As the American Football Coaches Association meets this week, one surprising locker room distraction seemed to arise above others for one college football head coach. Instead of Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) or social media being the key culprit, video games held the throne.
EA Sports College Football 25 Revealed as Possible Distraction in CFB Locker Rooms
The landscape of college football is ever-changing, especially for the very athletes that make the sport what it is. The introduction of NIL in recent years led to more attention being pointed toward social accounts, brand deals, and the overall exposure of athletes. Oh, and they’re still supposed to be going to class and receiving an education.
While all those things are potential off-the-field distractions, Southern Miss Golden Eagles head coach Charles Huff revealed one of the biggest issues within the locker room during the 2024 season: EA Sports College Football 25 player ratings.
CBS Sports’ Brandon Marcello reported on the news in a post on X (formerly Twitter).
“Coach Charles Huff tells coaches at AFCA the biggest issue he ran into last season in the locker room wasn’t NIL or social media. No, it was players complaining about their ratings on College Football 25. Some even came to his office to complain about their ‘low’ rating.”
Coach Charles Huff tells coaches at AFCA the biggest issue he ran into last season in the locker room wasn’t NIL or social media. No, it was players complaining about their ratings on College Football 25. Some even came to his office to complain about their “low” rating.
— Brandon Marcello (@bmarcello) January 13, 2025
The plate for college football coaches is also filling up as the landscape is changing. Similarly, they have to deal with NIL and brand deals while staying on top of recruiting and retaining players from entering the transfer portal. On top of that, they have to actually coach football — and if the product on the field isn’t good enough, they’ll be gone before they know it.
Apparently, add worrying about and answering questions about player ratings in a college football video game to the list.
The number of hats a coach has to wear in the modern age of college football adds up quickly, one of the main reasons some schools are crafting a professional approach to the changes by enlisting a general manager of the football program.
For example, newly hired North Carolina Tar Heels head coach Bill Belichick brought on veteran NFL executive Michael Lombardi to fulfill the football program’s recently created general manager position. While Belichick is still out on the recruiting trail, he’ll likely have less to deal with once spring practices and eventually the 2025 season come along.
Just years ago, the thought of a video game taking time away from the more important tasks surrounding a college football program wouldn’t even exist; however, according to Huff, it’s become a reality in the new age of college football.
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