Iowa State football players react to their College Football 26 video game ratings

DALLAS − Did EA Sports get it right?

College athletes have typically learned how to ignore the noise and pay no mind to social media trolls and outside criticism.

Not all of them are avid video game players, but just about everyone couldn't help but take a peek at their overall rating in the new College Football 26 video game.

The video game officially releases on July 10, but those who preordered it through EA Sports got early access on July 7.

In College Football 26, every player is graded on a 1-99 scale for each attribute that is relevant to the sport to mirror their real-life counterparts. Categories include speed, agility, strength, blocking, catching ability, tackling, and many more. Attribute categories can also go much deeper, like short-throw accuracy and deep-throw accuracy ratings for quarterbacks, run and pass blocking skills for offensive linemen, or reflect a cornerback's man-coverage or zone-coverage abilities.

Every attribute plays a role in a formula that varies by position to calculate a player's overall rating, which is also graded on a 1-99 scale.

Throughout the season, EA Sports updates players' ratings to match their real-life play. A player enjoying a standout year could see his overall rating increase, while others could potentially see a dip during slumps.

"I do like gaming, takes my mind off things, especially football," said Iowa State senior Jeremiah Cooper. "... They made my player pretty good on that game, so he does make a lot of plays, but I don't know. I feel like as a real player, I could just see a lot more things than a video game player can see it, so of course, I sometimes think about how many more real plays I will make in real life, but you know what? This is a game."

According to EA Sports, Cooper is the highest-rated player on the Cyclones' roster with a 91 overall rating. Cooper is also in EA Sports' overall top 100 player rankings.

Defensive lineman Domonique Orange and cornerback Jontez Williams were right behind at 90. Quarterback Rocco Becht is an 88 overall.

Senior offensive tackle Tyler Miller, who also represented the Cyclones at Big 12 media day, has an 85 overall rating, which puts him within the eight highest-rated players on Iowa State's roster.

"I didn't really have connections to it," said Cooper, noting players weren't asked for input by EA Sports. "I didn't really know, I just found out (my rating) on social media."

We caught up with the Iowa State quintet in Dallas to see their thoughts on the virtual versions of themselves:

Rocco Becht, redshirt junior quarterback

2026 rating: 88

Last year's rating on release date: 83

Reaction: "I won't speak on that, if they got it right or anything, but it's a bump up from last year, which is good."

Jeremiah Cooper, senior safety

2026 rating: 91

Last year's rating on release date: 86

Reaction: "Right before we flew in here, I downloaded it on my PS5, so right when I get back to Ames, you know what I'm on. ... It's pretty cool to be just in a video game in general. I know as a little kid, that's something I always played and just to be in that game and play as myself, it's just a dream come true. ... I just woke up, saw my overall and I was just like, 'That's pretty nice.'"

Tyler Miller, redshirt senior offensive tackle

2026 rating: 85

Last year's rating on release date: 78

Reaction: "I'm awful at sports video games, but it's pretty cool that everyone's in the game. It's cool to see the team in the game and all that and it's just fun if you play a quick match with your buddies and stuff. (85 overall) that's cool. I mean, at the end of the day, it's just a video game, too, so that doesn't really matter. It sort of matters what we do on Saturdays in the season."

Domonique Orange, senior defensive lineman

2026 rating: 90

Last year's rating on release date: 79

Reaction: "I ain't going to be mad. I'm cool with 90. Did I expect a little bit more? Yeah, but I'll be cool. I'm not tripping. 90 is still good."

Jontez Williams, redshirt junior cornerback

2026 rating: 90

Last year's rating on release date: 81

Reaction: "That was nice, seeing my little brother. He was excited for me. It's nice just being a 90 overall, trying to just keep getting better. I'm trying to be 95."

Eugene Rapay covers Iowa State athletics for the Des Moines Register. Contact Eugene at erapay@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @erapay5.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Iowa State football players react to their College Football 26 ratings