College Football 26 Road To Glory Deep Dive

Welcome Back to the Campus Huddle, your home for news and information about EA SPORTS™ College Football 26 straight from the developer team! We know you have been waiting for more information about Road to Glory and we have a lot to share with you today. Before we get started with the Campus Huddle, let's hear from Kirk Herbstreit for a video deep dive on Road to Glory and Superstar! 

Now, once again, let’s hear from Chad Walker, Producer, and Ben Haumiller, Principal Game Designer, for College Football 26. Let’s get started! 

BUILDING ON THE FOUNDATION

In College Football 25, we laid the foundation for our multi-year vision of what Road to Glory could become. We wanted the mode to be fast to fun, highly replayable, and grounded in the kinds of meaningful decisions that define a college athlete’s journey.

From the start, our goal was to create an experience without right or wrong answers — one where every choice was rooted in meaningful decisions that shaped your path and legacy. It was incredible to see the community response and how much fun players had with characters like Audrey, getting blocked after sending a bold text, and creating memes from those unexpected moments.

But in listening to our players, a few clear themes emerged. First, players wanted a more meaningful recruiting experience — more agency in deciding where they go to school, and more control over the moments that lead there. Second, while Coach Trust was a strong foundation for getting on the field, players wanted more tension, more rewards, and more to chase once they earned the starting job. And third, players wanted a better way to track their achievements and celebrate everything they’d earned across their career.

With College Football 26, we’ve built directly on that feedback as part of our multi-year vision — expanding Road to Glory in ways that deepen the recruiting process, increase the importance of every decision, and reward players for how they grow over time. Every moment still matters. But now, there are even more ways to shape your future.

CREATION

Your journey in Road to Glory begins with your first meaningful decision — choosing your initial star rating. This choice defines your starting path and character creation, setting the tone for your attributes, abilities, and the early expectations around you. Regardless of the path you choose, you’ll face challenges along the way — and how you respond to them will shape everything that follows.

There are four distinct starting points: Elite (5-star), Blue Chip (4-star), Contributor (3-star), and Underdog (2-star). Each offers a unique experience, from carrying the weight of national expectations to battling for recognition from the ground up. Your selected star rating sets your starting attributes and determines whether you begin with an ability tied to your archetype.

Elite 5-star prospects start with one gold and one silver ability. Blue Chip 4-star prospects begin with one silver ability. Contributor and Underdog players won’t start with any abilities — they’ll have to earn them by proving they belong.

The ability you start with is determined by your archetype. A Pocket Passer quarterback begins with Step Up and Dot, while a Pure Runner starts with Magician and Workhorse. But that early edge isn’t guaranteed to last. Just because you start as a 5-star doesn’t mean you can’t finish as a 2-star — and just because you start as a 2-star doesn’t mean you can’t climb all the way to 5-star status. Maintaining a top rating will require near-perfection throughout your high school journey.

After selecting your starting star rating, your next major decision is choosing your position and archetype — a choice that defines how you play and how schools view your potential.

In College Football 26, you can play as a Quarterback, Halfback, Wide Receiver, MIKE Linebacker, or Cornerback. Each position now features new, uniquely designed archetypes that reflect the diverse styles and skill sets seen across the college football landscape. This year, we’ve overhauled the entire archetype system to better mirror the real traits that make each player type distinct — from physical tools to mental makeup.

For example, Halfback now includes six archetypes. You might be an East/West Playmaker, a shiftier back who can create space and generate big-play moments, or an Elusive Bruiser, who combines agility in the open field with downhill physicality. Each archetype comes with its own starting attributes, skill group caps, and a curated set of physical abilities tailored to your style of play.

These choices don’t just shape how you play — they directly affect your recruiting path. Certain schools may be more or less interested in your archetype depending on how well you fit their scheme. A service academy like Army or Navy, for example, may be hesitant to pursue a Pocket Passer because it doesn’t align with their offensive system. That doesn’t mean you can’t earn their interest — it just means you’ll have to work harder to change minds.

After selecting your archetype, it’s time to customize your player — from the school you represent to how you look and move on the field. This is where your identity takes shape.

