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Who are IU football’s highest-rated players in EA Sports College Football 25 video game?

Portrait of Michael Niziolek Michael Niziolek
The Herald-Times

BLOOMINGTON — Indiana football fans can pick up a controller this weekend and get a preview of the team's new-look roster with the release of EA Sports College Football 25.

The game was released worldwide Friday for the Playstation 5 and Xbox X/S. It’s the first college football game since EA Sports released NCAA Football 14 in 2013. 

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This year’s version features the inclusion of real-life players for the first time. In March, the developers announced that more than 10,000 players had signed name, image and likeness deals to be featured in the game.  

Players that opt in will receive a minimum of $600 and a copy of the game. 

Indiana’s roster in the game features 80 current members from the team. Running back Khobie Martin, defensive tackles Tyrique Tucker and J'Mari Monette and linebacker Quentin Clark are the only expected scholarship players missing. 

The Hoosiers have an 82 overall rating (80 offense and 78 defense) to start the year. Here are IU’s 10 highest-rated players as the rosters stand on the day of the game’s release: 

IU football’s highest-rated players in EA Sports College Football 2025

1. D'Angelo Ponds; 87 Overall Rating: One of the final transfers Indiana signed during the spring window is the team’s highest-rated player going into the 2024 season. He has the highest rating in a number of individual traits including acceleration (98), stamina (96), man coverage (82) and zone coverage (87). He’s also tied with Jamari Sharpe as the team’s fastest player (96 speed). Ponds had a breakout season as a true freshman for JMU last season. He finished No. 11 in the FBS in passes defended and only allowed 30 completions for 259 yards on 65 targets. 

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2. Elijah Sarratt; 86 Overall Rating: Indiana’s highest-rated player on offense is also a James Madison transfer. He’s got the highest ratings in catch (90), short route run (90) and middle route run (91) on the team. Sarratt led JMU with 82 catches and 1,191 receiving yards last season. He had four receptions for 34 yards in IU’s spring game with three of those coming on the last drive.

  • Abilities: Press Pro; Cutter 

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3. Donaven McCulley; 85 Overall Rating: McCulley has the highest rating of the holdovers from last year. He’s got 89 speed, 87 agility, 92 acceleration, 87 catching and 93 spectacular catch rating. The former quarterback also has a 87 rating in throwing power making him a prime candidate to run some trick plays. The Lawrence North grad was one of the few success stories from last year’s team. He led IU in all major receiving categories with 48 receptions, 644 yards and six touchdowns.

  • Abilities: Balanced, Press Pro, Sure Hands, 50/50

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4. Kurtis Rourke; 84 Overall Rating: Indiana’s expected starting quarterback has the fourth-highest overall rating. He’s got 80 speed, 83 acceleration, 90 awareness, 94 throwing power, 90 short throw accuracy, 85 middle throw accuracy, 84 deep throw accuracy and 90 throw under pressure. Rourke was a three-year starter at Ohio where he won MAC offensive player of the year honors in 2022. 

  • Abilities: Pull Down, Resistance 

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5. CJ West, Overall Rating 82: West, another transfer who signed during the spring window, is one of two defenders with an 80-plus overall grade. He has 94 strength, 89 awareness, 76 tackling, 85 hit power, 87 power moves, 88 block shedding and 88 play recognition. The Kent State transfer gives IU a huge presence in the middle of the defense at 6-foot-2 and 315-pounds and plenty of experience. He’s a three-year starter with 110 career tackles with 19.5 for a loss and 7.0 sacks. 

  • Abilities: Grip Breaker

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6. Justice Ellison; Overall Rating 81: Ellison, a Wake Forest transfer, is IU’s highest-rated running back with 87 speed, 87 agility,  81 break tackle, 87 change of direction and 85 ball carrier vision and 92 carrying. Ellison has the most experience in the Hoosiers’ running back room. He’s played in 43 career games and has put up 500-plus yards in each of the past three seasons. 

7. Carter Smith; Overall Rating 81: Indiana’s returning left tackle is one of three offensive lineman on the team with an 80 or better overall rating. He’s the only lineman with an 80 or better rating in both pass block (80) and run block (team-high 85). Smith, a 6-foot-5, 308-pounder, took his name out of the portal to return to Indiana. According to Pro Football Focus, he graded out as IU’s highest-rated offensive lineman in 2023 and the fifth-highest freshman offensive lineman in the Power Five. 

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8. Mike Katic; Overall Rating 80: Katic is expected to start at center this season for the Hoosiers. The veteran lineman has the team’s highest rated passing grade in the game (84) as well as the highest impact blocking rating (89). Katic was a team captain last season and has played in 39 games (37 starts with most of those coming at left guard). He’s headed to Indianapolis next week to be one of IU’s representatives at Big Ten Media Days.  

9. E.J. Williams Jr.; Overall Rating 80: Williams is one of four receivers on the team with 90 or better speed (Myles Price, Omar Cooper Jr. and Andison Coby) and he’s also tied with McCulley with the team’s highest spectacular catch rating (93). After missing four games with a hand injury, Williams closed out the 2023 season with at least four catches in each of the team’s final four games. The former Clemson transfer is a former top 100 recruit out of the 2020 signing class. 

  • Abilities: Lay Out

10. Josh Sanguinetti; Overall Rating 80: Sanguinetti’s athleticism got high marks across the board and he has 70 or better ratings in all of the coverage categories. He played the most snaps of his career last season (330) and started four games. He spent time with the first-team defense at safety in the spring game. 

* Mikail Kamara and Trey Wedig also have 80 overall ratings, but are ranked lower overall on the roster 

Michael Niziolek is the Indiana beat reporter for The Bloomington Herald-Times. You can follow him on X @michaelniziolek.