Ideas of those who may have been given the cover

I wrote last week about my excitement surrounding the return of EA Sport’s College Football.

Despite not yet possessing the game (I have a plan in the works), my excitement has not yet subsided.

I never thought I would be one of those people who could enjoy watching someone else play video games like kids do, yet here I am. I don’t know how much of it is me living vicariously through them, me just missing football or me finally realizing what younger people have known for years. I’m not a betting man, but I would wager less on that last one if I was.

I watched one video where, on the very first play of their new game, a fan took a delay of game penalty in honor of NCAA Football 14. That was the last version of the game available before Ed O’Bannon’s lawsuit against the NCAA and EA changed everything.

I’m glad O’Bannon won his case, but I was devastated to see the game I loved go. There was one year in which Madden included a college setting as part of the story mode experience and that was fun, but it was obviously no substitute.

I have been so excited about the return of the game that I hadn’t paid attention to who was on the cover of its new edition. I should not be surprised that it includes Colorado athlete Travis Hunter, Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers and Michigan running back Donovan Edwards.

It got me considering all the athletes who could’ve been on the cover in years past, had there been a game to be on the cover of. For example, who might’ve been the cover athlete for NCAA Football 15?

If it was based solely on talent, the cover athlete that year would have been Aaron Donald. He was causing a ruckus at Pittsburgh and it continued throughout his NFL career.

The hype that season however was all about Johnny Manziel, aka Johnny Football. He didn’t have the talent that Donald did, but he would have looked great on the cover flashing the cash money gesture.

Ezekiel Elliott had a great season at Ohio State the next year and based on talent, likely would’ve deserved the cover. We know everybody loves a quarterback though and Marcus Mariota out of Oregon was electric. Hard to imagine NCAA Football 16 without him on the front.

Elliott’s return to college the following season may very well have ensured he graced the cover, but I would have voted for Derrick Henry. I think that picture of him at the coin toss standing next to Mark Ingram would have been perfect. Ingram was no small man but he sure looked it next to Henry.

The cover athletes for NCAA Football 18 and 19 would have been Lamar Jackson and Baker Mayfield. There were certainly other worthy players at the time like Saquon Barkley at Penn State but nobody that caught the attention of sports fans like those two quarterbacks did.

The choice for NCAA Football 20 cover athlete is not as easy. It definitely would’ve been a quarterback and the EA photography crew may have just returned to Oklahoma, this time for Kyler Murray. I would have sent them to Alabama however because I remember NFL teams tanking for Tua Tagovailoa. The hype was legitimate.

Joel Burrow out of LSU seems like the obvious choice for the cover of NCAA Football 21. That team, during that season, was beyond dominant. I’m thinking that photograph of him with the cigar in the locker room would be great. They wouldn’t want tobacco use on the cover of the game but it would’ve looked great.

My choices for the cover of NCAA Football 22 would have been Nick Saban and Lincoln Riley. Saban is a legend and Riley was thought to be the quarterback whisperer after his success with Baker Mayfield and Kyler Murray. The only other choice that makes sense to me that year is Bryce Young out of Oklahoma and his reputation suffered from his young age.

That would not have been a problem the following season however, and I think Young would’ve gotten the cover. He was only a year older but winning the Heisman removes a lot of doubts.

NCAA Football 24, last year’s version, would’ve surely had USC’s Caleb Williams on the cover. He is a Heisman winner and a quarterback, a combination that has never made an athlete less marketable or video game cover worthy.