EA Sports drops its first cover for upcoming college football video game

The EA Sports college football video game is really, finally coming back later this summer, with a full-on trailer promised at some point this month.

We're still waiting on the trailer, but on Friday the company released the cover to the EA Sports College Football 25 deluxe edition to the PlayStation store, as first reported by The Athletic.

The cover has been the source of great anticipation, as is always the case with the release of any sports video game. In the past, because the NCAA did not give EA Sports (nor anyone) the ability to license players' name, image and likenesses, EA had to use a prominent fresh out of the game. That's why diehard players have been playing with a game covered by former Michigan quarterback Denard Robinson for the past decade-plus.

Some fans thought EA Sports would go back to that model, or perhaps place Nick Saban on the cover as an homage to the greatest coach to ever do it, but that never made sense. The only reason the game is coming back after more than a decade in the grave is because EA finally has the right to put actual, real-life players in the game, so of course they were going on the cover.

The only question was, which player(s) would go on the cover(s), and for now the answer is all of them.

Donovan Edwards of the defending national champion Michigan Wolverines takes front and center, with Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers and Colorado athlete Travis Hunter to his left and right. Ahead of them, I spy Alabama quarterback Jalen Milroe, Georgia quarterback Carson Beck, and Ohio State running back Quinshon Judkins.

I'm sure there's more to come as we lead into the most anticipated sports video game in the history of the medium, but I can already tell you this image is already an iconic piece of video game history. 

As always, stay tuned to The Scoop for the latest.

Update: So, this news was a surprise to the folks at EA. Stay tuned for more.