EA Sports revealed a release date of the College Football 25 video game on Thursday and a cover image that features Michigan running back Donovan Edwards, Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers and Colorado two-way player Travis Hunter.
The game will launch July 19 for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X'S.
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The video-game developer unveiled the standard cover of the game after a photo of its deluxe edition was leaked last week.
All three cover athletes are active players for the first time in the game franchise's history. They said name, image and likeness money played no role in their decision to accept the cover offer.
“It’s going to be such a big game,” Ewers said on a video call with reporters. “Just being on the cover itself is plenty enough for me and I’m not even worried about the NIL aspect.”
EA Sports College Football 25 will be EA's first college football game in over a decade.
Edwards said some of the best moments of his childhood involved playing EA Sports college football games with his best friend.
“Just for it to be back, as well as to be on the cover of it, it’s an awesome feeling," he said.
Edwards broke onto the scene in 2022 when he rushed for 216 yards and two touchdowns in a win over Ohio State. He had 104 yards rushing and two touchdowns on just six carries in Michigan’s national championship win over Washington last season.
Ewers led Texas to a victory over Alabama at the beginning of the season last year and a College Football Playoff appearance in the school’s final season in the Big 12. The Longhorns lost to Washington in the semifinals. Ewers and Texas will compete in the Southeastern Conference this season along with rival Oklahoma.
Hunter, who plays cornerback and wide receiver, was a top recruit out of high school who shocked the landscape when he decided to enroll at Jackson State in 2021 to be coached by Deion Sanders. He followed Sanders to Colorado through the transfer portal in 2022.
Hunter said he is honored to be a cover athlete representing Colorado.
“I mean, I got a lot of little kids looking up to me,” he said. “Stay humble, stay focused. … Let the kids know you got to continue to work. As long as you’re humble and chase your dreams you’ll be able to fulfill everything you want to fulfill.”
The game will feature all 134 Football Bowl Subdivision schools.
EA Sports offered FBS players a minimum of $600 and a copy of the game to have their likeness included in it. It also offered some players NIL deals to promote the game through an ambassador program.
More than 11,000 players have accepted an offer to be in the game.
College Football 25 will be the first version of EA Sports’ college football franchise to be released since 2013, when the game stopped being made amid lawsuits accusing it of using players’ likeness without paying them. The NCAA’s approval in 2021 of players being able to profit from their brand opened the door for the game to be made again.
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AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-football