Baylor’s famous Line is headed to EA Sports College Football 27, giving the game one of the sport’s most recognizable pregame traditions.
The announcement came after Baylor Football posted video of the pregame scene before TCU-Baylor, showing fans sprinting onto the field. In the clip, Rece Davis also referred to the matchup as “Revivalry,” a term that was not in the game last year.
The Baylor Line dates back to 1970, when it was made up only of men. Since 1994, it has been co-ed, opening the door for Baylor women to take part in the pregame run as well.
Baylor freshmen line up before kickoff, rush onto the field, head toward the tunnel and form a human tunnel for the team. The students wear the program’s familiar gold jerseys with their graduation year.
EA Sports College Football 27 is set to release on July 9, with early access beginning July 2 for some players who preordered.
On the roster side, Baylor enters the game with a lower rating after going 5-7 last season. DJ Lagway is listed as an 83 overall, tied for second on the team. A year ago, Lagway was rated in the 90s for Florida, but after leading the SEC in interceptions, he’ll be looking to clean that up with the Bears.
Indiana transfer Hosea Wheeler is the highest-rated player on Baylor’s launch-day roster at 84 overall after helping lead the Hoosiers to a national title.
EA Sports will keep updating the game, and players can still be added later. But as the company has shown with Brendan Sorsby and Texas Tech, players who aren’t eligible can also be removed.
Wheeler, meanwhile, is still fighting for another season. On June 25, he dismissed his federal antitrust case against the NCAA and is now looking to pursue a sixth year of eligibility through a state court injunction.
He had been a plaintiff in the Pavia vs. NCAA case before removing his name a few days ago.
If Wheeler gets that extra year, Baylor could lean on him to help shore up a defense that struggled to stop the run last season.