Start by choosing where you’re from. This decision isn’t just cosmetic — it directly influences recruiting. Local and in-state schools will show stronger interest, looking to lock down top regional talent. That doesn’t mean you can’t go out-of-state, but it will take more to earn those offers early.

Next, set your high school name and mascot. There are six preset mascots to choose from, each with their own uniforms, colors, and logo. But if you’re looking for more control — or you want to represent your actual high school — you can take advantage of full Team Builder integration.

To use Team Builder:

1. Head to the Team Builder website when College Football 26 is live worldwide and create your school. Design your uniforms, set your stadium, and build your roster — keeping in mind that this is still high school football. If you stack your team with all 90 OVR players, don’t expect much competition from the other side.
2. Once you’ve finalized your design, upload your team to the Download Center under Create & Share from the game’s main menu.
3. When starting Road to Glory, choose Import High School Team Builder. From there, select your downloaded team.
4. You’ll be given the option to import your custom roster. If you choose not to, a generic high school roster will be applied to your team. However, your custom stadium will always be used.

Whether you go with a preset mascot or a fully custom creation, your high school becomes the backdrop to your early journey — shaping your season, your story, and your first shot at college attention.

Once your school is set, it’s time to focus on your appearance and style. Choose from body types, including the newly added Lean frame that reflects long, wiry athletes. Equip your player with that on-field drip, then fine-tune how they move on game day.

This year, we’ve expanded our styles and stances system with deeper customization options. Choose from over 40 throw styles, and select how your player runs, carries the ball, and lines up pre-snap. Whether you’re clapping to call for the snap in shotgun or crouching textbook-tight under center, these animations bring your player’s personality to life.

With your player fully created, your high school selected, and your style locked in, it’s time to begin your journey and take the field. From here, every rep matters — and every performance shapes the next chapter of your Road to Glory. Your decisions in creation set the tone. But your legacy is built with every rep after that.

HIGH SCHOOL

Your Road to Glory officially begins with your first media moment — an interview with local reporter Alice Zimmer, who’s covering your rise as a high school prospect. Alice kicks off your recruiting story by asking a critical question: what motivates you when choosing a college? Whether it’s academics, championships, playing time, or something else entirely, your answers help define the kind of programs that will be most interested in you. Schools will evaluate your fit based on how well your motivations align with their My School grades, which will start to determine which programs are most likely to pursue you early in your journey.

Once the interview ends, it’s time to begin your high school season, where your goal is to Build Your Tape. Your tape is a direct reflection of your abilities and proficiency of your position. The better your tape, the more schools will be interested in you. But attention isn’t enough. To earn a scholarship offer, your tape score must meet or exceed the standard for that program.

Before we dive into how you build your tape, it’s important to understand how to set your recruiting board — and manage the top schools that are watching your every move.

MANAGING YOUR TOP SCHOOLS

Recruiting is competitive, and how you manage your top schools can make or break your path to a scholarship. Each school sets a scholarship threshold, and to earn an offer, your Assessed Tape Score must meet or exceed it. Your Assessed Tape Score will vary from school to school. It is a representation of how that school views your film and how well your skillset aligns with what they’re looking for at your position.

A school’s scholarship threshold isn’t static. It’s shaped by multiple factors, including:

• Team Prestige
• Scheme Fit
• Your Motivations
• Proximity to campus
• Team Needs
• Your answers in scenarios and other off-field decisions

To make informed decisions, you can view each school’s full evaluation of you from the Overview tab on your recruiting board. Here, you’ll find your Assessed Tape Score, Projected Role, Current Depth Chart, and Head Coach boosts and tendencies — everything you need to understand how that school sees you and where you might fit.

You’ll be competing for offers against other recruits as a part of a 4,100 player recruiting class, where schools are targeting other players at your position. From the Recruiting Class tab, you can see which prospects a school is actively pursuing. If another player commits at your position, your Assessed Tape Score might no longer be enough — making an offer harder to earn or even pulling it off the table entirely.

You can manage your board at any time from the My Recruitment action in the High School hub. You’re allowed up to 10 schools on your list, and you can add, remove, or swap them out based on your evolving recruiting picture. When browsing new schools to add or swapping one out, you’ll be able to view each program’s full assessment of your Tape Score to see where you stand before making a decision. You can also reorder your board anytime by holding R2/RT to keep your priorities in check.

