Reviewing the Virtual Huskers Rosters Over the Years

College football fans across the country rejoiced as EA’s beloved college football franchise returned for its second season in the reboot. With the return of the game comes the latest rosters for the upcoming 2025 season. As we look forward to the newest roster, we can also look back at past rosters to see how the current Huskers rank compared to their past virtual counterparts.

For College Football 25, I’m using the initial rosters to compare most closely to the College Football 26 roster. Games include all versions since NCAA Football 2003. The years in this article are based on the game title (i.e., The 2025 season is College Football 26). Average unit ratings are based on the top X players in each position group, as defined below.

QB	RB	WR	TE	OL	DT	DE/Edge	LB	CB	S
1	2	3	2	6	2	2	3	3	2

Quarterbacks

The most important position in the sport proves to be a strong suit for the Huskers in this game. Dylan Raiola ranks as an 87 overall player in this version of the game – a sizable jump from his 80 rating this time last year. Only Taylor Martinez (91), Sam Keller (91), and Zac Lee (88) have been higher-rated quarterbacks for the Huskers.

Taylor Martinez with Ameer Abdullah — Nebraska Cornhuskers quarterback Taylor Martinez hands off to running back Ameer Abdullah. | Bruce Thorson-Imagn Images

Running Backs

The Huskers lead back Emmett Johnson ties his quarterback with an 87 overall rating. He joins four other Huskers who are tied for the 10th-best virtual Husker running back in game history. Kwinten Ives is the Huskers’ second-ranked back, coming in at just 77 overall. Both players saw an eight-point jump from their 2025 game rating.

As a duo, this is one of the Huskers’ worst rushing attacks in game history. The duo averages just 83 overall, which ranks 12th out of 14 games. Only the top duo on the 2014 game (Ameer Abdullah and Terrell Newby) and the 2025 game (Dante Dowdell and Emmett Johnson) were ranked lower.

Wide Receivers

Kentucky transfer Dane Key is one of the highest-rated receivers the Huskers have ever had in a game. Coming in at an 88 overall, he trails just Niles Paul (90) and Menelik Holt (89) to be the third-best receiver ever. Nyziah Hunter comes in at an 84 overall, and Jacory Barney Jr. at 83. What is especially impressive about Jacory Barney’s 12-point jump is that he is now tied with the highest-rated receiver from last year’s game – Jahmal Banks.

Their top receivers are the 4th-best trio the Huskers have had in a game in the series. Only the 2010, 2008, and 2014 games had a better group of starting wide receivers than the Huskers do in this edition. These wide receivers could change the Huskers' record books in 2025.

Tight Ends

The Huskers’ top all-time skill position player in the college football series is Matt Herian. The Pierce, Nebraska native was a 96 overall in the 2006 game and a 94 overall in the 2005 game. While another Nebraska native, Carter Nelson, might one day hope to reach that status, he’s currently the third-ranked tight end behind Luke Lindenmeyer (79) and the former quarterback Heinrich Haarberg (78).

Last year’s game had a weak tight end duo for the Huskers, ranking as the 3rd worst pairing. These Huskers improve slightly, but the Lindenmeyer-Haarberg duo still ranks as the 5th worst in the game.

Offensive Line

On a positive note, the average rating of the top six offensive linemen for the Huskers improved from 2025 to 2026. On the negative side, the only group of six linemen worse than the 2026 game was the 2025 game. The two transfers, Elijah Pritchett and Rocco Spindler, lead the Huskers with an 84 and 83 overall, respectively. In last year’s game, Bryce Benhart was the top-rated OL with an 85 overall. Richie Incognito is the Huskers’ top overall offensive player rating as a 97 in NCAA Football 2005.

The offensive line is crucial for both the virtual Huskers and their real-life counterparts. While year-over-year improvement is a positive, it would have been nice to see this group receive a higher vote of confidence. If a College Football 24 existed, I’m sure the offensive line would’ve been much worse in that version.

Defensive Tackles

Ndamukong Suh, unsurprisingly, is the Huskers ‘ top-rated defensive player all time at 97 overall. The Huskers’ top defensive tackle in CFB26 is Elijah Jeudy at an 80 overall. While I expected to see the Huskers drop in their top two defensive tackles from last year, their overall defense has stayed the same thanks to a five-point improvement from Riley Van Popel. This unit has plenty of room for growth as it ranks 12th for the Huskers in the series.

Edge

For the first time in 20 years of games, EA replaced the defensive end position with “edge”. For the sake of historical comparison, these players will be compared to those formerly labeled as “RE” and “LE”.

The Huskers’ top edge rushers improved significantly from last year’s game, in which the Huskers had the worst unit to ever appear in a game. Keona Davis and Williams Nwaneri both rank as an 81 overall. This unit ties with the 2014 game as the tenth-best pass rushing unit.

Linebackers

The Huskers’ linebackers also took a giant step forward from last year’s game to this year's. In College Football 25, this group was its worst ranking trio, averaging just under an 80 overall. This year, they jumped to 7th (out of 14) with an average overall ranking of 83. Marques Watson-Trent is the Huskers’ top linebacker at 87 overall. He ties with Will Compton in NCAA Football 2011 for the 10th-best linebacker overall.

Will Compton vs Michigan — Nebraska Cornhuskers linebacker Will Compton (51) get ready to rush at Michigan Stadium. | Rick Osentoski-Imagn Images

Cornerbacks

Ceyair Wright is the Huskers’ top corner in the game, grading out as an 88 overall. He’s tied with five other Husker corners for the 8th highest-rated corner in a game. Malcolm Hartzog has slid three points since the 2025 game, ranking as just a 79 overall and is the Huskers’ second-best corner.

In CFB25, the Huskers’ corners were the worst starting group to ever appear in a game. Unfortunately, this group gets worse in this year’s game, dropping from an 81 overall to an 80.67 overall. While its top corner is better, the starters for this unit are concerningly thin.

Safeties

The safeties were the bright spot for the Blackshirts in CFB25. They improve in this version of the game. Marques Buford improved five points to move from the second safety last year to the top spot this year. DeShon Singleton joins him as the second-best safety for the Huskers in CFB26. These safeties rank as the 8th-best unit in Husker game history.

The only position group that the Huskers regressed from the CFB25 to CFB26 game is cornerbacks. Defensive tackles were even year over year, but every other position group improved from the initial release of the game! While this is just a video game, it’s a positive sign for how an outside community views the Nebraska football roster versus this time last year.

With just under seven weeks until the Huskers’ first real game kicks off, there are plenty of opportunities to win some College Football Playoffs with this improved Husker roster!

Nebraska Football 2025 Schedule

Aug. 28 (Thursday) vs. Cincinnati (Kansas City) 8 p.m. CDT on ESPN
Sep. 6 vs. Akron 6:30 p.m. CDT on BTN
Sep. 13 vs. Houston Christian 11 a.m. CDT on FS1
Sep. 20 vs. Michigan 2:30 p.m. CDT on CBS
Oct. 4 vs. Michigan State 11/2:30/3 CDT
Oct. 11 at Maryland TBA
Oct. 17 (Friday) at Minnesota 7 p.m. CDT on FOX
Oct. 25 vs. Northwestern TBA
Nov. 1 vs. USC TBA
Nov. 8 at UCLA TBA
Nov. 22 at Penn State TBA
Nov. 28 (Black Friday) vs. Iowa 11 a.m. CST on CBS

Home games are bolded.

More From Nebraska On SI

Stay up to date on all things Huskers by bookmarking Nebraska Cornhuskers On SI, subscribing to HuskerMax on YouTube, and visiting HuskerMax.com daily.