They Gave a 75 to Our QB? Meet MSU’s Digital Hidden Gems
EA Sports’ College Football 27 drops soon, and Michigan State fans have spotted a few glaring snubs in the player ratings. Quarterback Alessio Milivojevic checks in at a modest 75 overall despite throwing for nearly 300 yards and four touchdowns in his season finale. Incoming transfer rush end Kenny Soares Jr., fresh off an 80-tackle campaign at NC State, also sits at 75. Fellow edge rusher Anelu Lafaele, who notched two sacks in just 4.5 games before injury, is labeled 73. Ported-in receiver KK Smith gets a 77 even after proving his route-running chops at Notre Dame. And Swiss‐army tight end Carson Gulker, with 73 career touchdowns at Ferris State, is slotted in at 73. The list closes with MSU’s top‐rated roster stars—running back Cam Edwards (90) down to cornerback Tre Bell (81)—all comfortably above the portal pickups in EA’s ratings hierarchy.
In a world where video game developers apparently decide college football fates by rolling dice and consulting fortune cookies, MSU’s fresh faces are treated like benchwarmers from yesteryear. How dare a multi‐touchdown quarterback be shoehorned into the same 75 bracket as a player who hasn’t even snapped the ball in college? Perhaps EA’s next update will factor in moon phases and magic eight balls for more accurate player profiles. Meanwhile, Spartan fans can console themselves by imagining a secret “spike the controller” celebration every time Milivojevic screws up someone else’s defensive line rating.
7-Foot Future: Ethan Taylor’s Pro-Am Launchpad
At the Moneyball Pro-Am in Holt, Mich., freshman center Ethan Taylor has drawn eyeballs alongside All-American point guard Jeremy Fears Jr. The 7’1” recruit is the second-highest in MSU’s top-five class and arrives after a puzzling senior season at Link Academy where he came off the bench. Taylor’s official visit to East Lansing included a crowd-surfing debut at the Izzone Campout and chants in the Breslin Center—enough to tip his decision toward Michigan State over Kansas. Through two summer games, Taylor has totaled 33 points and an undisclosed haul of rebounds, pairing summer pro-am easing-in with hints of future stardom. Coaches and fans hope this blend of resources, love and high ceilings will see him “skyrocket” once the real season kicks off.
Behold the classic “bench-warmer turned basketball Beyoncé” narrative. Taylor’s tale checks all the boxes: mysterious Missouri prep benching, a transformative campout mosh pit, and the inevitable prophecy of “skyrocketing” performance. One can almost hear the celestial trumpets as coaches whisper sweet nothings into his seven-foot ear. Meanwhile, skeptics might wonder if Taylor’s secret weapons are more packed-crowd adrenaline and lyric-free hype videos than genuine court skills. But hey, in the era of social-media scouting reports, if you haven’t crowd-surfed yet, are you even recruited?
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