And while you focus on your journey, the world of college football continues to evolve around you. Seniors graduate, new recruits commit, coaches change jobs, and players enter the Transfer Portal — all of which reshapes the college landscape by the time you’re ready to commit. Stay plugged in through the High School hub, where you can view rankings, top stories, coaching moves, award watchlists, and everything else that is happening in the College Football world.

BUILDING YOUR TAPE

Once your season begins, it’s time to show what you can do on the field — and that means building your tape. Over the course of your high school schedule, you’ll play five games, each made up of four key moments designed to showcase your skill set. These moments drop you into a wide variety of football scenarios and challenge you with specific drive goals — like leading a go-ahead scoring drive or flipping field position after being pinned deep.

Most drives include two goals: a basic goal that’s more achievable, and a harder goal that rewards more tape score if completed. Some drives may only feature a singular, high-stakes goal, offering a significant tape score boost if you rise to the occasion. These goals are your chance to prove you can execute in pressure-packed situations.

Your performance in these moments directly shapes your Tape Score. Each drive is an opportunity to demonstrate your execution, decision-making, and ability to rise to the moment. The more goals you complete, the better your tape — and the more schools will take notice.

Each week’s set of moments is built around a theme tied to your archetype. These themes are designed to measure your proficiency in your position and your ability to attack different defensive schemes, coverages, and players that challenge your role. For example, as a Pocket Passer, you might be tested against a shutdown corner one week or a blitz-heavy defense the next. Across all archetypes, there are more than 700 unique moments in the game — each one crafted to reflect the real variety and demands of college-bound talent.

Schools evaluate these moments differently based on their schemes and what they value in a player. Some schools may place a higher weight on pocket presence and poise under pressure, while others may care more about mobility or improvisation. This is reflected in the Tape Score Boost each school applies — which can range from 1.0x to 3.0x depending on how much they value the situation you were placed in.

When selecting which moments you want to complete, it is critical that you take into account the situation you are walking into, as well as how your top schools value that moment. Your ability to complete the moment, as well as selecting moments that your top school values highly can make or break your chances of earning a scholarship offer.

The variation in evaluation from school to school is what makes your journey unique — your tape is more than a stat sheet. It’s a statement of who you are as a player, and which schools believe in your potential.

Once you’ve selected your four moments for the week, it’s time to take the field. Before each drive begins, you’ll see a banner that sets the stage — outlining the situation, your drive goals, and how different schools view the moment. But once the whistle blows, it’s on you to execute.

During gameplay, you’ll have access to your full playbook, customized to your archetype. A Pure Runner might see more quarterback-designed runs, while a Pocket Passer will have additional plays that stretch the field through the air. At the line of scrimmage, you’ll have full control with access to pre-snap adjustments like audibles, hot routes, and pass protection shifts.

Your drive goals are always visible in the top-right corner of the screen, so you’ll never lose sight of what you need to accomplish. If you’re matched up against a key player on the opposing team, you’ll see Rival above their head — calling out that player as an impact player. Whether it’s a star linebacker, shutdown corner, or elite receiver, these players demand your attention.

After each moment ends, you’ll get a drive summary, breaking down your performance. This includes all completed goals, your total tape score for the game, how many moments remain, and any Team Impacts you created, which are plays that are not a part of your core drive goals, but influence your team’s ability to win the game.

Team Impacts can work for or against you. For example, scoring a touchdown increases your team’s chance of winning and provides you with additional tape score. Conversely, throwing an interception, fumbling, or taking a sack hurts your team’s chances and reduces your tape score even if you completed your core objectives.

If you're playing on a difficulty other than Heisman, you’ll also have the option to restart a moment from the summary screen. The number of retries available scales with your difficulty setting, rewarding players who take on greater challenges with fewer second chances.

MANAGING YOUR STAR RATING

After every game, you’ll see updates to your star rating along with your national, state, and position rankings. These rankings rise and fall based on your performance, and if you want to finish as a 5-star prospect, near perfection is required. But the path goes both ways — just because you start as a 5-star doesn’t mean you’ll stay there, and just because you begin as a 2-star doesn’t mean you can’t climb the rankings.

