EA Sports Ranks 3 Penn State Players in College Football 25's Top 100

How did EA Sports grade Abdul Carter, KJ Winston and Nicholas Singleton? We take a look.

Penn State linebacker Abdul Carter conducts the Blue Band's playing of the alma mater after a Nittany Lions victory at Beaver Stadium. / Dan Rainville / USA TODAY NETWORK

EA Sports will release its new College Football 25 on July 19 and is teasing the game with a series of ratings. On Wednesday, EA Sports ranked its top 100 players, with three Penn State stars making the list. Abdul Carter, KJ Winston and Nicholas Singleton made the top-100 and are the first Nittany Lions to receive their overall ratings.

Here is a look at the ratings for Carter, Winston and Singleton ahead of the game’s release.

Abdul Carter: 91 OVR

The lone Penn State player on the Walter Camp Preseason All-America Team, Carter is projected to be one of the nation’s top players in his first season at defensive end. Carter earned a 91 overall rating by EA Sports and ranks as the 47th best player in the game.

Carter, who tallied 48 tackles, 5.5 tackles for loss and 4.5 sacks en route to a first-team All-Big Ten selection last season, is ranked in the upper echelon in a number of the game’s attribution categories. His 94 acceleration rating is tied for No. 22 of any player, while his speed and jumping ability are rated 89. He earned an awareness of 88 and a strength score of 87.

Despite Carter’s high rating, he took to X (formerly known as Twitter) to cite his belief that he’ll eventually be the game’s top-ranked player.

91 ovr?? BET, thanks for the Motivation
😈@EASPORTSCollege Will be first 99 ovr
I PROMISE

— INCRDBL11 (@1NCRDB1) July 10, 2024

KJ Winston: 91 OVR

After his breakout year in 2023, Winston’s inclusion is no surprise. Like Carter, the safety earned a 91 overall rating after leading the Nittany Lions with 60 tackles last season.

Winston is listed as the game’s No. 57 overall player and No. 2-ranked strong safety, trailing Virginia’s Jonas Sanker, a first-team All-ACC selection in 2023. Winston’s acceleration is rated at 91, his speed an 88, his awareness and jumping ability both at 87 and his strength at 75.

Nicholas Singleton: 91 OVR

A down year for Penn State’s running back corps didn’t stop EA Sports from listing Nicholas Singleton as one of the game’s most explosive players. Singleton, like Carter and Winston, earned a 91 overall rating and ranks as the game’s No. 64-best player and No. 10 running back.

Singleton’s speed has been labeled a 94, which puts him tied with Ohio State’s TreVeyon Henderson for the game’s fastest running back and the fourth-fastest player overall. His acceleration is listed at 95, his 90-rated jumping ability ranks tied for second among running backs and his awareness is an 88.

Singleton’s 83-rated strength ranks second among running backs, but given his history in the weight room, that attribute could see a boost in future updates.

That’s 570 from Penn State RB Nick Singleton. Ridiculous. pic.twitter.com/YMQkUSkdLM

— Seth Engle (@bigsengtweets) February 29, 2024

In other College Football 25 rankings releases, Penn State's offense got a power boost from EA Sports, checking in at No. 12 overall in the game. Meanwhile, Tom Allen's defense is ninth despite losing five starters to the NFL. And Beaver Stadium was rated as the sixth toughest place to play.

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Seth Engle has covered Penn State football and men’s basketball for the past four years, most recently serving as the football editor of the Daily Collegian. His work has appeared in the Associated Press, Philadelphia Inquirer, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, PennLive, Centre Daily Times and more. Follow him on X (or Twitter) @bigsengtweets.