Jeremiah Smith Gets an 84, Will Howard Lands an 85 and 10 Ohio State Defenders Receive

College football media personality Josh Pate, the host of the Late Kick football podcast, played EA Sports College Football 25 this week and shared a few interesting details concerning the Buckeyes’ roster in the game.

Per Pate, both quarterback Will Howard and wide receiver Carnell Tate have an overall rating of 85 in the game while freshman wideout Jeremiah Smith slots in as an 84 overall.

The rating may seem low for Smith, the No. 1 overall recruit in the class of 2024, to OSU fans who saw clips of his acrobatic catches in spring practice. But EA Sports has traditionally been conservative with rankings for incoming freshmen – no freshman received a rating higher than 84 in NCAA Football 14, EA Sports’ most recent college football video game before this year – so Smith will be one of if not the top-rated freshman in the game. EA Sports also will continue to update rankings throughout the season.

Also of note, Pate said 10 defensive players from Ohio State hold overall ratings of 85 or higher. Eight OSU players are featured in the game’s top-100 player overall rankings, four of which are on defense: Caleb Downs (95), Jack Sawyer (92), Denzel Burke (91) and Tyleik Williams (91).

EA Sports College Football 25 will be released on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S next week. The game will be officially released next Friday, July 19. Consumers who preorder the deluxe edition of the game will receive early access to the game on Monday, July 15.