Ratings Of K-State’s Top Ten Players In NCAA 2014

With NCAA Football 2014 set to be released by EA Sports on July 9th, there’s a horde of college football fans giddy with anticipation surrounding the new physics components and ability for running backs to push off offensive linemen in a much more realistic fashion embedded in the new game. And while The Jug can’t necessarily feel the void of no NCAA Football 2014 available this week, we proffer an appetizer with K-State’s top ten rated players in the newest version.

Due to legal concerns surrounding the use of player likeness, player names are not used in the game but player numbers and attributes are. Here’s a screen shot of the top ten Wildcats that were released during E3 in June:

Although the names are lacking, I went through and matched up the players and names to provide a glimpse of how everyone was ranked:

EA Player Name

Corresponding Name

Overall Rating

HB #33Hubert, John92SS #12Zimmerman, Ty89WR #16Lockett, Tyler88K #10Cantele, Jack (?)86WR #86Thompson, Tramaine86LT #78Lucas, Cornelius86C #66Finney, B.J.85RT #55Whitehair, Cody85CB #15Evans, Randall84LOLB #21Truman, Jonathan84

A few quick observations;

• It’s interesting that Hubert is the only player with a rating above 90. While he should get plenty of work this year, I don’t know if I’d consider him the ‘best’ player on the team. Ty Zimmerman would probably get my vote, although Tyler Lockett also has an argument. Keep Hubert at 92, but Zimmerman is going to be an All-American and should be around 95 or 96.
• Also, if you’ve ever watched Hubert try to pound the ball between the tackles, you’d agree his strength is underrated. He doesn’t go down, and he doesn’t fumble.
• Jonathan Truman is the highest rated linebacker. I believe Tre Walker will be recognized as the best player at this position for K-State by the end of the year, but also know what Walker is capable of. If Truman is obviously better, the linebacker spot should be pretty damn solid.
• No spot for Jake Waters or Daniel Sams. One of these players will be in the top ten next year, and I’m sure lack of playing time at the DI level is why neither is ranked this season.
• I’m assuming that Jack Cantele is the kicker – being the little brother of Anthony Cantele means he gets the nod for such a high mark, as no one else on the roster could justify the high rating. However, Jack’s number was #14 last year and listed as #3 on the Spring Roster this year. Anthony wore #10 last year. ESPN.com has Anthony listed as a current senior and as wearing #10, so although he’s currently at mini-camp with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, it looks like EA and ESPN need to get their rosters straightened out.

Last month we looked at the ratings for K-State’s offensive and defensive units as well as overall when they were leaked at E3, and if you want to read more you can pursue that link here. And be sure to check back later next week when the game is released and we can break down exactly what the video game engineers predict out of K-State in 2013.