{"id":84846,"date":"2025-05-28T08:39:17","date_gmt":"2025-05-28T08:39:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/84846\/"},"modified":"2025-05-28T08:39:17","modified_gmt":"2025-05-28T08:39:17","slug":"ohio-states-jeremiah-smith-on-ea-sports-college-football-26-video-game","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/84846\/","title":{"rendered":"Ohio State&#8217;s Jeremiah Smith on EA Sports College Football 26 video game"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;right:0;bottom:0;width:100%;height:100%;z-index:2\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/83875985007-ea-cfb-26-deluxe-packfront-910-4500-x-5000.jpg\"\/><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"vidplayicon\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/icon-play-alt-white.svg.svg+xml\" alt=\"play\" style=\"height:40px;margin:auto 18px auto 27px;width:40px\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Jeremiah Smith, Ryan Williams on cover of EA Sports College Football &#8217;26<\/p>\n<p>EA Sports chose Ohio State&#8217;s Jeremiah Smith and Alabama&#8217;s Ryan Williams to be on the cover of College Football &#8217;26. We talk to the athletes about what this moment means to them.<\/p>\n<p>This marks the first time an Ohio State player has been a cover athlete for the game.The game, releasing July 10, features other Buckeyes, including coach Ryan Day and safety Caleb Downs, in the deluxe edition.<\/p>\n<p>Ohio State superstar wide receiver <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dispatch.com\/story\/sports\/college\/football\/2025\/04\/24\/jeremiah-smith-nfl-draft-eligible-ohio-state-football-wide-receiver\/83122918007\/\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.dispatch.com\/story\/sports\/college\/football\/2025\/04\/24\/jeremiah-smith-nfl-draft-eligible-ohio-state-football-wide-receiver\/83122918007\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Jeremiah Smith<\/a> will be on the cover of EA Sports College Football 26.<\/p>\n<p>EA Sports on May 27 revealed Smith, along with Alabama\u2019s Ryan Williams, as the cover athletes for the next edition of the popular video game.<\/p>\n<p class=\"related-link\">More on Jeremiah Smith: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dispatch.com\/story\/sports\/college\/football\/2025\/04\/24\/jeremiah-smith-nfl-draft-eligible-ohio-state-football-wide-receiver\/83122918007\/\" rel=\"noreferrer nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">When is Jeremiah Smith eligible for NFL draft? Ohio State WR already a top talent<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The receivers are on the cover of both the standard and deluxe editions. The deluxe edition also features other players, coaches and mascots, including <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/sportsdata.usatoday.com\/football\/ncaaf\/teams\/ohio-state-buckeyes\/3439\/\" data-autotag=\"0570041d-af26-45dc-bbba-3bff6c6603b3\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Buckeyes<\/a> coach Ryan Day and safety Caleb Downs.<\/p>\n<p>All of them were <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dispatch.com\/story\/sports\/college\/football\/2025\/03\/13\/ea-sports-college-football-26-cover-ohio-state-coach-players\/82369495007\/\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.dispatch.com\/story\/sports\/college\/football\/2025\/03\/13\/ea-sports-college-football-26-cover-ohio-state-coach-players\/82369495007\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">at a photoshoot<\/a> for the video game at the Rose Bowl in March.<\/p>\n<p>The Buckeyes had a presence on the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dispatch.com\/story\/sports\/college\/football\/2024\/05\/10\/ea-sports-teases-college-football-25-video-game-cover-with-ohio-state-player-quinshon-judkins\/73641873007\/\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.dispatch.com\/story\/sports\/college\/football\/2024\/05\/10\/ea-sports-teases-college-football-25-video-game-cover-with-ohio-state-player-quinshon-judkins\/73641873007\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">cover of the deluxe edition last year<\/a>, as former running back Quinshon Judkins was pictured among a throng of players joining Donovan Edwards of Michigan, Quinn Ewers of Texas and Travis Hunter of Colorado.<\/p>\n<p>But this year will be the first time that EA Sports has chosen an Ohio State player to be a cover star for the game.