Which 2006-07 college-football player will follow in the footsteps of Carson Palmer, Reggie Bush and other big-name stars to grace the cover of the popular EA Sports NCAA Football video game? Troy Smith? Chris Leak? Brady Quinn? Would you believe… Jared Zabransky?
Cool. (Hat tip: C. Bassett.)
The Idaho Stateman has more:
Former Boise State quarterback Jared Zabransky will grace the cover of EA Sports NCAA Football 2008, one of the most popular sports-themed video games in the country.
“It’s extremely big for us as an athletic department. It crosses generations by touching kids and adults … It’s an incredible marketing opportunity,” said Brad Larrondo, who is the Broncos’ senior associate athletic director for promotions and marketing.
Deadspin says this “is, without question, the most exciting event to happen in Idaho since Lana Turner was born.” (Bonus: the post manages to bash both of my schools, USC and ND, in the course of a single paragraph.) Other bloggers are reacting as well: Dan Shanoff says this is “the most inspired choice on any EA cover ever. Fans can only hope that that means the motif of this year’s game is expanded ability to run trick plays, Boise-style.” Brian Stouffer writes, “Well, that’s a shocker” and calls Zebransky “a darkhorse…from out of nowhere.” Brian Cook says, “It’s an odd choice, especially when Calvin Johnson, a man straight out of the infuriating Jerry Rice-in-Techmo-Super-Bowl mold, is available for pimping.” Todd Zuniga calls the decision “ballsy and brilliant.”
There’s video of interviews with Zabransky about the EA cover at Sharkle.com and the Orlando Sentinel.
In other greatest-game-in-the-history-of-the-universe-related news, a full-length documentary about the Broncos’ season titled “Out of the Blue: A Film About Life and Football” is in the works.
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Categories: College Football
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March 3rd, 2007 at 2:20:22 am
Perfect choice, absolutely perfect. Plus its not Brady Quinn so thats a plus ;-)
March 3rd, 2007 at 3:24:10 am
Okay, I do wish it had been JaMarcus, because, well, he’s JaMarcus, Jared’s a truly excellent choice. And if this does mean a move towards more trick plays, I’m all for it.
March 3rd, 2007 at 1:12:59 pm
I love the cover. Great choice!
David K! *shakes fist angrily*
March 3rd, 2007 at 2:52:50 pm
Sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet!
March 4th, 2007 at 4:46:29 am
Uhhhh . . . am I the only one who thinks Ian Johnson makes more sense??
(Better yet, IJ’s fiancee. Yeahhhh.)
March 4th, 2007 at 11:46:09 am
Correct me if I’m wrong, those who follow these sort of things (like, video games and stuff) more closely, but I believe the EA Sports cover athlete has to be someone who is no longer in college, i.e. is either graduating or left early for the NFL, because of NCAA rules and stuff. So it couldn’t be Ian Johnson, Colt Brennan, Darren McFadden, John David Booty, etc.
March 4th, 2007 at 12:09:02 pm
You’re probably right. The Wikipedia entry states that the other finalists for the cover were Troy Smith, Brady Quinn and JaMarcus Russell, three other ineligible players.
Also, I think they were reading your mind: under “Game Features,” the final bullet point is “New plays, such as the Statue of Liberty.”
March 7th, 2007 at 11:21:10 am
Frickin’ Sweet!