The Gaming Tailgate, which last year chipped in to help NCAA Football 12 coordinate its end zone artillery, has noticed that this month seven Heisman Trophy winners have all been mentioned on Twitter in connection with NCAA Football 13. Most of the mentions come from Sandy Sandoval, EA Sports’ top man for athlete relations.
Famous athletes promote EA Sports products all the time, but the connections here mean something a little deeper may be in the works. Especially as one of the athletes is Archie Griffin, the only two-time winner of the Heisman Trophy.
Griffin, to my knowledge, has had no promotional relationship with the NCAA Football franchise before now, so if EA Sports is reaching out to him, it could mean the game is cooking up something special with regards to college gridiron’s most prestigious award. Other winners such as Barry Sanders, Marcus Allen, Mark Ingram (featured on last year’s cover), Desmond Howard (on the cover of NCAA 06) and even Jim Plunkett (pictured above at right, with Sandoval), have also turned up in mentions.
Unmentioned Heisman winners with a past EA Sports promotional association include Tim Tebow (cover of NCAA Football 11), Carson Palmer (cover of NCAA 2004) and the newest winner, Robert Griffin III, who appeared at Madden Bowl XVIII.
On February 6, Barry Sanders, who already has strong existing ties to EA Sports, also tweeted “Me and @MarcusAllenHOF at the EA NCAA 2013 shoot…” referencing the USC running back and Heisman Trophy winner. To my mind, there’s only one reason EA Sports would go to the trouble of rounding up these guys for an (expensive) promotional appearance: Something’s cooking in the game. Whether that’s an appearance of all-time greats or an enhancement to the game’s “Road to Glory” mode, who can tell.
NCAA Football 13 and Former Heisman Winners [The Gaming Tailgate; image via The Gaming Tailgate]
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