EA Sports’ latest College Football 27 ratings have a few West Virginia numbers that don’t quite line up with how the roster looks heading into the season.
The tight end room is the clearest place where the game feels off. West Virginia returns Ward as the only holdover from last year’s group, and he has a real shot to emerge from fall camp as the top option.
Clemson transfer Josh Sapp is rated 75, Mississippi State transfer Cam Ball comes in at 72, and both could factor into a three-man rotation this fall. That part makes sense.
What doesn’t is Ward sitting well below them, matching true freshman Kade Bush and landing four points behind another freshman, Sam Hamilton, who is rated 70. Ward also dropped two points from last year, which only makes the gap look stranger.
At center, the game gives Livingston a strong grade in the mid 80s, and that’s not a shocking number after his rating last year. Still, it feels a little rich.
King is listed nine points lower, even though he could leave fall camp as the team’s starting center. I had King at an 81 in my own projection about a month ago, so this one comes off as too low.
The linebacker ratings also raise some questions. Torbor is slotted as West Virginia’s No.
4 WILL linebacker in the game, which is hard to square with the reality that he could start this season, even if it’s not from day one. He’s one of the longest and most athletic players at that spot, and by all accounts he had a strong spring.
Yet Illinois transfer Malachi Hood is rated 69, Villanova transfer Jason Hall Jr. is at 68, and Ashton Woods sits at 65, all ahead of him.
The biggest head-scratcher might be in the secondary. Diagne is rated 70 and listed as the team’s sixth-best corner, even though he is the true No. 1 heading into the season.
Because the game doesn’t assign a set position for Nickel/Sam, Geimere Latimer is listed there at 78 and Maliek Hawkins at 71. Even so, Jaire Rawlison, Nick Taylor and Keyshawn Robinson are all rated 73, which leaves Diagne looking way too far down the board.
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