EA Sports College Football 25 Keeps Georgia Tech Out Of Its Top 100 Players Rankings

Were the Yellow Jackets overlooked in the game's ranking of the top 100 players?

Dec 22, 2023; Tampa, FL, USA; Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets quarterback Haynes King (10) stands on the field during the first half of the Gasparilla Bowl against the UCF Knights at Raymond James Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports / Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports

EA Sports is poised to release its massively anticipated college football game, EA Sports College Football 25, in a week. Ahead of release, they published their Top 100 player ratings.

Game. Changers. Here are the Top 10 Players in #CFB25

See our Top 100 🔗: https://t.co/hPGNnX5m2V pic.twitter.com/uyWDm7Pja1

— EASPORTSCollege (@EASPORTSCollege) July 10, 2024

The highest rated player in the conference is Clemson outside linebacker Barrett Carter, who came in with a 94 rating. Since they have no players listed in the top 100, the maximum rating any Georgia Tech player will have is 89.

Although not entirely unexpected, Georgia Tech had one particularly strong candidate for the top-100 ranking. Quarterback Haynes King is comfortably one of the best quarterbacks in the ACC - it is very surprising to see he was not named to the top 100.

In our predictions of the top ten ratings for Georgia Tech players in the game, King ranked first because of his incredible 2023 season. His advanced statistics and counting numbers all firmly established him as one of the better passers in the nation. As a reminder, King was one of only two players in the nation with at least 2,700 passing yards, 600 rushing yards, 25 touchdown passes, and five touchdown runs last season (joining LSU’s Jayden Daniels), and one of only six ACC players to achieve those numbers in a regular season since 2000. He led the ACC in touchdown passes and was fourth in passing yards.

Looking over the rankings, it seems that the rating adjusters are fairly low on the ACC's quarterbacks as a whole. None of Stone, Uiagalelei, Ward or King were in the top 100. I think an argument could be made for any of those names over someone like Liberty's Kaidon Salter. Salter threw for 32 touchdowns and six interceptions and ran for 1089 rushing yards and 12 touchdowns on the ground. Those are incredible numbers, but the strength of conference has to be taken into account.

If King puts up another season like the one that he had last year, it will be extremely difficult to keep him out of the top-100 in the next iteration of the game. Georgia Tech has been called a sleeper team by national media pundits like Josh Pate and King's performance is a large reason why.

On the latest episode of the Late Kick With Josh Pate, he discussed if Georgia Tech should be a sleeper team while also calling them a rapidly improving program:

"Georgia Tech I could also call a little bit underrated. The difference with Georgia Tech is the schedule is pretty stiff, I am not going to lie and they have Georgia every year. They were 7-5 last year and their win total is at 5.5, I think due in large part to how tough it is. Haynes King is still there, that is their quarterback, their offense is top ten in returning production this year, a deep wide receiver room. The defense was bad last year, 123rd in yards allowed last year I believe, but they overhauled their defensive staff, they overhauled their roster on the defensive side. They are the inverse of Nebraska in the sense that if I get C+ or B- defensive play, that should be good to get over 5.5 wins"

In terms of other top-100 candidates for Georgia Tech, sophomore wide reciever Eric Singleton had a fantastic campaign for a true freshman wide receiver. His 59.5 receiving yards per game were fourth nationally among all freshman in 2023 while he finished inside the top-10 of the ACC for receiving yards (714) and touchdown receptions (six). However, those numbers probably were not going to be enough to crack the top 100. If he posts 1000 yards and finishes in the top-five of the ACC's receiving totals, he could also make the top 100 in the game's next iteration.

Even though they do not have any players within the top 100, this should not take away from Georgia Tech being one of the most underrated teams in the nation and a real force in the ACC.