Mississippi Coast has over two dozen athletes featured in EA Sports College Football 25

EA Sports College Football 25 released worldwide last week. It is the first video game to feature officially licensed names, images and likenesses of college athletes, thanks to changing laws around NIL allowing players to be compensated.

Included in the game are all 134 FBS football teams and over 11,000 real players. This means athletes who starred at local high schools are now playable in the digital world.

This is true for schools across the Mississippi Coast. There are 27 football players from 12 different schools in the Lower Six counties featured on the rosters of EA CFB.

Biloxi High School leads the way with five graduates appearing in the game. Not all of those actually suited up for the Indians, however. Michael Coats Jr. is the second-highest rated player on the Nevada roster despite never playing a snap of football in high school.

Coats Jr. was working at Big Play Entertainment Center a year after graduating when he decided to try out for the football team at East Central Community College. He made the roster, played three seasons and turned his production into an FBS scholarship at Nevada where he’s become one of the Wolfpack’s top defensive backs.

The highest-rated Coast athlete in the game is D’Iberville product Justin Walley. The former Mississippi Mr. Football is the third-highest rated player on the Minnesota Golden Gophers’ roster as a senior cornerback.

There’s plenty of fresh talent from the Coast flooded throughout the country, as well, with eight first- or second-year freshmen featured in the game. None of them rate higher than Auburn linebacker, and former Picayune standout, Jamonta Waller.

There are multiple athletes from the Coast on FBS rosters that are currently not featured in EA CFB. EA has plans to continually update rosters at regular intervals throughout the college football season.

Here is the complete list of local products that made it into the Day 1 launch of EA CFB in order of their rating in the game.

CB Justin Walley, Minnesota

• 86 overall
• D’Iberville

CB Michael Coats Jr, Nevada

• 82 overall
• Biloxi

HB Dante Dowdell, Nebraska

• 79 overall
• Picayune

OL Bryce Ramsey, Marshall

• 78 overall
• Harrison Central

OL Jay Mickle, ULM

• 77 overall
• Picayune

TE Dallas Payne, UAB

• 77 overall
• St. Stanislaus

DT RJ Moss Jr, South Alabama

• 76 overall
• Biloxi

LB Raymond Collins, Mississippi State

• 75 overall
• Harrison Central

S Bray Hubbard, Alabama

• 75 overall
• Ocean Springs

WR Ashton Hollins, Illinois

• 74 overall
• George County

LB Chance Keith, Army

• 74 overall
• Biloxi

S Dylan Lawrence, Southern Miss

• 74 overall
• George County

LB Jamonta Waller, Auburn

• 74 overall
• Auburn

WR Jaden Walley, Mississippi State

• 74 overall
• D’Iberville

DE Jalyn Durgan, South Alabama

• 73 overall
• St. Martin

DE Jeffery Rush, Pascagoula

• 73 overall
• Pascagoula

WR Larry Simmons, Southern Miss

• 73 overall
• Moss Point

TE Terron Bedford, Southern Miss

• 72 overall
• Bay High

DT Jamarious Brown, Ole Miss

• 72 overall
• Moss Point

WR Marquez “Mojo” Dortch, Troy

• 72 overall
• George County

S Elijah Sabbatini, Southern Miss

• 72 overall
• Biloxi

OL Devon Smith, ULM

• 71 overall
• Biloxi

DT Kai McClendon, Mississippi State

• 69 overall
• Gulfport

OL Tristen Fortenberry, Tulane

• 67 overall
• Pascagoula

DT Jacob Bradford, Louisiana Tech

• 65 overall
• St. Stanislaus

WR Noreel White, Ole Miss

• 65 overall
• St. Martin

DT Talan Carter, Jacksonville State

• 58 overall
• Ocean Springs

Get the Sun Herald's AM Newsletter