Tony's takes: 10 Alabama players we missed in EA Sports College Football

My Xbox lies dormant, collecting dust in the corner of my living room. Typically during the period between the NFL draft and SEC Media Days, I’ll occasionally fire it up to help pass the time when work gets a bit slow. This year, a busy offseason from Alabama’s basketball and football teams combined with postseason runs from the baseball and softball squads have limited the opportunity for leisure.

Soon, though, it’ll be time to hit the sticks once more.

Truth be told, my video game usage has been waning in recent years. However, I suspect I’ll see a significant uptick next month as EA Sports is set to release College Football 25. After an 11-year hiatus due to the NCAA’s previous name, image and likeness restrictions, college football has its video game again. I couldn’t be more excited.

I bought and played each version of EA Sports’ NCAA video game from 2006-14. I was never any good at them, but that didn’t stop me from attempting to build up smaller schools through the game’s dynasty mode.

I’ll once again try my luck at turning the likes of Tulane, Rice and Toledo into college football juggernauts in the upcoming game. However, from a professional standpoint, I’m also interested to see how Alabama’s current stars will be rated.

Recently, EA Sports allowed a group of reporters and YouTube creators to test out the game. The reviews were extremely positive, especially if you plan on playing with the Crimson Tide. According to YouTube content creator Eric Ray, Alabama quarterback Jalen Milroe figures to be one of the most dangerous players in the game due to his top-end speed and shiftiness as a runner.

That got me thinking, what about all the great Alabama players we missed while the game went away? What would it have been like to play as Jalen Hurts, Najee Harris or Bryce Young? In today’s column, I’ll discuss that while giving my list of the top 10 Alabama players we missed seeing in the game.

With that said, pour yourself a drink, dust off your controller, and let's dive in.

I shuffled through a few options while deciding on the drink of the week. The only thing I was sure of was that it had to involve champagne. It’s only fitting we break out the bubbly to toast Nate Oats and his staff for pulling off the most exciting offseason in Alabama basketball history.

It will be another five months until we see how the Tide’s revamped roster plays out on the court. That wait will be even more difficult now that Mark Sears and Jarin Stevenson snubbed the NBA draft to complete the most talented roster Alabama basketball has ever assembled.

Expectations have never been higher, so here’s a drink to keep Tide fans buzzing.

One of the first recorded mentions of the Airmail cocktail occurred in W.C. Whitfield’s "Here's How, Mixed Drinks", a wood-bound recipe book published in 1941. Describing the drink, Whitfield said, “It ought to make you fly high.”

That sounds just right for the occasion.

For this drink, you’ll need champagne as well as an ounce of aged rum, half an ounce of honey syrup and half an ounce of lime juice. Add the rum, honey syrup and lime juice in a tin shaker and shake with ice. From there, double-strain the mixture into a coupe glass and top with champagne. Garnish with a lime wedge and enjoy.

This drink is essentially the rum version of a French 75. The added sweetness is only fitting for how things have gone for Alabama basketball over the past few months.

Cheers!

(Commercial break: My drink of the week section is now sponsored by my friends at Session Cocktails in Tuscaloosa. Session has been a mainstay in Tuscaloosa’s cocktail scene since 2019 and offers some of the tastiest drinks in town. Stop by and tell them I said hi!)

EA Sports’ last college football game, NCAA14, was released on July 9, 2013. For this exercise, I’m only using players who began their college careers from the 2014 season onward.

For example, you won’t find Derrick Henry on this list. While the Alabama great didn’t win his Heisman Trophy until the 2015 season, he made his college debut in 2013, making the freshman version of him available in NCAA14.

Without further ado, here are the top 10 Alabama players EA Sports missed out on over the past 11 years.

10 — Kool-Aid McKinstry, DB

First off, Kool-Aid is the type of video-game name someone would come up with when creating a player. The five-star cornerback’s playmaking ability would also be a blast to maneuver on the thumbsticks. McKinstry never found the end zone during his three years at Alabama. That likely wouldn’t have been the case in the video game realm.

9 — Jahmyr Gibbs, RB

One of Alabama fans’ biggest beefs with former offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien was his underutilization of running back Jahmyr Gibbs. It’s too bad they weren’t given the opportunity to prove they could have done better. Gibbs’ agility in open space and ability to catch swing passes out of the backfield would have served as a cheat code — especially with Bryce Young behind center. As for the Heisman quarterback, we’ll get back to him later on down the list.

