All-EA Sports 'NCAA Football" team: Johnny Manziel, Jadeveon Clowney among the best in video game history

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The long wait for a new EA Sports college football game will be over soon when College Football 25 releases July 19, or July 16 for deluxe edition purchases. Before we all fire up the new game and play until there are blisters on our thumbs, let's remember some heroes from past iterations of the game.

I went back through "NCAA Football 2001" and tried to identify the best players in the history of the franchise. It was a difficult exercise for a couple of reasons. First of all, it was hard to track down exact ratings for the older games, but shoutout to Madden Ratings for archiving as much of it as they could.

Secondly, it's clear that EA Sports got a little more precise and strict with their ratings with each passing year. Would a player with an overall rating of 99 in "NCAA Football 2004" have been rated that highly 10 years later? It's doubtful, so I had to use my best judgment and tried to find players that really captured what made the old games so special. To further my point, a few of the top quarterbacks in college football this season in Texas' Quinn Ewers and Oregon's Dillon Gabriel sport mere 92 ratings, which follows Madden's ratings lead of lower ratings.

Now, with all that out of the way, here is the All-EA Sports "NCAA Football" first team.

Offense

Quarterback

Johnny Manziel | Texas A&M | 97 overall

Few, if any, players on this all-time roster epitomize how much fun it was to play the EA Sports "College Football" games as well as Manziel. One of the big advantages that college football has when compared to the NFL is an arcade-like feel. It may not be the best football from a fundamental standpoint, but the improvisation and big plays keep fans on the edge of their seats.

Manziel brought magic the table, both in real life and the video game. When using Manziel and the Aggies in "NCAA Football 14," that offense was borderline unstoppable because of Manziel's ability to outrun just about every defender on the field. You could wait 10 minutes for a receiver to come open or you could tuck the ball and run for a massive gain. Plus, anyone who replayed Dynasty Mode or Road to Glory over and over again knows how hard it was to beat out Manziel for the Heisman Trophy.

Running back

Reggie Bush | USC | 97 overall
Darren McFadden | Arkansas | 99 overall

Reggie Bush is one of the greatest running backs in college football history, and he certainly played that way in these video games. It seemed like every running back could cut on a dime -- to the point where it was almost comical -- but Bush took that to another level. Between his superhuman elusiveness and speed, there was almost no need to drop back with Matt Leinart when playing with USC because Bush could total 300 yards of offense on his own. And as a punt returner? That was a blast.

On the other side of the coin, Darren McFadden was the type of running back that could make someone hurl the controller through their television. McFadden could run through tackles of all kinds, even the occasional hit stick. Think you've got a stop on fourth-and-short or a goal line stand? Think again. Time to head to GameStop for some new equipment. Couple that power with breakaway speed, and defending McFadden was a nightmare.

Wide receiver

Calvin Johnson | Georgia Tech | 98 overall
Michael Crabtree | Texas Tech | 96 overall

The No. 1 quality of a great "NCAA Football" wideout is the ability to say, "F--k it, they're down there somewhere," when Four Verticals is perfectly covered by the defense. Calvin Johnson and Michael Crabtree were both that kind of receiver, and in the case of Johnson, he was usually two steps ahead of the nearest defensive back anyway. Johnson made Georgia Tech an appealing option for players looking to throw it deep, and that might be the greatest testament to how great he really was.

Speaking of chucking the ball deep, Texas Tech was a popular choice of yours truly because of the Air Raid offense. That was especially the case with "NCAA Football 09," when Crabtree was perhaps the best wide receiver in the game. The combination of Graham Harrell at quarterback and Crabtree at wide receiver may as well have invented the term "video-game numbers." Plus, I probably tried to recreate Crabtree's iconic catch against Texas roughly a dozen times.

Tight end

Kellen Winslow | Miami | 97 overall

One of the best cheat codes in real football is getting a tight end that can run like a wide receiver matched up with a linebacker of safety. I'd say the same thing about the video game, except for the fact that super-linebackers had better verticals than Michael Jordan most of the time. Still, Kellen Winslow was more than capable of getting open against them. Sending Winslow on a seam route was practically a guaranteed first down every time, and even if the safety was in position to pick him up, Winslow had the acceleration to flat-out beat him.

Offensive line

First of all, yes, I did cheat a little bit on the offensive line. I have once true center and four tackles in this starting lineup, but I don't have much doubt that Andrew Whitworth and Joe Thomas could handle the interior offensive line positions just fine. Besides, before every season in Dynasty Mode, didn't everyone just go through the depth chart and start the five best offensive linemen anyway?

There was no better feeling than lining up on fourth-and-short and knowing you'd be able to pick up a fresh set of downs because the offensive line would blow the opposing defensive line into next week. It's safe to say that the above quintet would do just that. Baker might be the best offensive lineman in the EA Sports "NCAA Football" franchise, and having D'Brickashaw Ferguson on the other side isn't too shabby. There's no need for Winslow to chip with this group.

Defense

Defensive line

Winning in the trenches is just important in virtual football as it is in the real world, and the only defensive line that could compete with the aforementioned offensive line is right here. In the middle, Marcus Spears and Ndamukong Suh are big and nasty enough to do plenty of damage against the run and passing games on their own. Just time the snap perfectly and bull rush your way to a sack or tackle for loss.

While Suh and Spears may not need much help against the opposing quarterback, they've got it in the form of two elite pass-rushers. Not only are Clowney and Pollack two of the greatest sack masters ever, but they were unblockable in the video games. With that duo coming off the edge, those poor virtual quarterbacks would stand no chance. For their sake, it would be best to turn injuries off.

Linebackers

The linebacker position might be undervalued today, but that wasn't the case when EA Sports was churning out "NCAA Football" games on an annual basis. The list of linebackers to choose from was long with over a dozen of them boasting ratings in the mid-to-high 90s. Ultimately, these three stood out from the rest of the pack.

Laurinits was a one-man wrecking crew on defense, and you didn't really need to lock on anyone else if you were playing with the Buckeyes. The same could be said for Paul Posluszny, and Brandon Spikes was capable of causing a fumble every time anyone used the hit stick. The best part of this trio is that they also had the built-in advantage of being able to pick off a pass thrown well over their heads, a feature of every linebacker in the old "NCAA Football" games. Hopefully that gets corrected this time around.

Defensive backs

Locking down the opposing passing game was important in "NCAA Football" because the score could quickly go from 0-0 to 42-0 if you let your opponent connect on one big play after another. That wouldn't be a problem with this secondary, which had to include at least one member of those great Miami Hurricanes teams. With Rolle on one side, I went with Tyrann Mathieu on the other side because speed trumps everything in video game football. Mathieu had more than enough speed to keep up with any receiver, and his recovery was excellent whenever I found myself well out of position after switching players at the wrong moment.

At safety, LaRon Landry was an easy choice because the 2006 consensus All-American was one of the highest rated defensive backs in the history of the game. Good luck getting the ball over his head. Opposite Landry is the great Eric Berry, one player I used often growing up. The best part about Berry, or Landry for that matter, was baiting an opponent into throwing the deep ball before getting across the field and grabbing a pick or laying a thunderous hit on the receiver.

Special Teams

In the sake of full disclosure, I'm fundamentally opposed to kicking of any kind in video games, but I needed to fill out this roster. Crosby was an easy choice, partially because he was in the game before EA Sports got a little more stringent with its ratings. Crosby also had the benefit of kicking in that thin Boulder air, which I don't think was a factor in the game, but I like to think it was.

The best video game punter is one you never use, but if you were going to use one, Brad Wing was more than capable of flipping the field. In the event a punt was absolutely necessary, it was always a good feeling to nail a perfect coffin corner.

In the return game, I went with Gilbert, who was also a highly rated defensive back. Not only did Gilbert have the type of speed necessary to take kicks and punts to the house in "NCAA Football," but his real-life counterpart returned six kickoffs for scores in his four years as a Cowboy.

Second-team All-EA Sports NCAA Football

Offense