Projecting the highest rated Mountaineers in EA Sports College Football 25
With College Football 25 officially launching later this year, it's time to finally get excited about EA Sports' new rendition of the video game title. One of the most fun - and contentious - things about sports video games are the ratings. NFL players are routinely caught expressing displeasure over their ratings, while others compete with teammates as to whose ratings are higher. Will that happen with this new college football game and at West Virginia University? How about we figure out which players are going to be near the top of the rankings for the Mountaineers.
We will use the standard categories for this - speed, agility, awareness, throw power, throw accuracy, pass block, run blocking, etc. Then make some picks for who will be the highest rated and what those ratings might be. For comparison sake, NCAA Football's video game version from two decades ago had Steve Slaton as a 97 and Pat White as a 95 at their absolute peaks. So please do not be surprised if one of the top players is in the low 80s, for instance.
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Here are ten Mountaineers we expect to be the highest-ranked in the new game:
10. Tyrin Bradley, Edge
Overall projection: 77
Best NCAA Football 24 attribute: Tackling
Assuming that this game will be updated similarly to the Madden franchise, rosters and grades are often updated after every couple of weeks. So there is a sort of "what have you done lately" aspect to this and, if that's the case, Tyrin Bradley showed a whole heck of a lot in that bowl game. He was solid before that, but really took things to another level in the win over UNC, including his acrobatic, one-handed interception and big return.
9. Oliver Straw, Punter
Overall projection: 78
Best NCAA Football 24 attribute: Kick Accuracy
Straw is a known commodity at punter in college football. He's not booming long punts, but his ability to read the rush, extend the time before he kicks, and then place the punt exactly where he wants is a valuable commodity. I could see him with one of the highest punt accuracy ratings around which will, naturally, boost his overall.
8. Michael Hayes, Kicker
Overall projection: 78
Best NCAA Football 24 attribute: Kick Accuracy
I know people are going to make jokes about having two specialists among the top ten, but that's a welcome change for West Virginia in recent years. Hayes ranked as one of the most accurate kickers in the country last season, and his only misses were from deep. Three of the four were from 50+, while the fourth was from 48 yards. Again, look for an extremely high kick accuracy here to boost his overall.
7. Sean Martin, Defensive Line
Overall projection: 79
Best NCAA Football 24 attribute: Pursuit
Martin may have had a higher rating if this game came out last summer, but one thing has been fairly consistent with him during his time at WVU - he's good to very good at stopping the run. Martin will also get a boost in his overall rating from his size, speed, and strength attributes, all of which would be considered positives for him at his position.
6. Kole Taylor, Tight End
Overall projection: 80
Best NCAA Football 24 attribute: Medium Routes
Taylor was very good at catching the ball when it was thrown to him (only three drops), and provided targets in the short to medium routes throughout the season. He'll take a little bit of a hit in catching in traffic (only three contested catches all season) and fumbling, but his size/speed/athleticism combo will more than cover for that in the overall ratings.
5. CJ Donaldson, Running Back
Overall projection: 82
Best NCAA Football 24 attribute: Break Tackle
Donaldson will be a lot like Martin in that he would have been higher rated after last season than this season. However, I do still believe he will get a lofty ranking for his ability to break tackles, and will also get a boost due to his size.
4. Aubrey Burks, Safety
Overall projection: 85
Best NCAA Football 24 attribute: Play Recognition
Scouts love Burks. Fans and coaches like him, and he's been a very solid player on the backend of the defense for each of the last two seasons, but no one loves Burks quite like the scouts do, especially over at ProFootballFocus. His coverage marks have been outstanding, even if the corresponding stats are a little more hit and miss. His tackling took a hit this year, but he's been above average in basically every category, which is hard for anyone to do.
3. Jahiem White, Running Back
Overall projection: 85
Best NCAA Football 24 attribute: Acceleration
When you average nearly eight yards per carry as a true freshman and grade out as one of the very best running backs in the country, you're going to be rated pretty highly. Here's the thing - he's one year in, so he likely has a high potential rating to go with this, meaning he could be a 90 by this time next year (assuming he has another good season).
2. Garrett Greene, Quarterback
Overall projection: 87
Best NCAA Football 24 attribute: Throw on the run
Greene was a lightning rod this year, extending plays with his feet, and hitting some big gains with his arm. Of course, he also missed plenty of throws, particularly on the short and medium routes. As Neal Brown pointed out - why throw short and complete 50% when you can throw long and complete just as much. So his deep passing would rank out pretty high, as would many of the rushing categories. But he'd be held back quite a bit by the short and medium accuracy ratings.
1. Wyatt Milum, Left Tackle
Overall projection: 90
Best NCAA Football 24 attribute: Pass Blocking
There won't be many linemen in the country that have a rating above ninety. Going back and trying to find old ratings for comparison purposes, it seemed there were only six to ten players rated 90 or above each and every year. Should Wyatt Milum be part of that select company? I believe so, especially given his pass blocking ability.
