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How EA Sports’ upcoming College Football 25 video game rates Hawkeyes
Jay Higgins, Sebastian Castro are highest-rated Iowa football players
IOWA CITY — Leshon Williams was in for quite the surprise when the trailer came out for EA Sports’ upcoming College Football 25 video game.
The Iowa running back — or more like his digital likeness — was in the two-minute promotional video as he participated in the Iowa Wave.
“It was very exciting,” Williams said last month. “Me being the heavy Madden player that I am and knowing that I’m going to be a heavy NCAA player, my kids can always watch that cover and be like, ‘Hey, that’s me right there.’”
The digital replica of him did not have any of his tattoos on the right arm, but “it’s all good.” After all, he’s still in the game.
Now as the video game’s July 19 release comes closer, EA Sports has released some individual and team ratings. Here is how the Hawkeyes stack up nationally and compared to their Big Ten counterparts:
Top players
EA Sports released the ratings for the top 100 players in the game, and four Hawkeyes made the cut:
- LB Jay Higgins: 94 overall, 16th-best player in the game; 82 speed, 85 acceleration, 81 strength, 95 awareness, 80 jumping
- DB Sebastian Castro: 92 overall, 38th-best player in the game; 92 speed, 91 acceleration, 75 strength, 91 awareness, 85 jumping
- LB Nick Jackson: 90 overall, 86th-best player in the game; 81 speed, 86 acceleration, 81 strength, 91 awareness, 84 jumping
- DB Xavier Nwankpa: 90 overall, 97th-best player in the game; 90 speed, 93 acceleration, 73 strength, 85 awareness, 92 jumping
The ratings are “subject to change in future title updates,” according to EA Sports.
Team-wide ratings
Iowa is the 25th-best team in the game with an overall rating of 87. That ranks seventh in the 18-team Big Ten behind Ohio State (93 overall), Oregon (93 overall), Penn State (88 overall), Michigan (88 overall), Wisconsin (87 overall) and USC (87 overall),
Iowa’s defense, despite leading the nation in yards allowed per play in back-to-back seasons, is only the 13th-best defense in the game with an 88 overall rating. Iowa’s offense was unsurprisingly not in the top 25 that EA Sports released earlier this summer.
Kinnick Stadium is No. 20 on EA Sports’ ranking of the toughest places to play. Some of the factors affecting the rankings, according to EA, include home winning percentage, attendance, home winning streaks and “team prestige.” Big Ten teams with higher-rated stadiums include Ohio State, Penn State, Wisconsin, Oregon and Michigan.
Comments: john.steppe@thegazette.com
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