Latest news with #EACollegeFootball26
USA Today
14-07-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
What to expect for Texas Longhorns SEC Media Days
Next week. 👀📍 Atlanta🗓️ July 14-17Attendees: SEC Media Days is in full swing in Atlanta. The four day event will highlight four teams per day. Texas will take the stage tomorrow (Tuesday). The Longhorns will be represented by coach Steve Sarkisian, quarterback Arch Manning, safety Michael Taaffe and linebacker Anthony Hill, Jr. The Texas portion of the media days will be on Tuesday at 2:25 p.m. CT. There will be several storylines that should be hot topics during the Longhorns presentation. Here are a few: Arch Manning Texas' new QB1 might be the most anticipated speaker at the event. Despite only starting two games in his career, Manning is possibly the biggest start in college football. Manning will now be doing more and more press, but this will be the first time he meets the press since ascending to the top spot on the quarterback depth chart. Strong Defense Taaffe and Hill will be asked to discuss the Longhorns stout defense from 2024 and how it will change with some new personnel. Experts and scouts expect big things from UT's defense, which is ranked as the No. 2 defensive unit in the recently released EA College Football 26. Ewers vs. Manning Sark will undoubtely be asked about his decision to stick with Ewers in the college football playoffs. Many in the media have openly questioned the decision, including ESPN's Paul Finebaum and former Florida coach Steve Spurrier. College Football Playoff Format It will probably be a topic with every coach at SEC Media Days, and around the nation. As the CFP committee discuss format changes, no one has a better perspective than Sarkisian, who has led Texas to two college football semifinals in a row, one in a four-team format and one in last year's 12 team format. Taaffe's unique story The rise from walk-on to All-American will be something Taaffe will speak about. His remarkable story has captivated fans and media members across the country. Follow us on X/Twitter at @LonghornsWire.
USA Today
11-07-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
EA College Football 26 Player Ratings: Texas Longhorns
Game on 🤘 🎮@EASPORTSCollege x @TexasLonghorns The much anticipated release of EA College Football 26 is happening this week. The thing that's really drawing attention is the player ratings. While some will quibble with a few, generally EA College Football 26 has some real scouting and science behind the numbers. Some of the most facilitating ratings for the Longhorns are the new transfers. Cal tight end transfer Jack Endries has the highest rating at 90. Oddly, that's the same rating as starting quarterback Arch Manning. The highest rated player on offense is Tre Wisner with a 91. The highest player on defenses, and Texas overall, is Anthony Hill Jr. with an eye-popping 95 rating. Texas has the No. 1 rated offense in the new game and the No. 2 rated defense. The Longhorns are the No. 2 rated team overall with an 88 rating. The offense has a rating of 91. The defense checks in with a rating of 94. And don't forget. The Longhorns cut from the new game is based on how much users play with each team. The more you and others play with Texas, the more money the program gets. Here are the individual player ratings: QUARTERBACK RUNNING BACK WIDE RECEIVER TIGHT END OFFENSIVE LINE DEFENSIVE LINE LINEBACKER CORNERBACK SAFETY
USA Today
10-07-2025
- Entertainment
- USA Today
EA Sports College Football 26 review: Second installment is a massive upgrade
In EA Sports College Football 26, it's been all about improving the product. The next chapter in the EA Sports' college football video game series will be fully released Thursday, July 10 after the early access window started three days prior. After the successful return of the franchise in 2024, EA Sports wanted to build on last year's game, focusing on filling the holes some of the popular features had like dynasty mode while expanding the authenticity of a Saturday in the fall. USA TODAY Sports was able to play the game ahead of the full release and try out all of the different gameplay options. The game has been out three days, but the early impression is College Football 26 has taken a major step forward from the previous game. Is the game perfect? No, but EA Sports really heard the community feedback, and it resulted in an excellent sequel that gives optimism the franchise will just keep getting better and better. EA College Football 26 gameplay It almost feels like an entirely new game when it comes to actually playing football. College Football 25 was a nice introduction back to football video games from an 11-year hiatus. In College Football 26, it's now a completely different ballgame. At first, it's extremely overwhelming to see the overhaul of changes. But over time, it becomes easier to understand. Casual football enjoyers will have to learn deeper game knowledge on things like adjustments and schemes. It's very noticeable how playbooks have expanded, with each team having a plethora of plays to choose from to where you can easily go an entire game without running the same play twice. Being able to sub players in and out at certain points is a big plus since you're not required to continuously pause the game to do so. However, the feature isn't exactly as advertised. It can only be done in the pre-snap when the team is already in formation, so it won't affect the upcoming play and instead will take