James Thompson Jr., other Wisconsin Badgers quibble with their ratings on EA College Football 25

MADISON − No one can stop talking about this video game.

On July 19, game developer Electronic Arts released EA College Football 25, a continuation of the beloved NCAA Football video game franchise.

The last installment, NCAA 14, came out 11 years ago. Now, with student-athletes able to profit off their name, image and likeness, the game makes a triumphant return.

In just a couple of weeks, College Football 25 became one of the most popular games in the world. On July 30, EA published a news release claiming five million people picked up the game within the first week of release.

At Wisconsin’s football media day, every player lit up when they talked about seeing themselves in College Football 25. They can’t seem to put the game down.

“The game is great,” said strong safety Hunter Wohler, who at 90 overall is the Badgers’ second-highest rated player. “I grew up playing it all the time. It’s been gone way too long. I’ve played it probably more than I need to.

“Just being in the game overall is pretty surreal. To see myself on the field making some plays, it’s definitely a cool feeling.”

Before it officially released, EA posted a list of the top 100 players in the game. Wohler slid in at No. 84 as the third best strong safety behind Penn State’s Kevin Winston Jr. and Virginia’s Jonas Sanker.

Cornerback Ricardo Hallman is the highest-rated Badger. He’s the 62nd-best player in the game and the seventh-best corner at 91 overall.

“It’s really cool to be on a video game,” Hallman said. “For it to come back around and for us to be on the game and play the game that you grew up on as a little kid was really cool. I’ve been grinding it out every day, honestly.”

Both Hallman and Wohler had light-hearted gripes about their ratings, despite being the two highest on the team.

“I love my rating. I think they did a great job. If I could, I would’ve given myself 99 speed,” said the 93-speed Hallman.

Said Wohler, “Rating’s great, obviously you want it to be higher, but I’m not complaining.”

Defensive lineman James Thompson Jr. wasn’t nearly as pleased.

“I do not like my rating,” Thompson said. “It’s a 78; that’s too low for me. I felt like, ‘Damn, it’s a 78? No offense to Curt (Neal) but I had a little bit more stats than that. I didn’t know I was that bad.’”

Thompson, categorized as a run-stopping right end, plays opposite of the power-rushing left end Neal. Both linemen have a 78 overall.

To Thompson’s point, though, he did have more stats than Neal. Last season, the redshirt senior recorded 29 tackles (19 solo), 5.5 tackles for loss, three sacks, and two pass deflections.

Neal had 13 tackles (six solo) and 1.5 tackles for loss.

“(My rating) is going to go up during the season though, I’m not too worried about it,” Thompson admitted in a more serious tone. “It’s just a video game. But it’s cool seeing myself in a video game that I’ve been playing since I was a kid.”

Badgers fans can expect a career year from Thompson, if only to best Neal and get his rating into the 80s.