While he isn’t particularly thrilled with how his picture turned out in terms of likeness, Ole Miss senior quarterback Jaxson Dart still thinks it’s pretty incredible he’s finally in the game.

After an 11-year hiatus, the famed EA Sports College Football video game series is back, as the 2025 edition of the game was released for early orders on Tuesday and for the general public at midnight Friday on the East Coast. The popular series began in 1993 as Bill Walsh College Football and was released every year through 2013. The series was not released for more than a decade due to players wanting to profit from their name, image and likeness being in the games, per the Associated Press.

The conversation changed when NIL legislation went into effect in 2021, opening the door for players to earn money for their likenesses. According to the Associated Press, more than 11,000 college football players chose to be in the latest version of the game; they were given a free copy of the game and $600. The 2025 edition of the game is the first where players are identified by their full names and accurate biographical information; in previous games, for instance, Dart would have simply identified as “QB No. 2” unless fan-made rosters were downloaded separately.

Among the players opting into the game were Dart and senior wide receiver Tre Harris, who grew up playing the franchise. Dart didn’t think the computer generated image of him in the game was particularly realistic and made sure to share a few laughs about it at SEC Media Days earlier this week. Harris joked the developers “got (Dart’s) little mullet down.”

“It’s trash. I don’t know what they looked at. I don’t know where they got that from. But that ain’t me,” Dart said with a chuckle.

Still, Dart couldn’t help but smile when talking about being part of EA Sports College Football 25. Like many current players around the country, Dart grew up playing the games — he used to play as Oregon, he said, whose high-octane offense was on the rise through college football in his formative years. Dart also says he used lesser-known teams and built them into national title contenders.

“It’s pretty cool, isn’t it? I grew up playing it,” Dart said. “I was always the kid who, when my parents went to sleep, I was trying to sneak it on at nights and play it. So, it’ll be fun to kind of experience that and see yourself on a game. I think that’s just something that’s really cool.”

Harris opted to use his hometown Louisiana when he was younger. Now, though, he plans on further perfecting the connection between himself and Dart. Being in the game is “surreal,” Harris said.

Harris led the Rebels with 985 yards and eight touchdowns a season ago, while Dart is a preseason Heisman Trophy contender after totaling 31 touchdowns passing and rushing combined in 2023. Three Ole Miss players are ranked in the game’s top-100 players — junior defensive tackle Walter Nolen (26th), Dart (73rd) and Harris (81st).

“I used to play as UL, because I’m from Lafayette, Louisiana. I always used to play as ULL. But to be honest, I always was playing ‘Road to Glory.’ Always. I always used to make that trip from out of high school, going to college,” Harris said. “So, that’s one of the key memories, one of the key, core memories for me as a child.”