It’s been a decade in the making, and it’s finally here: A college football video game has returned. Early access to EA Sports College Football 25 opened Monday afternoon, and with it, years of hype were realized.
EA Sports has teased different aspects of College Football 25 over the past couple of weeks, including toughest places to play, offensive and defensive team ratings and overall team ratings. There’s been plenty of in-depth looks at game play and other features in the game, too.
College Football 25 will have its full release Friday, July 19, but EA Sports sold a bundle that allowed early access Monday. Lions247 (in particular, Daniel Gallen) paid for the early access and will be providing commentary, insight and information on virtual Penn State in the coming hours and days.
We’ll start below with complete player ratings for the Nittany Lions roster, along with anything else notable that we come across.
Penn State is rated among the top teams in the video game. The virtual Nittany Lions received an overall rating of 88 (out of 99), which ranked No. 9 in the game. Penn State shared that 88 rating with Utah, Michigan, Florida State, Miami, Texas A&M and Ole Miss, which gives you an idea of what tier the Nittany Lions are on in the game. Read more about overall ratings here.
The Penn State offense received an 87 rating (12th-best in the game), while the defensive was rated 88 (ninth-best). The Nittany Lions shared their offensive rating with Clemson, Utah, Ole Miss, Kansas, Arizona and N.C. State. They shared their defensive rating with Texas, Utah, Florida State, Oklahoma and Iowa. Read more about offensive and defensive ratings here.
Beaver Stadium was also regarded as one of the toughest places to play. The game developers ranked it as the sixth-toughest venue in the game. Read more about toughest places to play here.
Other information has trickled out, too. Defensive end Abdul Carter, safety KJ Winston and running back Nick Singleton all received ratings of 91, which put them among the top 100 players in the game. Read more on their ratings here.
Additionally, an exclusive presentation of Penn State in the game from 247Sports’ Josh Pate — you can watch it above — revealed ratings for quarterback Drew Allar (88), running back Kaytron Allen (87), defensive end Dani Dennis-Sutton (85) and cornerback A.J. Harris (82). Read more on those ratings here.
But now we have the full roster at our fingertips. Let’s get into our initial impressions.
Read more: EA Sports College Football 25: Penn State Nittany Lions team preview
The Penn State roster in EA Sports College Football 25 features 85 players. Of the 85 players, 12 are CPU creations. The current online roster for the Nittany Lions has 124 players on it. The virtual roster features both scholarship players and run-ons.
Players needed to opt in in order to be featured in the game. Each player who opted in received $600 and a deluxe edition of the game.
A couple things to glean from this: Wormley as the highest-rated offensive lineman, Fleming as the highest-rated wide receiver and a nice rating for King, who came along nicely as a player last season. Also, it should be no surprise that Warren checks in as one of the best players on the roster.
Walk-on quarterback Jack Lambert is not in the game.
Allar’s 88 rating ties him for the 13th-best quarterback in the game.
Freshmen Quinton Martin and Corey Smith, along with walk-ons Amiel Davis and Tyler Holzworth are not in the game.
The game features two CPU players at the running back position.
College Football 25 also has fullback as an available position on the roster. Penn State has no fullbacks on its roster.
Singleton is tied for the eight-best running back in the game.
Freshmen Tyseer Denmark and Peter Gonzalez are not in the game, along with Jake Spencer, Jason Estrella, Ethan Black, Logan Cunningham and Feyisayo Oluleye.
There are two CPU players in the wide receiver corps.
The tight end group is missing Andrew Rappleyea, Joey Schlaffer and Finn Furmanek.
There is one CPU player.
Warren is tied for the third-best tight end in the game.
The Penn State offensive line group is missing Eagan Boyer, Henry Boehme, Addison Penn, Donnie Harbour, Caleb Brewer, Ian Harvie, Jim Fitzgerald and Matt Detisch.
Dennis-Sutton already made his feelings heard about his rating over the weekend. He’s tied for the 16th-best left defensive end in the game:
85 overall is so disrespectful ?
The defensive end group is missing Joseph Mupoyi, Mason Robinson and Bobby Mears. There is one CPU player in the right end group.
Carter is tied for the third-best right defensive end in the game.
A couple names missing here: Hakeem Beamon, Alonzo Ford, Kaleb Artis, Ty Blanding and Sam Siafa. Cool to see all four freshmen available in the game, though.
The missing linebackers are Winston Yates, Ben Chizmar, Beckham Dee and Jackson Pryts.
Freshman Kenneth Woseley isn’t in the game, and there is one CPU player in the cornerback group.
The missing safeties are Jaylen Reed — who posted on social media that he’ll be added soon — Lamont Payne, Dejuan Lane, Kolin Dinkins, Karon Kiesewetter, Patrick Williams and Jashaun Green.
Mills is still listed as a linebacker on Penn State’s official roster.
Winston is the second-best strong safety in the game.
Ryan Barker is the lone omission from the kicker group.
Punters Riley Thompson, Gabe Nwosu and Mitchell Groh are not in the game. There is a CPU punter on the roster, though.
Duzansky is listed as a tight end in the game. Will Patton, Blaise Sokach-Minnick and Andrew Dufault are not in the game.
We’ll start with some notable absences from the Penn State roster:
The NCAA Transfer Portal is a real part of college football, and it will be a real part of College Football 25. We perused the rosters to check in some notable former Penn State players and how they are rated in the game:
Daniel Gallen covers Penn State for Lions247 and 247Sports. He can be reached at daniel.gallen@paramount.com. Follow Daniel on X at @danieljtgallen and Instagram at @bydanieljtgallen.
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