It's a college football player's paradise, where dreams and reality meet in new EA Sports video game

GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- Freshman quarterback DJ Lagway grabbed a controller, settled comfortably into a leather stool and immediately started to adjust Florida’s roster.

There was only one move to make, really: Lagway benched Graham Mertz and inserted himself into the starting lineup for a quick game of EA Sports College Football 25 against teammate Tank Hawkins.

Things got surreal from there.

With Lagway and Hawkins both playing as the Gators and subbing out Mertz, Lagway intercepted, well, himself on Hawkins’ first two throws.

“That was different,” Lagway quipped.

It’s surely happening across the country, with college football players finally getting to be themselves — or play against themselves — in one of the hottest video games on the planet.

EA Sports College Football 25 released on Friday as schools across the country threw parties, tournaments and fan events with their teams to celebrate. Florida gave The Associated Press a behind-the-scenes look this week at teammates squaring off on a big screen during the team’s annual photo/video shoot.

There were oohs and aahs, grunts and groans, and as much trash talk as any rivalry game.

“It was like a childhood dream,” said Lagway, who won his matchup. “Growing up playing the game, playing NCAA and creating a player, creating your player on the game, and now it’s automatically on there, it’s like a dream come true.”

Many of the current Gators grew up playing Madden, the game's NFL equivalent that's released annually. After all, the last of EA Sports’ college football games debuted in 2013. The popular gaming franchise was dormant for 11 years, forced to stop production as calls grew louder for players to get paid for their name, image and likeness.

Not long after the NCAA decided to allow college athletes to profit from their brand, EA Sports opted to revive its revered game. In the days leading up to its release, 2.2 million gamers had already played during an early-access period, and 600,000 more had signed up for an EA Play trial.

EA Sports offered Football Bowl Subdivision players a minimum of $600 and a copy of College Football 25 to be featured in the game. Thousands accepted, including everyone on Florida’s roster.

“I was watching the countdown,” said freshman linebacker Myles Graham, the son of former Florida and NFL running back Earnest Graham. “Every day, I was just counting down, counting down. I was anticipating. I was so excited, and the day came, and I’ve been glued to it ever since.”

Similar to Lagway’s roster adjustment, Graham quickly moved himself into a starting linebacker spot over teammate Shemar James before squaring off against running back Anthony Rubio, the son of Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio.

“How bad would it be if I played as Miami?” asked Rubio, a Miami native who ended up picking Michigan instead of Florida’s upcoming season-opening opponent.

Rubio spent countless hours as a kid playing old versions of the EA Sports’ college football game and would usually choose the Gators when vying against childhood friends.

“I would destroy them with Tim Tebow — always,” he said.

Indeed, the left-handed No. 15 in NCAA Football 09 was close to unstoppable. Lagway, Hawkins, Graham and others have a long way to go to get there.

Lagway’s overall rating in the game is the highest of the group at 80, not a bad start for a highly touted recruit from Texas who already has been featured in a Gatorade commercial.

“I feel like I have to prove myself,” he said, adding that he hopes to jump a few points when EA Sports updates its ratings later in the season. “Stay tuned for that one. I’m excited. It’ll be fun.”

Lagway and teammates raved about some of the more realistic aspects of the game, including the imagery, the ability to shake tackles and the effects of crowd noise. They also loved that creators incorporated NIL deals and the transfer portal in dynasty mode, where gamers can build any program into a five-star powerhouse.

But more than anything else, it was just cool to see themselves in a video game.

“It’s basically kind of like manifesting what you want to do, honestly, in a way,” Hawkins said. “What I’m doing in a video game I can probably — definitely — do in real life.”

Running back Montrell Johnson is one of Florida’s best players and widely considered the team’s top gamer. He stayed up into the wee hours of the night playing College Football 25 before traveling to the Southeastern Conference’s preseason media days event in Dallas. And when he saw the game was available in the green room, he hopped on for more playing time.

Defensive lineman Caleb Banks spent $150 to get an MVP bundle package that provided him with early access to the game.

“I couldn’t wait that one extra day,” he said. “I just couldn’t do it. It was worth it, though. If I had to do it all over again, I would.”

His mom is begging for a signed copy of the game. One problem, though: “It’s sold out everywhere,” he said.

Florida’s locker room has plenty of copies, all of them already in use. Lagway can’t recall how many times he’s already played the game, but it’s sure to slow down once training camp begins next week. He does know the number of passes he has let Mertz throw.

“One,” he said, laughing. “We did a trick play, and he threw it to me.”

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AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/college-football and https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll