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The history of Texas Longhorns on the cover of college football games

by: Evan Vieth06/03/26

Yesterday, it was officially announced that Texas star pass rusher Colin Simmons would grace the cover of EA College Football 27’s Deluxe Edition cover, joining the likes of Indiana coach Curt Cignetti and fellow star players such as Miami’s Malachi Toney and Oregon’s Dante Moore.

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Simmons now marks the fourth Longhorn to be featured on a college football video game cover, and the third since the reinstatement of the franchise in ahead of the 2024 CFB season.

The most recent Longhorn to make a college football video game cover came just two years ago, when starting QB Quinn Ewers joined Colorado star two-way player Travis Hunter and Michigan RB Donovan Edwards on the cover of the first CFB game in over a decade, EA College Football 25.

Ewers was fresh off a run to the college football playoff, the final year the four-team playoff model was in place, when the Longhorns won the Big 12, but fell to Washington in the Sugar Bowl.

The next year, Ewers would lead Texas to another semi-finals appearance, this time in the SEC. Hunter would go on to win the Heisman.

Texas has had two other cover athletes in the past, back when players were only allowed to represent the game after they had graduated college.

The most recent was in 2009, when Brian Orakpo was the face of college football gaming on the Playstation 2 for NCAA Football 10.

Orakpo had won the Nagurski Award, presented annually to the most outstanding defensive player in college football, and was an All-American the year before for a 12-1 Texas team. He recorded 17.5 TFLs and 11.5 sacks in that final college season.

Orakpo would go on to be drafted 13th overall by the then Washington Redskins, registering 11 sacks and a Pro Bowl appearance in his first year in the NFL. It was a strong two year span for Orakpo and the Longhorns, who would make the national title game during the 2009 season.

The first ever CFB cover athlete from Texas was Ricky Williams, who could be seen stiff-arming a Texas A&M tackler on NCAA Football 2000.

Released in 1999 after his final season at Texas, Williams was the most electric player and name in the sport. He earned a Heisman Trophy for Texas that year, rushing for over 2,100 yards and 27 touchdowns.

Williams went fifth overall to the New Orleans Saints in the 1999 NFL Draft thanks to a blockbuster trade, and would combine for over 1,000 yards from scrimmage in his rookie year in the NFL.

Simmons now marks the fourth Longhorn to make the cover of a college football video game, and will hope to repeat the successes and live up to the names who have earned the honor before him.

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