College Football 25 Road To Glory: Penn State Edition

With the release of EA Sports’ College Football 25, many players have begun to explore the details and different game modes put into the video game. The Road to Glory game mode allows you to create a player, and play as a college athlete at any FBS school!

I made our my player in EA Sports’ hit new game, made him commit to Penn State, and took him through the best four years of his life.

How Does Road To Glory Work?

Road to Glory gives you four options to start your collegiate journey: elite (five-star recruit), blue chip (four-star recruit), contributor (three-star recruit), and underdog (two-star recruit). In order, you start your college career as either a 79, 75, 76, 67, or a 60 overall player depending on what type of recruit you chose.

After choosing your recruitment level, you pick your position. There are five positions to choose from: quarterback, halfback, wide receiver, middle linebacker, or cornerback. After selecting your player’s position, you get to choose the archetype. Each position offers three different archetypes based on each respective position’s different styles of play.

After selecting your archetype comes the fun part, customization! You’re able to customize your name, physical appearance, home state, hometown, and gear! The amount of options EA Sports provides makes the combinations feel endless.

After getting through the position, archetype, and profile tabs, you choose your mental abilities based on your archetype, position, and high school recruitment. You then get to choose your goals as a player whether you want to compete for a national championship or develop into an NFL-caliber player.

Lastly, the hardest decision: Which school do I pick? Each school has a bar under it indicating how much of a fit it is based on your answers to the preliminary recruitment questions just asked. Each school shows their overall, depth chart at your position, and their interest in you as a recruit.

Once you’re enrolled at a school, you develop season after season by focusing on five different areas of growth: academics, leadership, health, training, and brand. You must hold above a 2.0 GPA to be eligible to play on the field. As you become a better leader, you earn special abilities. If your health gets low, you must refuel it. It’s also important to train in order to level up faster and become a better player. Lastly, your brand can give you boosted stats or abilities depending on the size of your NIL deal. The bigger your brand, the better deals you get offered. You are given energy each week to invest in these five different areas of being a college athlete, so choose wisely!

As you see time on the field, positive plays earn coach’s trust. The more coach trust you earn, the faster you shoot up the depth chart until you’re on top of the depth chart!

The Story Of Noah Flenard:

I was a five-star elusive running back recruit standing at 6’0″ and 225 pounds from Mineral, Virginia (I was astonished they had my tiny hometown in the game). I committed to my childhood dream school Penn State. Penn State was a moderate fit, but I knew I could make it work.

I knew Kaytron Allen and Nick Singleton were bound for the NFL at some point and would provide me the leadership and experience needed to become great. I knew I would be able to get reps in early in my career, even if I wasn’t the starting running back. I also knew that I would have two years as the starter, which was plenty of time for me to prove I was ready for the NFL.

Robert Brandt, the new Nittany Lion head coach, created a scheme I knew I’d succeed in. He ran a multiple offensive scheme which relied on distributing the ball across the field to different playmakers. This allowed him to promise future recruits valuable touches in big games. Brandt used this pitch on me while also convincing me I would be the running back that would help keep Penn State a national championship contender. I entered the program third on the depth chart at a 79 overall, which showed coaches I could have a promising career as a Nittany Lion.

Freshman Year – 2024

I began working, earning coach trust points by picking up blocks whenever I saw the field. I had very limited touches running the football, which was to be expected. I would only get the chance to run on triple-running back formations.

Due to limited time on the field, I recorded 22 rushing attempts for 276 yards with three touchdowns. In the passing game, I also recorded 11 receptions for 125 yards and two receiving touchdowns in my freshman year at Penn State. I was voted First Team All-Freshman in the Big Ten. While I was impressed with my initial production, I had my eyes set on the RB2 position on the depth chart.

Penn State made the playoffs but lose in the first round.

Sophomore Year – 2025

This was Nick Singleton and Kaytron Allen’s last year within the program, which meant I’d eventually get the keys to the backfield. In order to not get jumped by new recruits and push for my goal of becoming RB2, I had to train.

At this point, I became an 84 overall. My development was on track as I gained more reps and more coach trust. In my sophomore year, I had 66 carries for 597 yards with six rushing touchdowns. In the passing attack, I shined as a slot receiver. I posted 40 receptions, for 519 yards and four touchdowns. This was my most productive season as a receiver. This led to me overtaking Allen as RB2 midway through the season.

I was not the only player on the roster performing well as Nick Singleton was the Running Back of the Year and First Team All-American. His performances carried us to a national title, the first the program has seen since 1986.

Junior Year – 2026

Coming into my third year in the program, I had become RB1 with to Singleton entering the NFL Draft. Entering the season, I was a 92 overall. My development kicked into high gear as this was my first year as the starter. I was no longer getting lined up as a slot receiver (finally).

I was voted First Team All-Big Ten running back with 195 carries for 1771 yards and nine touchdowns on the ground. Through the air, I had 13 receptions for 191 yards and three touchdowns. I was able to triple my production on the ground after just one year. This was when I knew I’d become one of the Penn State greats at running back.

As a team, we were ranked No. 10 and won the Big Ten conference title game, but our success dwindled in the playoffs, losing the first round.

Senior Year – 2027

My senior year started with me rated at a 94 overall, ready to carry the offense on my back. As the season progressed, we won ranked match-up after ranked match-up. We became the No. 1 team in the country after Week 5 of the season. The roster was littered with superstars.

My senior season consisted of us winning the Big Ten back-to-back seasons and entering the playoffs as the No. 1 seed with a first-round bye. Our hopes of a national title ended after losing to Oregon 25-24 in the second round.

I posted 236 carries for 1,907 yards and 13 touchdowns on the ground while having 17 receptions for 236 yards and three touchdowns. While I was proud of my production in an electric offense, I felt I had come up short for the team.

The team had the most offensive yards in the Big Ten with a total of 6,177 yards this season. Defensively, we ranked fourth in the conference, allowing 4,312 yards of offense against us. We led the Big Ten with forced turnovers, catching 15 interceptions and recovering 12 fumbles.

I was voted as the First Team All-Big Ten running back, and First Team All-American running back. The only trophy I hoped for was another national championship.

My career as a Nittany Lion included 31 touchdowns and just above 4,500 yards while never missing a game due to injury.

Coach Brandt was right, I was able to help us contend for a national title. Brandt took the head coaching job at Penn State my freshman year, boasting a career record of 50-8 so far, with a 20-5 record against teams in the top 25. He led the Nittany Lions to a 12-1 record against our rivals and lastly, has a 4-3 record in bowl games and the playoffs.