Forget about the preseason All-Big 12 team.
Shocking as it was to see zero Kansas State football players on that squad, especially after the Wildcats were picked to finish second in the conference, the snub did little to motivate Avery Johnson, Brendan Mott, Marques Sigle or anyone else who will be wearing purple inside Bill Snyder Family Stadium this fall.
K-State players seem much more interested in how they were rated by EA Sports, the video game giant that is on the verge of releasing its first college football simulation in a decade.
The Wildcats got an early look at the video game while they were at Allegiant Stadium for Big 12 Media Days this week. And while it was a thrill for them to play, it also left them feeling like an underrated group, much more so than anything else they have seen during the offseason.
EA Sports unveiled its list of top 100 college football players on Wednesday, and no one at K-State made the cut.
“We were all talking to the head guy at EA Sports and we asked if we could see the ratings,” K-State defensive end Brendan Mott said. “At first, he said no. But then he said we could look at our individual ratings as long as we didn’t say anything about them. Then we kind of complained to him about our own ratings.
“He told us, ‘Listen, if you guys do good during the season then we’ll bump you up in the ratings.’ I guess that’s another incentive to do good during the season, is to get your EA Sports rating up as high as possible.”
Welcome to a new era of college football, where a video game can be considered bulletin-board material.
Players are not only motivated to win games, boost their NFL stock and increase their NIL value, they also want to earn the best reputation possible for the pixelated version of themselves.
K-State quarterback Avery Johnson pointed out that his hair didn’t look quite right in the video game. But he is also eager to prove that it got something else wrong about him.
“They were close,” Johnson said. “I will say they’re close. But I think I am definitely a little faster than my character was moving. Whenever all the ratings come out I will have to figure out my speed, because I’m one of the top three fastest on the team. I want to see if that’s what I got.”
EA Sports gave Johnson and Mott the opportunity to play half a game against each other on Tuesday. Both players selected K-State, and the competition was intense.
Mott said that his team prevailed 8-0 with his lone touchdown coming on a pass from Johnson to wide receiver Jayce Brown. Then he figured he might as well for a two-point conversion. And he was successful.
The game featured four interceptions (two from each team) so it was the opposite of a shootout. But that made it more fun for Mott, particularly when Johnson used a digital version of Mott to record a sack in the game.
“It wasn’t the most interesting game, but it was a lot of fun,” Mott said. “It was just a weird experience playing the new version of the game because whenever you see someone make a play you’re like, ‘Hey, I know that guy!’ It was also weird seeing yourself in the game. But it was very cool.”
At least it was until he saw his player rating.
When Mott plays the game again at the end of the season, he wants to see better numbers. A new source of motivation is in place.
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