<\/p>\n<p>The selection of Smith follows his <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dispatch.com\/story\/sports\/college\/football\/2024\/10\/31\/ohio-state-football-how-freshman-jeremiah-smith-became-breakout-star\/75892021007\/\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.dispatch.com\/story\/sports\/college\/football\/2024\/10\/31\/ohio-state-football-how-freshman-jeremiah-smith-became-breakout-star\/75892021007\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">dazzling debut for the Buckeyes<\/a> in which he shattered freshman receiving records and emerged as one of the best players in the nation. He caught 76 passes for 1,315 yards and 15 touchdowns in 2024, including a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dispatch.com\/story\/sports\/college\/football\/2025\/01\/21\/how-jeremiah-smith-clinches-national-title-for-ohio-state-football\/77680592007\/\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.dispatch.com\/story\/sports\/college\/football\/2025\/01\/21\/how-jeremiah-smith-clinches-national-title-for-ohio-state-football\/77680592007\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">game-sealing 56-yard reception<\/a> in a win over Notre Dame in the national championship game.<\/p>\n<p>In a statement, Smith said, &#8220;Being on the cover of EA SPORTS College Football 26 is a tremendous privilege, and I\u2019m proud to represent Ohio State alongside Coach Day while carrying the Buckeye legacy forward, celebrating the passion of our fans and the tradition of this incredible program.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The series, which was previously known as NCAA Football from 1997 until 2013, returned last year following a decade-long hiatus and returns again with a release for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S on July 10.<\/p>\n<p>This story was updated with new information.<\/p>\n<p>Joey Kaufman covers Ohio State football for The Columbus Dispatch. Email him at <a href=\"mailto:jkaufman@dispatch.com\">jkaufman@dispatch.com<\/a> and follow along on <a href=\"https:\/\/bsky.app\/profile\/joeyrkaufman.bsky.social\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Bluesky<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/dispatchkaufman\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Instagram<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/joeyrkaufman\" rel=\"nofollow\">X<\/a> for more.<\/p>\n<p>Get more Ohio State football news by listening to our podcasts<script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jeremiah Smith, Ryan Williams on cover of EA Sports College Football &#8217;26 EA Sports chose Ohio State&#8217;s Jeremiah&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":84847,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[323,3689,247,265,322,20844,1675,318,331,339,324,1961,21,3690,1962,7,774,3688,20842,123,1963,49,1225,48,88,1960,641,996,69,60,245,537,530,4791,2250,9,779,266,376,678,3691,1223,2015,128,811],"class_list":{"0":"post-84846","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-football","8":"tag-323","9":"tag-ai","10":"tag-american","11":"tag-american-football","12":"tag-big","13":"tag-big-10-hub","14":"tag-buckeyes","15":"tag-college","16":"tag-college-football","17":"tag-college-sports","18":"tag-conference","19":"tag-dame","20":"tag-day","21":"tag-enabled","22":"tag-fighting","23":"tag-football","24":"tag-games","25":"tag-highlights","26":"tag-hub","27":"tag-hunter","28":"tag-irish","29":"tag-ncaa","30":"tag-ncaa-big-ten-conference","31":"tag-ncaa-football","32":"tag-news","33":"tag-notre","34":"tag-notre-dame-fighting-irish-football","35":"tag-ohio","36":"tag-ohio-state-buckeyes","37":"tag-ohio-state-buckeyes-football","38":"tag-overall","39":"tag-overall-positive","40":"tag-positive","41":"tag-ryan","42":"tag-ryan-day","43":"tag-sports","44":"tag-sports-games","45":"tag-sports-news","46":"tag-state","47":"tag-story","48":"tag-story-highlights-ai-enabled","49":"tag-ten","50":"tag-travis","51":"tag-travis-hunter","52":"tag-twitter"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84846","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=84846"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84846\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/84847"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=84846"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=84846"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=84846"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}