How Texas Tech football players viewed their representation in EA Sports College Football 25

Several Texas Tech football players have had their DMs blowing up over the last few weeks.

Fans all over the country want to let guys like Ben Roberts and Josh Kelly know how well, or poorly, the video game versions of themselves have performed in the new EA Sports College Football 25 game, which released earlier this month.

Most of the communication, players said Tuesday during Tech's local media day, has been harmless fun. C.J. Baskerville, though, had a unique encounter with a gamer.

One day recently, Baskerville received a message from somebody else with the same last name. Turns out, it was a relative of his the Tech defensive back didn't know existed.

"He's like a really distant cousin," Baskerville said. "It was just really cool."

Baskerville and his long-lost relative were able to put the pieces together. Aside from the last name, the gentleman is from Maryland, where C.J.'s grandfather is also from. The relation is distant, the two have never met or heard of each other before, but it's the small-world aspect that's come with being involved with the hottest video game on the market today.

Most of the Texas Tech players who were asked about being in the game shared the same thoughts: the surreal feeling of being in a video game, with their name and jersey number — aside from Kelly, who switched from No. 18 to No. 3 on Monday — playing in the virtual Jones AT&T Stadium. Players in the game have the full adidas uniform as well as the finished south end zone project as a backdrop in the game.

Not every gamer is as friendly with their talk as Baskerville's long-lost cousin, though.

"I walked into Chipotle the other day," Roberts said, "and somebody was like 'You make me mad. You keep stopping me on fourth down.' I'm like, I'm sorry man. It's how they made me, but it's really cool because growing up I played NCAA. ... now it's like, I don't have to create my own character to be in the game. I just have to click Tech and I'm in the game, so that's pretty nice."

Vinny Sciury, the offensive lineman who transferred from Toledo, said he has about five physical copies of the game for posterity.

"One day when I'm like 40 or 50 years old," Sciury said, "you have like all those dads say I used to be this, used to be that, my kids start laughing at me, well, I'm gonna put on the old Xbox and give them the game. ... It's really special. I'm proud of the overall I earned (88) in there, and really my career to this point."

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Most players said EA Sports generally nailed their attributes and abilities — except speed. That was a big sticking point for guys like Caleb Douglas, who transferred from Florida to be one of Tech's new receivers. Douglas credits some of his lower in-game qualities to only having played 13 total games in two years with the Gators.

"I saw my overall and I'm like, 81? That's legit," Douglas said, "but they haven't seen a whole season out of me, and my stats on there, like you throw the ball up, he's gonna go get it."

There are, of course, some hiccups. For starters, EA didn't do facial scans of every player in the game. That would take too much time and effort, so some players look a bit odd compared to their actual appearance. And not every player is thrilled with how they're rated.

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"I'm not just mad at it," Quincy Ledet said, "but I'm definitely not a 78. I can just say I'm not mad at you because I didn't have a dominant season last year, but I'm definitely not a 78. But my speed is crazy. A 58 speed is insane. I've got the tape for you all if you think I'm a 58 speed."

Even with the gripe, Ledet felt the similar thrill of seeing himself in the game.

"It' was a surreal moment, man," Ledet said. "I can say that I played (as) myself quite a bit now. It was just a surreal moment. My family was really excited about it."

This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: How Texas Tech football players viewed their representation in EA Sports College Football 25