With just one week until early access kicks off for EA Sports College Football 26, we finally are starting to get player ratings. EA has been slowly revealing the best-rated players at each position in this year's game before finally dropping the top 100 best-rated players. While we still have to wait for the full roster ratings, including team overalls and prestige to be revealed, we now have an idea as to which teams will have the highest rated players.
It should perhaps come as no surprise that last year's College Football National Champion Ohio State Buckeyes have the two best-rated players in the game in wide receiver Jeremiah Smith and free safety Caleb Downs.
Smith, a sophomore for the Buckeyes, is the top-rated player in this year's game with a 98 overall. He also boasts 95 speed, 95 agility, 93 change of direction, 95 catching, 99 spectacular catch, and 98 catch in traffic. His short, medium, and deep route running are all rated 97.
Caleb Downs is the second best-rated player in EA Sports College Football 26 with a 96 overall rating. The sophomore free safety boasts 93 speed, 95 acceleration, 91 play recognition, 87 man coverage, and 85 zone coverage.
Of the top 100 players in EA Sports College Football 26, four of them are on the Buckeyes.
The Texas Longhorns, however, have five top-100 rated players, including MLB Anthony Hill Jr. (95 OVR), RE Colin Simmons (93 OVR), CB Malik Muhammad (92 OVR), FS Michael Taaffe (91 OVR), and HB Quintrevion Wisner (91 OVR).
Despite having some of the highest rated players in the game, Ohio State and Texas may not actually be the best rated team in the game. That may actually be Alabama which has seven players rated in the top 100. Leading the charge for Crimson Tide is sophomore wide receiver Ryan Williams with 95 overall, including 96 speed, 99 agility, 98 change of direction, 99 acceleration, 90 catching, and 95 deep route running.
The other top rated players on Alabama are LT Kadyn Proctor (94 OVR), RG Jaeden Roberts (92 OVR), DT Tim Keenan III (92 OVR), SS Bray Hubbard (91 OVR), LOLB Deontae Lawson (91 OVR), and C Parker Brailsford (91 OVR). They say football is won in the trenches and with three offensive linemen rating in the top 100 players, they figure to be a dominant force.
EA Sports College Football 26 is scheduled to launch in early access on July 7th for those who have purchased the Deluxe Edition or MVP Bundle (which includes the Madden 26 Deluxe Edition). For everyone else, the global launch is July 10th. You can view all of the currently revealed player ratings here.