Who Should Be The College Football 26 Cover Athlete?

Jeremiah Smith, WR – Ohio State Buckeyes

As a true Freshman, Jeremiah Smith experienced one of the best rookie seasons a College Football player could ask for. With the Buckeyes he won the Cotton Bowl Classic, the Rose Bowl (Offensive MVP), and the National Champion. He earned over 1,300 yards and scored 16 total touchdowns in his first year at Ohio State. Most importantly, he led the team in receiving yards (88) and scored in the team’s win over Notre Dame

Just because Smith is a National Champion doesn’t guarantee a spot on the box art. But when you add in everything else he accomplished before reaching 20 years of age, there’s no reason not to consider him. Out of all the players on this list, we believe he deserves a spot the most.

Jeremiyah Love, HB – Notre Dame Fighting Irish

Love was an absolute beast for the Fighting Irish last season, He earned over 1,350 yards from scrimmage, scored 19 total touchdowns, and averaged nearly seven yards per carry. Notre Dame’s Football program has seen a lot of improvement in recent years thanks to HC Marcus Freeman. And it’s because of tough players like Love that the team made it so far.

He also only ran the ball an average of 10 times per game, running only 163 times in 2024. We think he’ll get fed a lot more in 2025 and beyond as the Fighting Irish clearly have one of the best backs in College Football right now.

Side note: We think it’d be cool to see both Love and Jeremiah Smith make the CFB 26 cover. Madden NFL 10 did something similar by having Troy Polamalu and Larry Fitzgerald grace the cover.

Cade Klubnik, QB – Clemson Tigers

Another QB with potential to make the cover includes Clemson’s Cade Klubnik, who scored 43 touchdowns last year with the Tigers. Last season, Klubnik showed he has the skills to throw and run, leading a strong offense that averaged nearly 35 points per game. And with his professional career ahead of him, he’ll need to play even better in 2025 to make it to the NFL.

In terms of QBs, we believe Klubnik deserves a spot on the roster. As much as we love Manning, Klubnik has proven himself, whereas we need to see more from Arch. But considering Manning’s popularity, it could kick Klubnik off the spot.

Arch Manning, QB – Texas Longhorns

May as well bring it up because it’s impossible to ignore. Manning is extremely popular and very marketable. He’s also taking the Longhorns’ starting job this year, tasked to take the team to new heights. Overall, he has the skills and clout to make sense for a cover appearance.

However, it’s very unlikely that Arch Manning will be the cover athlete of College Football 26. EA Sports already ran with a Texas QB last year (Quinn Ewers). EA Sports has technically done this before with other sports titles, making Manchester United’s Wayne Rooney their cover star for years in a row. But in terms of Football, they’ve always went with a different team and player.

That doesn’t mean Manning’s chances are impossible. I mean, would EA really miss out on the chance of putting an extremely popular player on their cover to improve sales? I guess we’ll find out soon enough.

Kaytron Allen & Nicholas Singleton, HB – Penn State Nittany Lions

For fun, we decided to save the last spot for a HB duo that played very well in 2024. Both backs earned over 1,000 yards rushing and scored 22 total touchdowns last year. While Penn State won’t have star TE Tyler Warren, they’ll have a great HB committee that can win games in the trenches.

The only problem with this selection is that while both players are great together, their individual numbers aren’t incredible. The developers might not want to use two players from the same team on the cover. But if they did, these two would make the best candidates.

Overall, that includes our top best picks for the College Football 26 cover athlete. We anticipate the real reveal later this year.

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