'That's really all we do now': How CFB players and coaches are adjusting to the new video game in their lives
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Adam Rittenberg, ESPN Senior Writer
Arizona State‘s Kenny Dillingham is the only FBS head coach born in the 1990s.
Dillingham, who turned 34 on April 28, is a console-carrying member of the video game generation. Not Tecmo Bowl, where handing the ball to Bo Jackson was the biggest cheat code, but the more sophisticated games that surfaced during his childhood. One of those was EA Sports’ NCAA Football, which captivated gamers of all ages until being discontinued after the 2014 version.
The game is back, making the biggest of summer splashes. Distributed during the heart of preseason media days earlier this month, EA Sports College Football 25 immediately became the biggest talking point of the season. Perhaps no cohort of gamers was more excited for the game than the players, whose names and likenesses would, for the first time, be fully represented. EA Sports had more than 11,000 players opt in to be included in the game, awarding each about $600 and a copy of the game.
When it did return, they dove in with both thumbs.
“That’s really all we do now in our free time, we play the game,” Michigan cornerback Will Johnson, the highest-rated player in College Football 25, told ESPN.
“When I leave here today, that’s my only goal: To get back home and play,” LSU star linebacker Harold Perkins Jr. added at SEC media days.
The game is a new and significant factor in football players’ schedules leading up to the 2024 season, even at the highest level of the sport. Kansas City Chiefs star quarterback Patrick Mahomes brought a television to camp for the first time, citing two reasons: the Paris Olympics and College Football 25. Georgia Tech even held a party to celebrate the game’s release.
Awesome night playing @EASPORTSCollege for the first time as a team
Go Jackets! pic.twitter.com/UEI5qj7wi3
— Coach Brent Key (@CoachBrentKeyGT) July 18, 2024
“People joke about it with our staff, it’s like, ‘Hey, that game, what day does it come out? And what are we doing football-wise the next day?'” Dillingham told ESPN. “Because every kid’s going to be up until 4 a.m. playing this game. We can tell them not to, but they will. So how are we working around it?”
Many college coaches are asking themselves the same question during the lead-up to the season. Although their interest in — and connection to — the game varies, coaches recognize its importance to players, the time being devoted to gameplay and how the new pastime will shape preseason camp.
LISTEN TO A football coach long enough and you’ll hear about distractions, of all types, muttered with different degrees of disdain. The video game has become a new type of distraction.
Dillingham, for one, thinks distractions are inevitable. He doesn’t tell players to shut down social media or put away their smartphones. The same goes for the video game. Arizona State leans into the activity, including a video game room in its facility. When players head home, gaming is encouraged, especially while they’re together.
“A lot of people say video games are bad; I actually kind of disagree,” Dillingham said. “I want our guys to do anything that’s competitive. If it’s going out on Saturday night to a nightclub or going out to a party, or if it’s having four or five guys over and hanging out and playing [College Football 25] all night, give me the latter 10 times out of 10. They’re competing, they’re building chemistry, they’re hanging out together. So I really try to embrace what guys like to do with each other.”
Like Dillingham, Penn State coach James Franklin recognizes players’ excitement about the release and welcomes how much they will play in their spare time.
“The more our guys can be talking about football, watching college football, practicing college football, playing college football, or the game, I think it’s good for us,” Franklin told ESPN. “… Play it as much as you can and want to.”
Will immersion in College Football 25 actually benefit players this season? When TCU coach Sonny Dykes was offensive coordinator at Arizona, the school had a partnership with EA Sports that led to a customized version of the old game.
Arizona turned over its playbook to the EA Sports developers and received games with schemes that paralleled what the team would use during the season.
“That’s how we taught [quarterback] Nick Foles the offense,” Dykes said of Foles, who transferred in from Michigan State and became a three-year starter. “He played it on the video game.”
When Kansas players sampled the game during Big 12 media days, they saw “a sprinkle of option,” running back Devin Neal said, and other elements similar to the scheme they actually operate. But Neal and his teammates were struck more by other details: jerseys, team traditions, even the music played during breaks in the action.
The experience that the game offers, players say, serves many different purposes.
“Some people on our team play video games to decompress,” Jayhawks quarterback Jalon Daniels said. “Some people are not from Kansas and all of their friends from back home are on the video game and that’s how they’re staying in contact with them.”
Baylor linebacker Keaton Thomas doesn’t consider himself a big gamer, but he has experienced the social benefits, even with the previous EA Sports edition.
“I made so many friends through the game, YouTube was blowing up,” Thomas said. “The game taps into a lot of people across the states.”
West Virginia safety Aubrey Burks sees the game as a healthy diversion from football, even though it’s still football. During his first two years in college, Burks struggled with boredom, and “watched everything on Netflix.” His teammates even encouraged him to get into video games.
College Football 25 has filled the void.
“I see how fun it is, it takes your mind away from football,” Burks said. “You’re just having fun with the game. You don’t have to take it seriously.”
In anticipation of the game’s release, Burks and other WVU players planned a tournament for the locker room. The only condition is players could only use teams with an overall ranking of 80 or lower — “to see who’s really good at it,” Burks said.
Will there be too much gaming, especially for coaches, over the next few, critical weeks?
