College Football 25 is set to release this week, and I think I speak for everyone when I say this game has been long-awaited. Footage of gameplay has started to be released and college football fans have been nothing but impressed. In anticipation of the full release on July 19th, EA Sports released the top 100 players in the game overall, and a member of the Orange made the cut.
While many SU fans might have expected it to be highly touted quarterback transfer Kyle McCord, it’s actually a returning member to the program. Tight end Oronde Gadsden II slots in as the 69th-best player in the entire game, as well as the second-best tight end in the country.
Gadsden, who missed almost all of 2023 with a Lisfranc injury, measures in at a 91 overall in the game. It is also known that Gadsden has 88 speed, 90 acceleration, 70 strength, 93 awareness, and 90 jumping ratings.
This may be a shock to some, but Gadsden’s 2022 campaign proved how dominant he can really be when healthy. The redshirt junior hauled in 61 receptions for 969 yards and six touchdowns, propelling the Orange to as high as #14 in the nation at one point in the season. Those numbers shattered SU’s single-season record for both receptions and receiving yards.
Not only is Gadsden’s high rating a testament to his success but it also could be related to the large amount of buzz surrounding Syracuse football as a whole heading into this fall. For the first time in a while thanks to the arrival of new head coach Fran Brown, there are some expectations this year for the Orange to do big things. We don’t know the team overall for the ‘Cuse just yet in the game, but chances are it’s higher than some may think.
So Syracuse fans will have a lot of fun picking up the sticks this week and playing with their favorite team, even more so now that they have an elite weapon to throw the ball to. Do us all a favor though, don’t turn the console off after every interception. Play it out like a man.
