The Hawkeyes We're Most Excited to Play as in College Football 2025
EA Sports dropped its first teaser trailer for the new release of College Football 2025 this morning. This summer the game will return to video game consoles everywhere for the first time since 2014.
A beloved game played by football fans everywhere, the introduction of NIL into college sports put a much-anticipated return of the game back on the table. Now it appears to finally be a reality on the way.
So Adam, Ross, and I sat down to discuss who on the Iowa roster we would most want to use in the new College Football '25 game. We each selected two current players, as well as one player that we would be sure to use in Dynasty Mode. Here's the breakdown:
Eliot
I mean, come on. Kaleb Brown has to be the obvious first choice for any of Iowa's offensive players. In a game designed like NCAA Football has been, speed and agility win. Luke Lachey is a close second among Iowa's offensive players, but the variety of things Brown will be able to do has him at the top of my list.
Brown's speed rating should be above 90, and his playmaking skills will be at least in the 80s as well. The running back background certainly aids in Brown's ability to play a variety of positions and do different things for not only your offense, but on special teams as well.
Sure, Kaden Wetjen may be first on the depth chart on punt and kick returns, but not for long if I'm holding the controller. Brown will serve as Iowa's full-time return man and be a focal point of my offense -- end arounds, receiver screens, and slants over the middle.
Brown will rack up a hell of a lot more than 22 catches for 215 yards and a touchdown with me at the helm.
Man, roaming the back end of the Phil Parker defense with Xavier Nwankpa, a former five-star recruit and one of the top safeties in the country, sounds like a dream.
Using a rangy safety like Nwankpa on the back end, reading the quarterbacks eyes and using X's burst to get there and make a play should be fun as hell. And don't forget, the Southeast Polk alum can make tackles in the open field, too. With the hit stick function coming into play if a running back makes it to the third level, he'll be forcing some fumbles when he makes contact.
But, as you know, nothing is better than an interception in NCAA Football -- reversing the field and potentially taking it all the way back, just like Nwankpa did against Kentucky in the 2021 Music City Bowl. Sign me up for that.
Nwankpa may have had just one interception in each of the last two seasons, but that's set to change real quick. And who knows? A few safety blitzes and he may be racking up some sacks to boot.
Again, an obvious choice. Next man up at Tight End U, Gavin Hoffman is poised to have a stellar career for the Hawkeyes. In Dynasty Mode, he'll surely be a focal point of the offense.
Yeah, we'll need to work on his blocking skills. But Hoffman comes in with receiver-focused background and will be a primary target for either Marco Lainez or James Resar in the near future.
Hoffman's ludicrous catch radius is only going to increase, he's only going to get faster, and he'll only rack up more and more stats as his career progresses in black and gold.
Ross
EA Sports is not going to be kind to Iowa's offensive skill players when it comes to ratings this year. That's just a fact after Iowa had one of the worst offenses in recent Power 5 history last season. The OVR ratings for almost everyone involved in the Iowa offense are likely to be fairly low, given the (lack of) production last season.
I say "almost" because there will probably be one notable exception to those lower ratings among Iowa's skill players -- returning tight end Luke Lachey. Lachey was on pace to be Iowa's leading receiver (in a landslide) last season before sustaining a season-ending injury in September. He also has a skill set that ought to translate very well to the video game world: good speed, tackle-breaking ability, strong hands, and a solid vertical.
Spamming the ball to the tight end was one of my favorite offensive gameplans when playing EA Sports' old NCAA Football games in the 00s and early 10s. It could be an absolutely necessity in College Football '25 in order to move the ball with Iowa's offense. Fortunately, Lachey ought to be a great option to hit in order to move the ball down the field -- and into the end zone.
I'm a front-seven guy when it comes to playing defense on football video games. Props to folks who have mastered the use of cornerbacks and safeties when playing defense in a video games, but I've never been great controlling players in those units. Give me a linebacker or defensive lineman and let them attack the line of scrimmage, though? Now we're cooking.
Jay Higgins should have one of the highest OVR ratings on the Iowa team after his outstanding year last season and he's got the quickness and hitting ability to do a lot of damage when you're looking to slow down an opponent's offense. Plus, after a staggering 171 tackles last season, if his tackle rating isn't 99, there should be an inquiry.
Statuesque pocket passers may be Kirk Ferentz's preferred option when it comes to quarterbacks, but they're no one's first choice when it comes to video game quarterbacks, no matter how pinpoint their accuracy might be. There's a reason Michael Vick was one of the most popular video game players ever and why his spiritual descendants like Lamar Jackson, Josh Allen, and Kyler Murray are among the most popular options to control in the Madden series.
The Iowa offense doesn't have a Michael Vick, of course. Nor does it have a Josh Allen or a Kyler Murray. And it's going to take a few years of work in Dynasty mode to recruit and develop a player like that as well. But in the meantime, there will be a QB option on the roster who should be able to provide some decent mobility at the QB position -- incoming freshman James Resar.
Resar ran a 10.67 100-yard dash as a high school junior and racked up over 1500 yards and 21 touchdowns (at 8.1 yards a pop) while running the ball from the quarterback position at Bishop Kenny High School in Jacksonville, FL. I want a video game QB who can scramble when the play breaks down and who can do damage on designed QB runs as well. Resar fits that bill and he'll add some new dimensions to make Iowa's video game offense more fun to use.
Adam
Fine: I will take the most athletic member of the Hawkeye backfield and give him 300 yards per game.
The most heralded member of the Hawkeye backfield and one of its biggest home run threats, Kaleb Johnson should be in line for one of multiple stellar ratings in the Hawkeye backfield in 2024. He's got acceleration and top-end speed, and Ladell Betts' "hot-hand" approach to the Hawkeye RB rotation won't put the lid on Johnson's individual stats in the video game.
It also might be the case that Johnson himself takes a step forward that the rest of the Hawkeye backfield can't quite match in 2024; he's certainly got the physical toolkit to do so. And that's enough to have a serious weapon at your disposal in the video game world.
Let the record show that I'd have picked Ethan Hurkett if I was confident EA would give him a catch rating of at least 50.
They say defense wins championships. Defense also ruins friendships. And I'm looking to make some more enemies with Sebastian Castro patrolling the secondary, causing turnovers and chaos while I'm mashing the hit stick with alacrity.
As a graduate senior, Castro's awareness rating should be sky-high, to say nothing of tackling and general playmaking. The cash position already lends itself to the type of big-play hunting most gamers prefer on defense, and the Digital Mexican Honey Badger should reward Iowa fans with, well, the exact same style of play Castro brings in real life.
Speaking of ruining friendships via PlayStation controller, nothing sings quite like a high-point catch on your fifteenth deep ball of the day. 2024 freshman Reece Vander Zee should be a matchup problem on Duke Slater Field and an absolute nightmare when it's up to the whims of whoever's holding the controller.
6'5" frame? Check. Track star speed? You bet. Ball skills? He'll go up and get it.
As Ross mentioned with Lachey, Iowa's receivers aren't going to get much benefit of the doubt from EA this season, given how Iowa's offense left things in 2023. Vander Zee at least gets a shot at developing as a deep threat with Jon Budmayr likely to coach him through a majority of his college career — perhaps some stability and distance from the previous offensive regime will help RVZ break the curse of the Iowa wideout room and become, well, the whole dang show.