place in the following snap. It's helpful in managing injuries and the hot hand, but you'd want it for the next play, not the one after. It would've made sense to allow it when selecting a play. Instead, it still requires pausing the game for immediate substitutions. The player movement is much smoother and the animations feel more realistic. Those interceptions from defenders not looking at the ball don't happen, and the offensive line actually blocks with better play recognition at the line of scrimmage. The mixture of user skill and player ratings feel like it matters, as it becomes tougher to make plays with a 70 overall quarterback while it's easy pickings doing it with a signal-caller at 85. The wear-and-tear also has improvements where players aren't getting fatigued so easily. One bug that persisted was getting an injury update after every play, which became annoying and would still appear on the screen in no-huddle, so you couldn't see everything. Also, some injuries that happened wouldn't be in effect. Like a player with a broken collarbone was still playing. Despite some minor issues, the gameplay still is a big step-up. It's hard at first to grasp, but soon enough, people will get a better understanding of football. EA Sports College Football 26 dynasty mode There were only two things dynasty mode needed fixed: trophy and accolades history, and transfer portal revamp. The two issues were addressed and the mode really feels like one of its best iterations. Dynasty mode is the franchise's money maker, and it cashes in big. Gamers can adjust how wild the transfer portal gets, which can get pretty ludicrous depending on the program being run. When deciding to coach a small program, it only took a few years before it became dominant. Now even on the regular sliders, it becomes much more difficult to retain players who want a bigger opportunity at higher-level teams. While it could decimate teams, players now can fully adopt a strategy to focus on high school recruiting or the transfer portal to make up the roster, much like real life. One element that would make the transfer portal better is seeing the stats of players rather than just ratings, so users can get a sense of who they are really seeking. Imagine knowing a guy that tore up the Sun Belt could join your ACC team? The mode that benefited most from actual coaches in the game is dynasty. Going against the sport's coaches adds another layer of realism that last year's game heavily lacked. Now, teams really adopt the persona of their coach, whether it's aggressive decision making or run the ball approach. The coaching carousel can also be just insane as the transfer portal, with big name coaches unexpectedly taking other jobs. EA Sports College Football 26 Road to Glory If there was one mode that needed to be upgraded, it was road to glory after it missed out on the high school experience last year. It got added in this year's game, but it isn't close to being as good as the NCAA Football series had it. The moments make for a good challenge into boosting your recruiting stock, but it really takes away from having an authentic recruitment. Players shouldn't get punished if they throw an 80-yard touchdown, but the challenge required a quarterback run for the score. It makes sense EA Sports was trying to speed along the high school process so gamers weren't stuck playing for hours before making it to college, but maybe chose the wrong process to do it. Having players complete certain drives and get graded for how it went would have been a better process to boost your stock, just like how high school athletes actually do. And then there's the ever so controversial equipment topic. The fanbase feels almost split in whether the amount of player customization falls short or doesn't matter. Both sides of the crowd got points with this. There are more things to change the look of a player with new arm sleeves, but there are also elements missing like leg sleeves. Is it a big deal? It shouldn't be, but EA Sports should eventually tackle the issue. But for all the things falling short in the mode, the recruiting process itself is a nice touch. Hearing from coaches about their thoughts on you, seeing schools offer and pull scholarships and gauging who is the right fit is an authentic process. Getting to see what other recruits the school is targeting increases the intrigue in the process, culminating with the iconic hat ceremony every football player dreams of doing. Other notes College football is a tradition-rich sport, and after every school had their own quirks in the previous game, it feels much more enhanced this year. The audio is greatly enhanced to where fight songs sound clearer and the crowd is louder, feeling like you're at the stadium. The game presentation and graphics got massively upgraded, giving the big game feel to those high-stake matchups. The commentary feels more sequenced and the conversations discussed about the teams, the last game and season performance help it not feel so robotic. EA Sports deserves credit for listening to feedback from College Football 25, something production director Christian McLeod previously told USA TODAY Sports the team spends plenty of time doing. It's noticeable, as last year's issues were not just addressed, but greatly improved to where it wouldn't be a consistent issue. People often argue sequels aren't better than the original. That isn't the case with EA Sports College Football 26, giving its loyal fanbase another stellar game to play.