8 — Minkah Fitzpatrick, DB

Minkah Fitzpatrick didn’t take a single offensive snap during his three years at Alabama but still managed to find the end zone five times during that span. It’s almost hard to imagine putting up better video-game numbers with him than what he recorded with his real-life stats, but it would have been fun to try.

7 — DeVonta Smith, WR

Giving DeVonta Smith anything but 99 catching ability in the game would have been grounds for riot. In fact, the former Heisman Trophy winner’s ariel acrobatics would have presented a challenge for EA Sports’ graphics team to capture. Based on real-life talent, Smith should be higher on this list. However, his silky smooth route-running can’t be fully appreciated in a video-game setting.

6 — Tua Tagovailoa, QB

Alabama’s 2018 and 2019 offenses looked like they were operated by a video game controller. Tua Tagovailoa's pin-point accuracy and ability to read the field made completing passes look as effortless as pushing a button. It would have been the same way in the video game. However, Alabama fans would have had the option to turn down the injury slider in the settings menu to keep Tagovailoa on the field.

5 — Jaylen Waddle, WR

In the latest version of EA Sports’ Madden NFL 2024, Jaylen Waddle was given a 98 rating in speed and a 97 rating in both acceleration and agility. All three of those categories would have maxed out at 99 in the college game.

Waddle is arguably the most electric player in Alabama history and would have been a joy to play with in the video game. Good luck trying to contain his game-breaking speed and juking ability in the return game. Shoot, it would have been tempting to line him up out of the shotgun and run speed options with him and Najee Harris all day.

4 — Bryce Young, QB

Young put up video-game stats during his Heisman Trophy season in 2021, throwing for 4,872 yards and 47 touchdowns while rushing for three more scores over 15 games. His Houdini-like escapability would have been even more deadly in the video game world where he could scramble for more yards on the ground without having to worry about having his 5-foot-10 frame rocked by opposing linebackers.

3 — Will Anderson Jr., EDGE

Part of the fun of video games is the opportunity to pull off things that wouldn’t happen in real life. You know, like having a defensive player win the Heisman Trophy. Had there been an NCAA video game for the 2021 season, one of my first goals would have been to land Will Anderson Jr. college football’s biggest individual honor.

Anderson missed out on a trip to New York in 2021 despite leading the nation with 17.5 sacks and 33.5 tackles for a loss. It would be interesting to see how much more you’d need to pad his stats to earn him a Heisman in the video game world. However, I wouldn’t have been above lining him up at either running back or tight end to get the job done.

2 — Najee Harris, RB

Najee Harris was built for the Y button (or the triangle button for PlayStation users). Watching the 6-foot-2, 230-pound back effortlessly hurdle over college defenders is still one of the most impressive athletic feats I’ve ever witnessed. Pulling off one of those against a friend in the video game would have offered pure satisfaction.

Harris’ leaping ability isn’t the only trait that would have translated over to the virtual realm. While the bruising back didn’t quite match Henry’s sheer power, he’s the closest thing the Tide has had in the backfield since. Combine that with his ability to juke past — and jump over — defenders in open space, and he’d be practically unstoppable.

1 — Jalen Hurts, QB

This list isn’t about who had the best Alabama career or even who was the best at their position. It’s simply who would have been the most fun to play as with a controller in your hand. For me, that’s Jalen Hurts.

The dual-threat passer didn’t realize his true offensive potential until he transferred to Oklahoma in 2019. However, the 2016-18 version of Hurts also had all the makings of an elite video game option.

Hurts wouldn’t have quite the game-breaking speed that Milroe will possess in this year’s game. However, the 6-foot-2, 218-pound playmaker packs a bit more power as a runner and pulled off juke moves smoother than most of the Tide’s running backs

Sure, the Alabama version of Hurts would have been a bit limited as a passer. Although, that wouldn’t have mattered if you could draw up offensive schemes to have him power past your opponent on the ground. Just imagine paying homage to Paul “Bear” Bryant by re-inventing the Wishbone offense with an Alabama attack that featured Hurts along with a trio of future NFL backs in Damien Harris, Najee Harris and Josh Jacobs.

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