Your final star rating has major consequences. It directly affects the strength of scholarship offers you receive, and it determines your starting attributes and abilities once you reach college. Players who finish as a 4-star or 5-star recruit will also unlock the ability to select an additional mental ability before leaving high school — a final edge earned through performance and consistency.

Each week, you’ll encounter High School Scenarios — dynamic interactions with college coaches, classmates, and off-field challenges. Coaches may reach out with strong interest, pitching their program and explaining why you’re the right fit. But they may also tell you they’re no longer recruiting you or that you’re not the right fit after all.

When coaches reach out, you’ll often have choices to make. You might call them out as your current favorite, which increases your chances with that school, but at the cost of slightly lowering interest from other programs. Or you could publicly signal that you’re no longer interested, tanking your odds with that school but giving a boost to schools still on your board. Every response matters, and each decision reshapes your recruiting picture.

Scenarios also evolve dynamically based on your location, playing time opportunity, and in-game performance. A coach’s interest in you can rise or fall week to week. They’ll even adjust their messaging — advocating for their program by pointing to a winning season, a dip in your other top schools’ performance, or the prestige of their university compared to your other options.

You’ll also engage with classmates, facing questions like how you want to study for an upcoming standardized test or how you’re preparing for events like homecoming. How you respond in these moments — both with coaches and peers — can positively or negatively affect how programs view you. Every on and off field decision you make in your high school journey will ultimately shape your future prospects on the gridiron.

HIGHLIGHT MOMENTS

In addition to coaches pitching you on their program, some schools will challenge you directly — asking you to put a specific skill on tape that aligns with what they’re looking for. These are called Highlight Moments, and they’re among the most intense opportunities in your recruiting journey.

Highlight Moments are high risk, high reward. They give you the chance to make a major leap with a particular school, but the challenge comes with a steep price: the tape score boost you earn only applies to that one school, and the goals are significantly harder than what you’ll face in standard gameplay.

When you attempt a Highlight Moment, the requesting school will apply a 6.0x tape score modifier — double the standard maximum of 3.0x from normal moments. If you pull it off, the reward is massive: it can move you up a school’s board, reignite interest if you were falling behind, or upgrade their scholarship offer package.

These moments can take many forms — from throwing a perfect lob pass for a touchdown to hitting a deep 50-yard completion. The key is that they are tailored to a specific skill the school values, and your success or failure in that moment can define how that program views your future.

Complete it, and you could put yourself back in the conversation. Miss it, and you may lose valuable ground. Highlight Moments are opportunities — but like everything else in Road to Glory, they have consequences. And not all scholarships are created equal.

SCHOLARSHIP OFFERS

Earning a scholarship offer is a milestone — but it’s just the beginning. Not all scholarships are created equal, and each one comes with its own tier, bonuses, and risks.

Once you receive an offer, your next goal is to improve it. Scholarship tiers are dynamic — they can go up or down based on how you're performing, how schools view you, and what’s happening in the recruiting world around you.

Your star rating plays a big role. As your rating climbs, schools may upgrade your offer with better perks. But if your rating drops, your offer can downgrade just as quickly. A 5-star prospect might receive the best possible starting offer from a program, but that can shift if your tape weakens or another recruit rises up the board.

Your offer tier can also change if a school signs another player at your position. Not only will the required Assessed Tape Score to keep your offer increase, but the quality of the scholarship package itself may drop. Likewise, your interactions with coaches, your performance in highlight moments, and your choices in off-field scenarios all affect how schools see you — and whether they’re ready to commit premium resources to you.

What Comes With a Better Scholarship?

Higher-tier offers aren’t just for bragging rights — they come with bonuses that impact your college career:

• Stronger starting values in your academics, brand, leadership, and training meters
• Additional XP
• Extra Skill Points
• Higher starting Coach Trust

These perks won’t apply until you arrive on campus, but they can make a big difference early in your college career — giving you a leg up on playing time, progression, and leadership roles.

