Caleb Williams Says He Won't Appear In The New NCAA Football Video Game For $500, Forgetting The Fact That Nobody Cares And He Won't Be In College Anyway

Yahoo — During an interview with Yahoo Sports, Williams expressed excitement in the game’s scheduled return in 2024 while also questioning EA’s reported compensation plan of paying each player $500 to appear in the game without royalties — an amount and concept reported by On3 and one that EA itself described as “speculation.”

Williams suggested a player’s value — experience, playing time, accolades, etc. — should be considered in determining their compensation level.

“Thing about life is, you have to adjust to anything. Businesses and brands and things like that have to adjust to the new brand of college. I’d love to have the game back, but it’s the new day and age and everybody knows what the new day and age in college is,” said Williams, referencing the burgeoning NIL industry in which he’s thrived.

“It’s like if you go to school and you are a straight-A student and there’s another kid whose strong suit isn’t school and he gets B's or B-minuses. How fair would it be if you get the same grade as him? That never works in school and it doesn’t make sense. That’s how I look at that game with the situation with the $500."

Caleb Williams apparently wasn't getting the amount of attention he'd like as the reigning Heisman Trophy winner and favorite to win the award again, so he decided to insert himself into a story that really has nothing to do with him at all. Williams says he doesn't know if the reported $500 universal compensation will be enough to entice him to be part of the EA Sports college football video game releasing next year, either forgetting or pretending he doesn't know he's going to be the No. 1 pick in the NFL Draft after this seaso

But that part doesn't even matter. I'm glad Williams is getting the attention he wants. The dirty little secret nobody seems to have told him or any of the other players bitching about getting $500 is that nobody actually cares if they're in the game or not. I'd pay double the cost of the game for it to come out today with no player likenesses in it rather than get it next year with the actual rosters. We all played it for decades with QB #13 and we'd do it again in a heartbeat.

Even if the players were completely randomized — since the whole "QB #13 from the same hometown as Caleb Williams and has the exact stats he would have if he was in the game but he definitely isn't" thing is what led to the game going away in the first place — I'd happily take that. All anybody cares about is a video game where we can play college football with our favorite school and then win three national titles at UMass in dynasty mode. Getting the players into the game is a nice bonus, but completely unnecessary.

Again, Williams isn't going to be in college anyway so I don't know why he feels the need to weigh in on this, but I hope EA calls the bluff of any players who demand more money. Let them be the only ones in the locker room not in the game that everyone else is playing and then see if they think it was worth it. And anybody who does actually have any leverage to demand more money is already making six figures in NIL, anyway.

Just take the $500 to be in an awesome video game. Or don't, because nobody actually cares.