UCF HEAD COACH Gus Malzahn’s video game career ended with Tecmo Bowl.
“I’ve got an addictive personality,” Malzahn told ESPN. “If I get started with something, I’m in trouble.”
Malzahn understands that the new EA game could have similar effects on his players, but he’s not concerned about the impact during camp, which kicks off Tuesday for the Knights. The camp schedule is long and demanding, and as long as players are “locked in,” Malzahn doesn’t mind if they go right to their consoles afterward.
“That’s their normal,” Malzahn said.
College Football 25’s release coincided with a relatively slow time in players’ calendars, allowing them to rack up gaming hours.
The arrival of camp, though, signals a significant schedule shift. Players not only have mandatory practices, but meetings, film review and other team-related activities. Classes also will be starting soon for many schools, cutting into discretionary time even more.
Arkansas wide receiver Andrew Armstrong “lost sleep” when the game came out, admitting he played for about 20 hours during the week of the release. He quickly had streaming clips go viral, including a touchdown he scored with himself, and a double lateral leading to another score.
Clip of the year frfr 😂😂😂 @EASPORTSCollege pic.twitter.com/N50CofX7yc
— Andrew Armstrong (@DrewBandz3) July 17, 2024
But Armstrong said he won’t be glued to the game when Arkansas begins camp Wednesday.
“I don’t play games in camp,” Armstrong, an avid “Call of Duty” gamer before College Football 25 came out, told ESPN. “I turn all distractions off in camp. Last year I broke my controller on purpose. You gotta grind [before camp]. … Play as much as you can right now.”
Northwestern wide receiver A.J. Henning used to receive the old EA college football game every Christmas. He admits to playing the new version too much since its release, especially with his younger brother.
When camp begins, Henning knows he will have to set a limit, perhaps to only an hour on an off day.
“I’ll have to cut myself off,” he said. “I’ve got to get it in before camp. You don’t get a lot of downtime in camp. You want to be resting, you want to be recovering.”
Players will be spending much of the next few weeks inside team facilities, which typically contain lounges or areas to unwind. EA Sports College Football is a natural addition alongside the pool, pingpong tables and Pop-A-Shot games.
The key may be how much gameplay occurs when players head home.
“I do think the newness will wear off a little bit,” Texas Tech coach Joey McGuire said. “You’re going be like, here’s a bunch of tired guys at a 6 a.m. workout, because they were up all night playing that game.”
Wisconsin is among the few FBS programs that holds part of its training camp away from campus. The team will head to Wisconsin-Platteville from Tuesday to Aug. 11, before returning to campus.
The video game will be available, but Wisconsin coach Luke Fickell told ESPN that he might adopt the same approach used by his wife, Amy, with the couple’s 9-year-old twin sons, who are allowed to play only on Fridays.
“So for camp,” Fickell said, making up the rules as he spoke, “you’re only allowed to play the video game on … the walkthrough or days off. We’ll use it in some ways so that we can compete and have some fun with it, but they all understand … once it comes, yeah, you can play a little bit, but you better be in bed, you better be sleeping.”
WHEN ILLINOIS COACH Bret Bielema briefly left the college ranks to become an assistant for the New England Patriots and New York Giants, he participated in interview sessions with draft prospects at the scouting combine. Among the topics that came up was video games.
“They would specifically ask [prospects] if they were gamers,” Bielema told ESPN. “Guys play games with the people they know, and if you’ve got a kid that graduated from the West Coast and his friends, his time zone is three hours behind, and if they’re playing at 10 o’clock [at night], it’s 1 o’clock [in the morning] your time. That’s not going to lead to anything productive.”
Bielema isn’t replicating the same type of inquisition with Illinois’ players or recruits. He will address the game with the team in camp, while adding that he ultimately can’t control what players do with their time at home.
His goal, like every coach’s, is to ensure players receive enough rest during camp.
“You just make ’em aware, you need seven hours of sleep,” Bielema said.
Most coaches are welcoming the game, not only as a part of camp but as part of their programs. McGuire previously enticed players and recruits to his office with hot Cheetos and Little Debbie Honey Buns, but he will now set up a College Football 25 station both there and at his home, where a position group dines every Thursday night.
Coaches and players expect College Football 25 to be a popular activity on road trips this fall.
“If they weren’t playing that game, they’d be playing ‘Call of Duty’ or whatever,” Purdue coach Ryan Walters said. “They’re still going to be in college, playing video games. At least they’re playing something related to what they’re doing.”
College Football 25 has competitive juices flowing throughout the sport.
Walters has enjoyed playing the game since its release, especially against his two young sons, whom he regularly beats. At ACC media days, SMU coach Rhett Lashlee challenged Florida State coach Mike Norvell to a game of College Football 25, with the winner possibly claiming the coin toss rights when their teams play in Dallas in September.
Even Malzahn, who doesn’t play the game, can’t escape the buzz. When EA Sports put out the team offense ratings and UCF (No. 21) fell behind both SMU (20) and Missouri (9), Malzahn received teasing texts from two of his proteges, Lashlee and Mizzou coach Eliah Drinkwitz.
“I call bullcrap on that,” Malzahn said, his voice rising. “There’s no way in crap they’re going to be ahead of us at the end of the year.”