If a school has offered you a scholarship offer, you can view their offer and the bonuses they are giving you from the “Recruitment” tab of your recruiting board. Here you can compare each school's scholarship offer and see the best bonus they can offer in a particular area.

Verbally Committing

To protect your scholarship tier and bonuses, you can verbally commit to a school. This locks in your offer exactly as it stands — including its current bonuses. Once committed, your offer can’t get worse… but it also can’t get better. Even if you dominate in your next game and increase your star rating, the school’s offer won’t change unless you decommit.

However, decommitting comes with consequences. If you back out, the Tape Score threshold required to earn a new offer from that school will increase — possibly enough to lose the offer entirely if you were just above the line. Additionally, your maximum potential bonus with that school will decrease. In other words, the best they can offer you going forward might not be as strong as what you had before.

And just because you have an offer doesn’t mean it’s safe. This is a live recruiting class. If a school signs another player at your position, your standing can fall. Poor scenario decisions or slumping performance can cause your value to drop and your offer to be revoked.

SENIOR NIGHT

At the end of your high school season, you’ll get one last chance to leave it all on the field — Senior Night. This is your capstone moment, a final opportunity to showcase your growth, your tape, and everything you’ve built throughout the season.

You’ll be honored with a special runout, flowers in hand, as you celebrate your final home game under the lights. But this night isn’t just symbolic — it’s also your last chance to manage your top schools. Once the game wraps up, you’ll need to officially announce your Top 3.

This decision is critical. These are the three programs you’ll take with you into Signing Day, and the hats you’ll see on the table when it’s time to make your college choice. Choose carefully because Signing Day is just around the corner.

SIGNING DAY

You’ve made your tape. You’ve earned your offers. Now it’s time to make your choice. Signing Day is the final step in your high school journey and your first step into college football.

The scene is set in your high school gymnasium, with hats laid out for each school in your top three. This is your moment — and how you handle it is up to you. Want to fake out the crowd? Go ahead and pick up a hat just to put it back down. Want to throw one across the gym for dramatic effect? You can do that too.

But when it’s all said and done, you’ll grab the hat for the school you’re ready to commit to — the place where you’ll begin to leave your legacy in the college football world.

WELCOME TO COLLEGE

You’ve earned your offer. You’ve chosen your school. Now it’s time to prove you belong.

The college phase of Road to Glory begins with a new set of challenges — and more decisions that will shape your future on and off the field. Once you arrive on campus, your scholarship bonuses take effect, giving you a boost based on the offers you earned. If you preordered College Football 26, you’ll also receive a bonus of 50 Skill Points when you start any Road to Glory save. This bonus is separate from your scholarship and can be disabled in league settings for players who want to start from scratch. The bonus skill points are only available from preorder and are not purchasable with real money. You will be able to earn more skill points through your play.

Like a real student-athlete, managing your time is key. Each week, you’ll take part in two main activities. First, practice is where you’ll earn Coach Trust — essential for climbing the depth chart and earning opportunities to play. The more trust you build, the faster you’ll rise within your program.

Second, you’ll set your Weekly Agenda, deciding how to spend your time off the field. Focus on academics to stay eligible and unlock mental abilities, hit the weight room to improve your physical attributes, or socialize to build your brand. You can also spend time with teammates to develop leadership or recover to maintain your health through the season.

Balancing these activities effectively will be key to becoming a well-rounded and successful student-athlete. You won’t be able to maximize everything — so how you manage your time each week will define the kind of player you become.

WEEKLY AGENDA

To better reflect a real week in the life of a student athlete, we’ve updated the energy system in College Football 26. You’ll now have 5 energy points on a short week, 6 on a regular week, and 7 on a bye week, giving you one point for each open day in your schedule. You’ll use this energy to spend time across different categories and each decision you make pushes or pulls on your meters in unique ways.

We’ve also rebalanced how each meter works. They now rise and fall more dynamically based on your weekly decisions and energy use, making each choice more meaningful. Prioritizing one area might mean sacrificing progress in another, creating natural push/pull tension that mirrors real student-athlete life.

New off-field scenarios and dilemmas will also appear during the week — affecting your meters both positively and negatively. These moments reflect the unpredictability of college life and the consequences of how you respond to the world around you.

