EA Sports College Football 25 has been available to play for two weeks and the first college football video game has taken the world by storm.
The game drew a record 5 million unique players in its first week of availability following its July 19 release and has reportedly made upwards of $500 million for EA since its early release date three days before.
College football fans aren’t the only players getting in on the action, with the athletes themselves playing the game too. The players on Norfolk State, Hampton and William & Mary’s respective football teams’ are among them.
“I play it almost every day,” Norfolk State linebacker Daylan Long said with a laugh.
Hampton quarterback Chris Zellous told The Pilot on Thursday he logged nearly a day and a half of total playing time during the first week he had the game.
“I think the first week I logged 35 hours,” Zellous said. “Now we were in OTAs still so I had a lot more time on my hands. (It’s been 10-15) years, it’s kinda hard for me not to play the game.”
You can play as any of the 134 FBS schools in the game but none of the 129 FCS teams — including Norfolk State, Hampton and William & Mary — are in the game.
The last time fans were able to play as real FCS teams on all platforms was in 2005 when NCAA Football 06 was released. Since then, the options have been limited to generic FCS teams.
This has led athletes at Norfolk State, Hampton and William & Mary to often play as their favorite childhood teams or use teams they have a connection to.
“It’s not as fun to not be able to play with our team against Richmond or something like that,” William & Mary quarterback George White said. “But it’s not a huge deal. I play with Duke or Wake (Forest) a lot. High academic schools!”
Long, being an Ohio native, said he plays with Ohio State the most and Norfolk State linebacker AJ Richardson, a North Carolina native, is partial to playing as UNC or N.C. State the most. Zellous and Hampton running back Elijah Burris both said they tend to play with teams that have high school teammates or relatives on the roster.
EA brought back its Team Builder feature in this year’s iteration of the game, allowing players to create colleges and customize their stadiums, uniforms and rosters. While some have used the opportunity to create fictional teams, others have used it to bring FCS schools into the game.
Some teams, including Tennessee State, have created their likeness in the game. Even conferences have gotten in on the action, like the Southland Conference, which took to Twitter on release day to announce they’d added their 10 members into the game.
Burris said he used Team Builder to put Hampton in the game as a member of Conference USA and has seen success with the Pirates on the virtual FBS stage.
The Team Builder rosters often don’t reflect the actual rosters of the team, but that hasn’t stopped White from playing as The Tribe.
“(The roster) doesn’t have our names but it has our numbers which is pretty cool,” White said. “It’s fun to take the Tribe into Death Valley and see what happens.”
Long hasn’t utilized Team Builder just yet but said that he’s had fans reach out asking for input on the details of the Norfolk State roster while creating the Spartans on the game.
William & Mary wide receiver Hollis Mathis, among others, said he wasn’t surprised FCS teams weren’t included in the game but that hasn’t stopped him from enjoying it.
“I initially started my love of football with the series,” Mathis said. “So it’s cool that it’s back, and hopefully inspiring again.”
The release of the game prompted lots of friendly competition between teammates in the first two weeks the game was available. Now that fall camps are underway, their focus is shifting back to real football.
“With camp right now you don’t got that much time,” Long said. “But before I was playing for a good six, seven, nine hours at a time. I lost track of time.”
While they all wish they could’ve been in the first college football game in over a decade, the consensus among FCS players at schools in Hampton Roads is that they’re just happy to be able to play EA Sports College Football 25.
“That’s the dream, to be able to play as yourself in a video game,” Zellous said. “But you know, for me, it’s just been fun and exciting and a blessing that I was here when it came back. I’m happy that we just have the game and I can play it.”
Marty O’Brien contributed to the reporting for this story
Michael Sauls, (757) 803-5774, michael.sauls@virginamedia.com
Virginian Pilot