USA Today
09-07-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Texas transfer class ratings revealed by EA College Football 26
One of the cool aspects of EA Sports' return to college football is the player ratings. While some will quibble with a few, generally it seems EA College Football 26 has some real scouting and science behind them. Longhorns fans have a good sense of where most returning players land in the ratings. But what about the transfers? When a transfer is announced, it is hard to know just how good the new player is and how he fits within the team. Thanks to the release of the 2026 version of the game, we now know what the EA CFB computers think of the Texas Longhorns transfer class. 90 - TE Jack Endries (Cal) A high rating to be sure, but Endries is the jewel of this year's transfer class. He's already been named a 2026 NFL Draft Sleeper by ESPN and a preseason All-American by Athlon. The former Golden Bear was third in the ACC last year with 623 receiving yards at tight end. 84 - WR Emmett Mosley V (Stanford) During his freshman year, the former Cardinal made the most of his opportunities, hauling in 48 catches for 525 yards and six touchdowns in eight starts. Mosley, who was a ACC Rookie of the Week last year, has good size at 6-foot-2 and has three years of eligibility left. 84 - P Jack Bouwmeester (Utah) The 6-foot-3, 197 pound Aussie had 60 punts in 2024 for 2,682 yards on an average of 44.7 yards per punt. 13 of the 60 punts went for 50+ yards and 9 landed inside the 20-yard line. 83 - DT Cole Brevard (Purdue) During the 2024 season, Brevard appeared in 11 games and recorded a career-high 19 tackles. He also added 1.5 sacks and 5.5 tackles for a loss to his resume. While his statistics may not jump off the page, he was a solid player for Purdue and produced when called upon. Texas is looking for instant impact from the former Boilermaker. 82 - K Mason Shipley (Texas State) Shipley, who will be a senior for the coming season, has kicked 31 of 35 field goals in his career. The Liberty Hill, TX native was was first-team Sun Belt kicker for 2023 and a semifinalist for the 2023 Lou Groza Award. He also made a 60-yard FG last season setting both the school and conference record. 81 - DT Hero Kanu (Ohio State) Kanu played in 26 games with the Buckeyes and had 14 tackles and one sack. He came to the United States from Geltendorf, Germany in high school when it was clear he was going to be a college prospect and attended Santa Margarita Catholic High School in California. 81 - DT Travis Shaw (North Carolina) Shaw entered the portal after UNC fired former Texas coach Mack Brown in November. The 6'5.5, 330-pounder has one season of eligibility remaining. Shaw was one of Brown's biggest signings in Chapel Hill. In his three seasons at North Carolina, Shaw had a hard time being consistent. But his junior campaign showed a lot of improvement, recording 26 tackles, up from his freshman high of 18. 79 - LB Brad Spence (Arkansas) In his last season as a Razorback, Spence recorded 55 total tackles and 4.5 sacks. He also added one pass deflection to his resume while proving to be an essential part of the Arkansas defense. He will look to take his game to another level while wearing the burnt orange. 78 - DT Maraad Watson (Syracuse) In his only season as an Orangemen, the New Jersey native recorded 30 total tackles and one pass deflection. He also recorded the first sack of his college career. As he made headlines with his play, Watson also added to his trophy case. 76 - DT Lavon Johnson (Maryland) As a true freshman in 2023, Johnson appeared in six games, recording five tackles and one sack before notching 19 tackles, one sack, and 1.5 tackles for a loss in eight games in 2024. Johnson missed several games with injury during the 2024 season and only played 164 snaps
Yahoo
07-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Deion Sanders and Bill Belichick Join Infamous List in EA College Football 26
Deion Sanders and Bill Belichick Join Infamous List in EA College Football 26 originally appeared on Athlon Sports. Bill Belichick and Deion Sanders will be, without a doubt, two of the biggest sensations in the college football scene next season. Advertisement Sanders has been the biggest rockstar in the coaching scene since his days at Jackson State, and now that arguably the greatest coach in football history will coach UNC, the Tar Heels will be a regular talking point as well. However, those fans who hoped to watch them in EA Sports' College Football 26 have another thing coming. Apparently, Sanders and Belichick joined a handful of big-name coaches who decided not to be a part of the highly anticipated video game. Belichick and Sanders will join the likes of Mark Carney (Kent State), Mario Cristobal (Miami), Trent Dilfer (UAB), Kirk Ferentz (Iowa), Jason Eck (New Mexico), Tyson Helton (Western Kentucky), Charles Kelly (Jacksonville State), Bronco Mendehall (Utah State), Bryant Vincent (ULM), and Frank Reich (Stanford) among the coaches who opted not to participate. Advertisement EA Sports or any of the above-mentioned coaches have talked about their reasons why they didn't approve their likeness to be in the video game, which will be released worldwide on July 10. Even so, given their popularity, that won't stop UNC and Colorado fans from buying the game and trying to prove that they can do better than two NFL legends. All eyes will be set on Belichick as he embarks on this new endeavor, while some speculate that this might be Sanders's last year in college before following his son to the NFL. Whatever the case, the fans will have to settle for watching them once a week on actual games, and not every time they want to at home. Advertisement This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Jul 7, 2025, where it first appeared.