This year, your Weekly Agenda goes a step further. You won’t just be managing short-term fatigue — you’ll also need to think about long-term wear and tear. The choices you make each week don’t just impact the next game; they stack up across the season and your career.

Taking care of your body will be essential. Whether it’s dialing back training, prioritizing recovery, or simply making smarter decisions about your workload, how you manage your physical health plays a direct role in your success. If you don’t take care of your body, your career won’t reach its full potential.

SEASON AND CAREER HEALTH

As we discussed in the Dynasty Deep Dive, managing your body over time is just as important as avoiding injuries. Much like a boxer, a football player can only absorb so many hits before the wear and tear catches up. It’s not just about whether you’re injured — it’s about how your body responds to the physical demands of a long season. Every hit adds up, and as our friend OG says, “not all hits are created equal.” Some players hold up over time. Others wear down under the weight of repeated impacts.

In College Football 26, Road to Glory introduces season and career health pools. These track how much wear and tear damage you can recover in a single season and across your entire career. Every time you take steps to recover, it pulls from these pools. Once your season health pool is depleted, you won’t be able to recover further until the offseason when your body fully heals.

At the end of each season, your pool replenishes, but not always to the same level. The size of next year’s pool depends on how much of it was left intact at the end of the current season. If you barely made it through and burned most of your recovery capacity, you’ll start the next year with a smaller pool. Finish the year in good shape, and you’ll start the next season with a similar health pool.

In addition to managing your wear and tear week to week, you’re now managing your career clock. Every hit you take in games, and every decision you make in your Weekly Agenda about how hard you train, directly impacts your season health. Training too aggressively can drain your recovery potential and leave you worn down by the end of the year. Long-term success depends on how well you balance development with durability — not just how much work you put in, but how smartly you manage it.

NIL DEALS

Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) opportunities are a core part of life as a student-athlete — and they’re a significant piece of your journey in College Football 26. NIL deals allow you to partner with brands, boost your personal profile, and earn valuable rewards as you build your legacy.

This year, we’ve expanded the system with over 35 new NIL deals, giving you a wider range of partnerships to pursue. We’ve also completely rebalanced NIL payouts, making deals more meaningful and more rewarding than ever before. Most notably, NIL deals can now pay out skill points, giving you another powerful path to progression beyond just on-field performance.

Previously, the only clear way to progress your player outside of on-field performance was through Training — a reliable option, but one that came with the downside of increasing your wear and tear damage over time. Now, focusing on your brand and pursuing NIL deals offers an alternate path to develop your player without adding wear and tear.

NIL still comes with a cost. These deals require energy, and accepting them means weighing your weekly priorities. But the tradeoff can be worth it — especially when the right deal provides the boosts or skill points you need to stay ahead.

SCENARIOS AND DILEMMAS

Scenarios return in College Football 26, once again putting you in tough situations that test your priorities, values, and ambition. These moments aren’t just window dressing — they shape your path and leave a lasting impact on your career.

Scenarios are triggered based on the decisions you make and how you choose to spend your time off the field. Some dilemmas will be actual conflicts with real consequences like whether to skip class for a short-term gain knowing there’s a chance you’ll get caught, or whether to steal your teammate’s date, which might give you a boost but risk creating tension in the locker room. As we said from the beginning, there are no right or wrong answers, only the path that you create.

Every situation you face will affect how your story unfolds. Your decisions directly impact your meters, including Coach Trust and the newly introduced Coach Happiness system. Coach Happiness gives coaches another lens through which to evaluate you — not just as a player, but as someone in their locker room.

In College Football 26, we’ve added more dilemmas and interactions that challenge the balance of your meters. And in response to community feedback, all in-game coach challenges now award XP, rewarding performance and giving every moment more value.

Every choice you make, on or off the field, contributes to your journey. These scenarios don’t just fill space. They define your story.

COACH TRUST AND POSITION BATTLES

In College Football 25, Coach Trust was a great mechanic for getting you onto the field and earning playing time, but once you won the job, there was little risk in losing it unless you became academically ineligible. Players asked for more to chase after earning their role, and this year, Coach Trust has grown into a long-term progression system that rewards you for consistent performance and growth.

