Gophers rank last in Big Ten in lastest NCAA football game

Many sports fans probably think it would be pretty cool to have their life be a video game. College athletes in some instances already get to enjoy that luxury. In July, EA Sports will release their 2014 installment of the NCAA College Football franchise.

Within game development, college athletes are rated, ranked, and redrawn to resemble the real life athletes themselves, but carry no namesake and are adjusted just enough to alter the likeness of a player so that they are not direct copies of real college athletes.

The  folks at Operation Sports were shown a preview of the game and released a video of the top 10 players on each squad in NCAA College Football 14.

The video reveals that defensive  tackle No. 99 is the highest rated player on Minnesota with a 88 overall rating. At the exact same listed height and weight to go with the jersey number, one can decipher that the game is referring  to redshirt senior Ra’Shede Hageman.

The other top Minnesota football players in the game using the same logic are — halfback No. 2o Donnell Kirkwood, linebacker No. 57 Aaron Hill, free-safety No. 13 Derrick Wells, strong-safety No. 21 Brock Vereen, cornerback N0. 22 Jeremy Baltazar, wide receiver No. 80 Devin Crawford-Tufts, center No. 52 Zac Epping, and cornerback No. 3 Martez Shabazz.

In the game overall, Minnesota received an overall rating of 79. This ranks them last in the Big Ten and well behind conference leader Ohio State at a 95 overall rating. This information was posted on a Tradition Sports Online message board right after the popular E3 Gaming Expo.

You can argue what you want about college athletes and how they are used in video games by EA Sports and the NCAA, but the fact is these games fly off the shelves and fans cannot wait to play as their favorite squad. So the question looms, are you going to overlook the ratings and fight for a Rose Bowl birth with Minnesota?

• The Big Ten Network’s Brent Yarina selected Hageman as his choice to lead the Big Ten Conference in sacks this year. He thinks that the No. 88 supposed overall rating should garner the defensive tackle double-digit sacks on the season.
• As we talked about Gophers pitchers going in the MLB draft last week, we should also let you know that a local pro ball club signed another Gophers pitcher. The St. Paul Saints of the American Association signed Gophers reliever Billy Soule (Hamel, Minn. – Wayzata HS). The senior closer for Minnesota will hopefully enjoy himself at Midway Stadium alongside their mascot this season — Mackleboar, the pig.
• Surgery just doesn’t seem as scary in sports as it did even 20 years ago. Joe Christensen of the Minneapolis Star Tribune was in attendance at TCF Bank Stadium Thursday for the Jerry Kill Football Camp and caught up with the Gophers head coach. He notes that 17 Gophers football players are recovering from some sort of surgery. In addition, he has notes on wide receiver Andre McDonald and his possible eligibility this fall as well as the football team’s recent academic success.
• Former Gophers hockey star Nick Leddy (Eden Prairie, Minn.) was a +2 and logged 26:00 of ice time in the Chicago Blackhawks 4-3 triple-overtime win in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Finals Wednesday. Leddy recorded two shots on goal and three hits in the marathon game that lasted 112:08 — the fifth-longest in Stanley Cup Final history.
• ESPN recently updated their 2014 ESPN 100 college basketball recruit rankings and the highly recruited “Big 3” out of the state of Minnesota — Tyus Jones, Reid Travis, and Rashad Vaughn all were ranked in the Top 40 with Jones at No. 3, Vaughn at No. 11, and Travis at No. 40. Hopefully they continue to be the top prize of our “Tweet of the Day” writer on the recruiting trail.

Tweet of the Day

Minnesota Basketball head coach Richard Pitino got the chance to throw out the first pitch at the Minnesota Twins home game versus the Philadelphia Phillies Thursday. Multiple sources have said it was a strike. We are sure multiple MLB scouts were in attendance to track the velocity.

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