After 11 years of waiting, hoping, and praying, College Football 25 is officially out.
On Friday, the game launched for all users, restoring something we had all lost a decade ago when the game ceased production. It also ruined any weekend plans folks had as the entire 48 hour break from the work week was spent building up college football dynasties.
In addition to all of the new game modes, EA Sports has worked with the NFL Players Association to bring current NFL stars back to their college days in the College Football Ultimate Team. With that, video game players can play as college versions of NFL players that were in college when there was no video game, such as Texas Tech's Patrick Mahomes, LSU's Joe Burrow, Stanford's Christain McCaffery, and Cincinati's Sauce Gardner.
Those players and other notable former college players will be available to use in College Football Ultimate Team, which is similar to Ultimate Team in Madden. For reference, Ultimate Team is a game mode that allows you to create your own squad of players from around the NFL. Over the course of the college season, players are able to upgrade your Ultimate Team roster by collecting player cards that are released via promos, events, etc.
Throughout the year, there will likely be an influx of players who played in college between NCAA 14 and NCAA 25 that will make an appearance in Ultimate Team, largely based on their overall college tenure. As the college football year progresses, these four current Buccaneers could make an appearance in Ultimate Team in respect to their time at their Alma Maters.
3 Buccaneers who should be added to College Football 25 Ultimate Team
Baker Mayfield, QB/Oklahoma
Similar to his time in the NFL, Mayfield's college career was all over the place in his four-year tenure with Texas Tech and Oklahoma. Mayfield, a three-star recruit out of high school walked on at Texas Tech, and managed to become the first walk-on true freshmen quarterback to start an FBS season opener. In that, Mayfield threw for 413 yards and four touchdowns, and his 43 completions of 60 attempts broke Texas Tech's all-time school record.
The following offseason, Mayfield followed offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury to Oklahoma, but failed to inform the school of him transfering their. As a result, Mayfield lost eligibly to play in the 2014 season, and had to wait until the 2015 season to suit up for the Sooners.
In 2015, Mayfield took the QB1 responsibilities at Oklahoma and didn't disappoint, throwing for over 3,700 passing yards, 36 touchdowns, and seven interceptions while leading the Sooners to an 11-2 record and the Big-12 Championship. Mayfield would finish fourth in voting for the Heisman, and improved to third on the Heisman ballot next season as a Junior.
In his third and final season at Norman, Mayfield put it all together for a special Senior season. In addition to throwing for an astounding 4,627 passing yards, 43 touchdowns and six interceptions on 70.9% completion, Mayfield won the 2017 Heisman Trophey by getting a record 86% of votes. That made Mayfield the first and only walk-on player to ever win the Heisman.
In madden ultimate team, theme teams have quickly become a mainstay, and an Oklahoma theme team could certainly be in the works as the year goes on. It wouldn't be surprising to see EA add Mayfield into the game if the company decides to make promos around past Heisman award winners, conference standouts, or even the best trash talkers in the nation.
Mike Evans, WR/Texas A&M
Before dominating in the NFL with the Bucs, Evans was just as special in college at Texas A&M. After being redshirted as a freshman in 2011, Evans had 82 receptions for 1,105 yards and five touchdowns in 2012, highlighted with three 100+ receiving yard games and freshman All-SEC honors.
As a sophomore in 2013, Evans was a first-team All-SEC selection and an AP All-American after catching 69 receptions for 1,394 yards and twelve touchdowns. Evans then entered the 2013 NFL draft, and has been with Tampa Bay ever since.
That said, Evans had multiple historic games as an Aggie, some that may even put him in NCAA25 as a potential "player of the week" candidate. In week three of the 2013 season against #1 Alabama, Evans caught seven passes for a school-record 279 yards and one touchdown in the 42–49 loss to the Crimson Tide. Four weeks later in week seven against #24 Auburn, Evans broke his previous record from week three, catching 11 passes for 287 receiving yards and four touchdowns in the 41-45 defeat to the Tigers.
Throughout the years, EA has done a Team of the Week promo in MUT, one that could occur in CUT this year. To specify, EA would add players who had notable performances from the previous week into the game with an upgraded card. For example, if Evans caught 12 passes for 120 yards and two touchdowns in week one of this season, then he would likely get a week one Team of the Week card in Madden.
By that same logic, EA could add a similar promo into College Football 25, with players being added that had historic performances during the current week of the college football season. There is no conformation of the promos that EA will use in Ultimate Team, but if they do add a Team of the Week promo, it would be criminal to not include Evans for his elite performances against Alabama and Auburn in 2013.
Lavonte David, LB/Nebraska
Similar to Evans, David was heavily recruited by some of the top programs in the nation, including Tennessee, Georgia, and Miami. Even so, David was forced to attend Fort Scott Community College in Fort Scott, Kansas, due to his High School GPA barely being above a 2.0. David would spend his first two years of college there, and quickly began to impress in and out of the classroom.
Not only did David erase his 2.0 GPA into a 3.0+ GPA, but he led Fort Scott Community College to the Junior College National Championship Game, while ranking among the conference's leaders in tackles and tackles for loss. David was also a two-time first-team All-Jayhawk Conference selection and a Region VI All-American in 2009.
In 2010, David transferred to Nebraska and immediately made school history there, setting the Cornhuskers' single-season record for tackles with 152. In a game against South Dakota State, David recorded a career-high 19 tackles, the seventh- most in school history. With that said, David was named as a first-team All-American, the Big 12 Newcomer of the Year, and a unanimous first-team Big 12 selection.
As a senior, David was even better, leading Nebraska with 133 tackles, 13.0 tackles for loss, 5.5 sacks, two interceptions, two forced fumbles, and two and fumble recoveries, and ranked third in the Big Ten in tackles per game. David was named First-team All-Big Ten by both the coaches and media, and also won the inaugural Butkus-Fitzgerald Linebacker of the Year, awarded to the best linebacker in the Big Ten.
Not only is David's collegiate production worthy of an appearance in NCAA25, but his story to overcome his 2.0 High School GPA and still play Division 1 football is remarkable as well. If EA creates an "underdog" type promo later in the year, David could be an awesome addition to it and would be a full-circle moment for David, who was at Nebraska when NCAA14 came out 11 years ago.