Yahoo Sports EA Sports College Football 26: These Alabama Players Are 100% Fake

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EA Sports College Football 26: These Alabama Players Are 100% Fake originally appeared on Athlon Sports.

Is EA's new NCAA football sim full of doppelgangers? Bodysnatchers? Something even worse?!? Let's talk fake Crimson Tide player ratings in CFB 26.​

Our civilization is under threat. Our way of life and the values we hold dear are on the existential chopping block. Yes, it's as horrible as it sounds: There are fictional Alabama Crimson Tide football players living among us.

We can't even say for sure know how many there are. But what we do know for sure? They are absolutely here to replace every last one of us and conquer the only earth we've ever known.

Hmmm. This may all be hyperbole, but it's a fact that there are actually reams of fake players in EA Sports College Football 26.

This is an omen. It's every bit as frightening as it sounds. Consequently, fans of the ol' Rammer Jammer must be vigilant -- and perhaps ready to give their lives to preserve freedom for our species.

*Sound of a .44 magnum loading cartridge by cartridge, probably double-action, definitely shiny and cool*

If I can be serious for a moment, sports video games have included fake players for decades. An athlete union like the NBPA, for instance, doesn't have to offer any of its members' licensing rights to every basketball game publisher on the block. Connoisseurs will recall that LaVar Arrington was once called "R*dsk*ns Linebacker" in the NFL 2K series's Dreamcast era.

And of course, who could forget the singular legend of John Dowd?

All told, maybe this scaremongering is a whole lotta nothing. But it also might be NCAA lizard people.

Let's name and shame the fake Alabama players in College Football 26 who might be a vanguard of bodysnatchers bent on destroying us all.

Click here for a full rundown of Alabama'splayer ratings in CFB 26.

Real Alabama Crimson Tide head coach Kalen DeBoer, who is not a fake person© Matt Pendleton-Imagn Images

Alabama Crimson Tide Fictional Players in College Football 26​

All CFB 26 fake Alabama player data via TeamCrafters as of July 9, 2025.

RE Lamarcus Fox: 84 Overall​

• FAKE NUMBER: 85
• FAKE ARCHETYPE: Pure Power
• FAKE CLASS: Junior
• FAKE HOME TOWN: Eight Mile, Alabama

As the story goes, Bama defensive tackle Tim Smith missed the email permitting him to opt into last year's College Football 25. EA Sports replaced him with the deeply evil Lamarcus Fox, who shares none of our human values. Even more nefariously, Tim Smith is now in the NFL -- and Fox is still here. We're effing DEAD, man.

RT Bubba Rodgers: 84 OVR​

• FAKE NUMBER: 58
• FAKE ARCHETYPE: Raw Strength
• FAKE CLASS: Senior
• FAKE HOME TOWN: Cherokee, Alabama

RE Dane Fischer: 83 OVR​

• FAKE NUMBER: 91
• FAKE ARCHETYPE: Pure Power
• FAKE CLASS: Sophomore
• FAKE HOME TOWN: Evergreen, Alabama

LOLB Tayveon Bennett: 77 OVR​

• FAKE NUMBER: 97
• FAKE ARCHETYPE: Thumper
• FAKE CLASS: Sophomore
• FAKE HOME TOWN: Huntsville, Alabama

"Thumper." What even is that? Y'all are sick individuals.

LG Terrell Perry: 76 OVR​

• FAKE NUMBER: 57
• FAKE ARCHETYPE: Agile
• FAKE CLASS: Freshman
• FAKE HOME TOWN: Dothan, Alabama

I've been to Dothan and I can confirm that it is purely fictional.

CB Jarrelle White: 76 OVR​

• FAKE NUMBER: 14
• FAKE ARCHETYPE: Zone
• FAKE CLASS: Sophomore
• FAKE HOME TOWN: Jackson, Alabama

MLB Hakim Taylor: 74 OVR​

• FAKE NUMBER: 27
• FAKE ARCHETYPE: Thumper
• FAKE CLASS: Freshman
• FAKE HOME TOWN: Missoula, Montana

"Hey, it's me, your cousin Hakim from Missoula." STOP. NO, IT IS NOT.

LT David Franks-Wilson: 74 OVR​

• FAKE NUMBER: 61
• FAKE ARCHETYPE: Raw Strength
• FAKE CLASS: Freshman
• FAKE HOME TOWN: Missoula, Montana

Oh my god COME ON.

TE Drew Brandt: 74 OVR​

• FAKE NUMBER: 32
• FAKE ARCHETYPE: Vertical Threat
• FAKE CLASS: Junior
• FAKE HOME TOWN: Los Lunas, New Mexico

Open acknowledgment that this man is a threat. Mask off.

RT JaQuan Sullivan: 73 OVR​

• FAKE NUMBER: 59
• FAKE ARCHETYPE: Raw Strength
• FAKE CLASS: Freshman
• FAKE HOME TOWN: Trussville, Alabama

SS Liam McChambers: 72 OVR​

• FAKE NUMBER: 34
• FAKE ARCHETYPE: Hybrid
• FAKE CLASS: Freshman
• FAKE HOME TOWN: Hueytown, Alabama

"McChambers," sure, yeah, like the 36 McChambers of Death the McWu-Tang Clan warned us about. Great. Terrific.

ROLB Abdul Winn: 70 OVR​

• FAKE NUMBER: 46
• FAKE ARCHETYPE: Thumper
• FAKE CLASS: Freshman
• FAKE HOME TOWN: Tuscaloosa, Alabama

When Abdul Winn, humanity loses.

Why Are There Fictional Players in College Football 26?​

Don't take this a 100% exhaustive explanainer, but here goes:

You want me but you can't have me​

• As we've seen regarding Michael Jordan, Shaquille O'Neal, and Barry "John Dowd" Bonds in past years, college football players have the right to decline the use of their NIL rights for licensed products like video games. Coaches are known to do it, too -- Colorado'sDeion Sanders and North Carolina'sBill Belichickwent this route for CFB 26.

Them depth chart blues​

• It's one thing to field a roster that's compliant with the NCAA; it's another to be compliant with EA Sports. It's possible that some teams did not meet, for instance, the game's minimum player quotas in certain position groups, requiring the developers to sub in fictional players to round out the numbers.

Time ain't on your side​

• It's plausible that some teams had players who did not become fully-approved members of their rosters (transfer portal red tape, NCAA eligibility status unresolved, etc.) until after a set deadline in CFB 26's development. A fictional placeholder could justifiably take that player's spot in the interim, though it's equally logical that future software updates would address this.

This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Jul 12, 2025, where it first appeared.

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