By: Mike Huesmann
This article will be the first in a series I will write on the College Football 25 game. We kick it off with the best of the best in the game, that is, players I expect to be rated 95 or higher. Doing this accurately can’t just be done by picking the best players because the EA developers didn’t do that. Historical data, ratings, position breakdowns (especially at QB), and the offense/defense breakdown of highly rated players needed to be considered.
With that, I looked at the five most recent games made by EA, NCAA 10 through NCAA 14, at player ratings. Some profound discoveries were made that will shape this article. In five years of data, there was an average, discounting an outlier season of 2011, of 15 players rated 95 or higher. I will thus predict 15 to have this rating. Over these five years, 26% of players rated 95+ have been QBs. This gives us 4 QBs on this list, which is probably higher than I’d have gone with. The biggest discrepancy between the game and real life is the offense vs. defense breakdown. In the game, over five seasons, only 30% of players played on the defensive side of the ball. A significant departure from reality but one that must be considered. To compensate for this, 5 of my 15 will be on the defensive side of the ball.
Lastly, over five years, we have had six players with the coveted 99 rating. In 2014, Jadeveon Clowney, Andrew Luck in 2012, and in 2010, we had four: QBs Tim Tebow and Sam Bradford, TE Jermaine Gresham, and DB Taylor Mays. In 2013 and 2011, there were zero players rated 99. Considering the figures here, the scarcity of 99-rated players, and looking at the players who’ll be in this game, I do not believe we will have a 99-rated player.
Breakdowns of these players will be done positionally and with the historical quotas. Keep in mind, this is not necessarily who I think should be 95+ but rather who I think will be. A caveat here is that the game has always been based on the traditional defensive positions of DE, DT, OLB, MLB, CB, and S. This doesn’t fit well into the game today, where edge players, interior DL, and Nickel players are prominent. I am assuming the game keeps its traditional positions, which hurts a guy like LSU’s Harold Perkins. He’s an edge player who doesn’t fit neatly as a DE or OLB; thus, I think he unfairly just misses this list. Both for that positional reason and historically very few LB’s make the list.
With that, here are the 15 players I believe will be rated 95 or higher, what the expected rating will be, and a write-up for each position.
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QBs:
Carson Beck, Georgia: 97
Shedeur Sanders, Colorado: 96
Jalen Milroe, Alabama: 95
Dillon Gabriel, Oregon: 95
The most high-profile position in the game and the one where we see the highest number of 95+ players. I had much debate on whether Quinn Ewers would make it. He may, but I think he just misses along with Drew Allar and Noah Fifita.
The game will favor pure athletic talents, which puts Milroe on the list. Sanders and Gabriel have the production and system to justify this rating. Beck is an all-around talent playing at the game’s premier program. The helmet and jersey will help in this game.
RBs:
Ollie Gordon, Oklahoma State: 98
TreVeyon Henderson, Ohio State: 95
Gordon was one of two players I considered for a 99 rating. I think overall he’ll be one of the two 98 players. He won the Doak Walker Award and is the most high profile returning RB.
Henderson will likely be the top RB drafted next year and comes in on a team that looks like a national title contender in Ohio State. He cracks the 95 clubs, while his new teammate Quinshon Judkins just misses out. Also, just missing and in the running could be Donovan Edwards, Rocket Sanders, and Devin Neal.
WRs:
Luther Burden, Missouri: 98
Tetairoa McMillan, Arizona: 96
Emeka Egbuka, Ohio State: 95
Burden was the second of the two players I think could have had a shot at 99, but he also didn’t get there. I do believe, going by game ratings and nuances, that he is a 98 and one of the game’s two highest-rated players. He has it all and the developers will know this.
McMillan is an athletic freak who comes from a successful team on the back of a successful season. I have every reason to believe he surpasses 95. Egbuka was injured for large parts of last year, but going into the season, he was one of the country’s elite WRs and remains so. There is a chance his injury makes him miss this list but I’m projecting he makes it. Evan Stewart, Tory Horton, and Juice Wells are near misses.
TEs:
I do not believe any TE’s make the 95+ list. Only two have in five years and without Brock Bowers back, I doubt any make it. Luke Lachey and Colston Loveland are solid but miss out. Oronde Gadsden II, who was injured all of 2023, will likely be above 90 but due to the injury, I don’t think he hits 95.
OL:
Kelvin Banks, Texas- 97
Banks is an all-world tackle who will deservedly make this list. Will Campbell of LSU is, arguably, the toughest omission from this list. He’s been fantastic and, in the real world, would deserve it, but the game rarely puts OL this high. Josh Simmons and Josh Conerly Jr. will also be 90+ but both almost certainly miss out. Historically very few guards and centers make this list. None will this year.
DL:
JT Tuimoloau, Ohio State: 97
Walter Nolen, Ole Miss: 96
Tuimolau will be in 2025, and would’ve been this year, a high NFL draft pick. His Ohio State team might be the best in the game. Walter Nolen takes his immense talents from Texas A&M to Ole Miss. I do not think the game will punish this too much. Both are among college football’s elite.
Harold Perkins, who I discussed before, and Patrick Payton both could be listed as DEs in the game, but as edge players, they don’t fit neatly into any position. Both are 90+ players who miss the list, as does Tuimoloau’s teammate Jack Sawyer.
LB:
Barrett Carter, Clemson: 96
It has been difficult for any LB to make this list. CJ Moseley and Manti Te’o are among the few who’ve cracked 95. Carter is the only one I predict will make it this year, partially because of the edge/LB delineation. Danny Stutsman and Shawn Murphy could get close here, but in the end, only Carter makes it.
DB:
Travis Hunter, Colorado: 97
Denzel Burke, Ohio State: 96
Hunter is something we have not seen in the game, maybe ever. His prowess on offense and defense will increase his rating, though he almost certainly will be listed primarily as a CB. I don’t know how the game will handle his dual positionality, but that is my guess. Burke is a standout CB, plays for an elite team, and is a top NFL prospect. That equals a high rating for a CB. Rod Moore and Andrew Mukabu will be highly-rated safeties, though I think they miss the list.
K/P:
None have made the list in the five years of ratings I compiled. Though last year, Iowa P Tory Taylor almost certainly would have. None make the list this year.
