown becomes a mainstay at corner for the Crimson Tide, how much will their ratings go up as new updates come in? In theory, it should match reality, but we'll see.
Fastest Players
- Domani Jackson, CB, 98 speed
- King Mack, DB, 98 speed
- Kendrick Law, WR, 97 speed
- Jaylen Mbakwe, CB, 97 speed
- Jalen Hale, WR, 95 speed
- Ryan Williams, WR, 94 speed
- Jaren Hamilton, WR, 94 speed
- Jam Miller, RB, 93 speed
- Kobe Prentice, WR, 93 speed
- Cole Adams, WR, 93 speed
Thoughts: There's a joke to be made here about Jackson being Alabama's fastest player in the game because, when playing through the Dynasty Mode, he got burnt a few times on go routes. Granted, it was against teams like Oregon and Ole Miss, who have talented skill guys, but if your fastest guy is getting beat, that's not great.
Mack's speed is surprising. Admittedly, we didn't play with him a ton when we played through Alabama's season, but clearly the game developers received good info about him from Penn State. Law's speed is a little bit of a cheat code on offense. We used him on end-arounds, screens, quick slants, and more.
No qualms with the rest of the speed ratings otherwise. Adams, who's Mr. Reliable according to receivers coach JaMarcus Shephard, got some love in the speed rating. He was Alabama's primary return man in the game. Special teams were kind of hard, but we did take a kick back for a touchdown using Adams.
Strongest Players
- Kadyn Proctor, OL, 96 strength
- Casey Poe, OL, 95 strength
- Jehiem Oatis, DL, 95 strength
- Tyler Booker, OL, 94 strength
- Jaeden Roberts, OL, 93 strength
- Wilkin Formby, OL, 92 strength
- Tim Keenan III, DL, 92 strength
- Roq Montgomery, OL, 92 strength
- Naquil Betrand, OL, 92 strength
- Miles McVay, OL, 92 strength
Thoughts: This list is where we have a few questions.
It's hard to believe that Roberts isn't the strongest player on the team. At 310 pounds, he has the second highest lean muscle mass on the team. Putting him at No. 5 on this list seems very incorrect.
Proctor leading the team in strength isn't unbelievable, per se. He's the type of offensive lineman that wins the rep the moment he gets his hands on you. But stronger than guys like Roberts? And Booker? And Keenan? Might have to see it to believe it.
Also, true freshman Casey Poe checking in at No. 2 overall in strength? He's talented and will be very good in the future, but usually first-year guys have some baby fat to shed before they can add strength like that. That was a little puzzling.
Of course, there's a lot of beef on this list, which makes sense, but to not see Law anywhere near the top 10 is a little baffling. This is a dude who can bench more than 450 and squat more than 600, yet EA gave him a strength rating of …wait for it …69.
Missing Players
So far as we could tell, these were the scholarship players that either did not opt into the game or were not included in the game for whatever reason:
- Conor Talty, K
- Sterling Dixon, MLB
- QB Reese, MLB
- Noah Carter, OLB
- Yhonzae Pierre, OLB
- James Smith, DL
- Tim Smith, DL
- Jordan Renaud, DL
- Josh Cuevas, TE
- Jay Lindsay, TE
- Rico Scott, WR
In most of their places (Nicholson is the only kicker; sorry, Talty), EA created fictional players to fill the rest of the roster. Tim Smith is represented (we think) by LaMarcus Fox, for example. Scott is represented (again, we think) by Durante Basher.
More than 11,000 college football players opted into the game. After finally seeing it live and getting to play with their teammates and friends, perhaps everybody will find a way to join in the next time EA comes calling.
Then they can truly argue with their friends and teammates about their ratings.
Cody Goodwin covers the Alabama Crimson Tide for 247Sports. Follow him on Twitter at @codygoodwin.
