Who are the nine mysterious players on Ohio State’s roster for EA Sports College Football 2026, and what did the game do with 11 incoming Buckeyes freshmen?
Fans of OSU have a wealth of talent in the game, including sophomore receiver Jeremiah Smith (98 overall rating) and safety Caleb Downs (96 overall rating) adorning the cover, but those who have secured the game’s early deluxe edition are a little baffled by a running back named Jayson Ball, a sophomore from Cleveland with an 87 overall rating as an elusive bruiser.
Well, he’s fictitious along with eight other video Buckeyes whose ratings aren’t close to Ball’s. Meanwhile, 11 members of OSU’s incoming class are missing, including five-star cornerback Devin Sanchez and running backs Anthony Rogers and Isaiah West.
How did this happen?
The answer is multi-pronged, including a likelihood that a sizable number of players didn’t opt into EA Sports’ name, image and likeness contract despite the company increasing its NIL payout from $600 plus a deluxe edition of the game in 2025 to $1,500 plus a deluxe edition in 2026.
Other actual players who have been excluded might have committed to a school late in the recruiting process or transferred too late via the portal for inclusion in the 2026 game’s opening rosters.
Not having those players creates voids within an 85-man roster, and that’s when Jayson Ball walks or rolls into Ryan Day’s virtual office via programming magic.
Speaking of Day, he’s one of more than 300 actual coaches whose likenesses are now included in the game as a series first. As for missing and made-up players, there are likely more than you may think with 136 Football Bowl Division programs in the game.
That is a lot of roster holes to fill, and Ohio State’s nine pretend players might not be a lot comparatively. It’s a pittance compared to West Virginia, which has 43 actual players who aren’t included. That’s half of the Mountaineers’ roster comprised by fillers.
The good news for purists is the game’s editing function.
Those with time to edit can transform fictitious players into actual players by adjusting names, heights, weights, positions, ratings, and other traits. Once the game’s standard version is released July 10, EA Sports programmers are expected to issue update patches at some point to correct rosters.
In the meantime, Buckeyes fans can form a strong 1-2 punch in their backfield with their new elusive bruiser, Jayson Ball, and Bo Jackson, an actual OSU player not related to the former Auburn/NFL/MLB superstar of the same name.
Got all that?
Good, now go hit the video gridiron.
Dispatch reporter Brian Hedger can be reached at bhedger@dispatch.com and @BrianHedger.bsky.social
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Who is Jayson Ball? Why Ohio State has 9 fake players in new EA Sports College Football game
Reporting by Brian Hedger, Columbus Dispatch / The Columbus Dispatch
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