Coach Trust now goes beyond just winning your position. As you earn more of it, you’ll unlock new abilities on the field, including greater access to the playbook and more control at the line of scrimmage:

• Play Swaps: Get a new set of plays to choose from
• Increased Number of Plays: Start with one play to choose during playcalling and work up to 2 plays, then 3, 6, 9, 15, all the way to full playbook access when you’ve achieved max coach trust
• Audibles: Change the play at the line of scrimmage
• Hot Routes: Adjust receiver or defender assignments
• QB Protections (offense only): Modify offensive line protection
• Defensive Adjustments (defense only): Make line and linebacker adjustments

Coach Trust reflects how much trust your coaches have in you — not just to earn snaps, but to command the huddle and control the offense or defense. It’s a system that grows with you throughout your college career.

You’ll build Coach Trust through your in-game performance and practice, both played and simulated. And this year, if you sim practice, you’ll now receive a notification showing exactly how much Coach Trust you earned that week — making your progression clearer and more trackable than ever.

As your Coach Trust grows, you’ll compete in Position Battles for depth chart spots. In College Football 26, the score you need to beat now scales based on the position you are battling for. Winning the starting job is more difficult than it is to move from third string to backup. This added intensity reflects the real challenge of taking someone’s spot at the top and makes climbing the depth chart feel more competitive and earned.

COACH HAPPINESS

While Coach Trust reflects your long-term growth, it does not capture how your coach feels about you in the moment based on your on field performance and off field decision making. In College Football 26, we are introducing Coach Happiness which is a direct reflection of how your coach feels about you right now. It’s a short-term, week-to-week system that reacts to your in-game performance and off-field decisions — and it can make or break your spot on the depth chart.

Coach Happiness fluctuates week to week and game to game. If it’s high, you’ll progress through Coach Trust faster. If it drops too low, your Coach Trust slows, you may begin to lose trust each week, and if things get bad enough, you could be benched or demoted entirely. Once you’ve lost your depth chart spot, you’ll need to compete in a Position Battle to earn it back — but your coach won’t even consider giving you another shot until your happiness rating has returned to neutral.

It doesn’t matter how good you are or how dominant you are on the field, if you are becoming a distraction to the program or you aren’t taking care of business, you will quickly fall out of favor with your coach and find yourself having to climb back up the depth chart.

What Affects Coach Happiness?

There are four primary factors that influence Coach Happiness: Game Performance, Meters, Scenarios, and Practice.

• Game Performance: This is your biggest driver. Win games, make big plays, avoid mistakes — and your coach will be happy. Mess up repeatedly or underperform, and the leash gets shorter. Players with a high OVR have more room for error; fringe starters don’t. One bad game won’t tank you, but stack a couple, and you’ll feel the effects.
• Meters: Your GPA and Leadership ratings contribute each week based on your off-field actions. A low GPA or poor leadership can hurt your Coach Happiness. If you really don’t take care of business in the classroom and you become academically ineligible, your coach will lose a significant amount of happiness and not only will you be suspended, you will lose your spot entirely. Conversely, staying eligible and leading by example will boost your standing.
• Scenarios: Weekly off-field scenarios can shift Coach Happiness based on your decisions. Complimenting your coach in an interview or showing mastery of the playbook during a team meeting will earn favor. Skip class, get caught cheating, or embarrass the program, and you’ll take a hit. For example: If you are falling behind in class and some guy named Chad hands you a cheat sheet for your test and you take it — you might gain short-term academic benefits, but your coach will be furious if you get caught.
• Practice: Coach Happiness also changes based on how you perform in weekly practices. No medal = small loss. Bronze = neutral. Silver or Gold = small gain. Practice may not move the needle as quickly as games, but it helps maintain trust during quieter weeks.

Coach Happiness adds a layer of short-term consequence and emotion to your career. Your coach isn’t just there to look good — he’s evaluating you week by week. Every performance, every rep, every decision matters. If you want to stay on the field, keep your coach happy.

GAMEDAY

When it’s time to suit up, our goal is to make you feel the moment.

Whether you’re stepping onto the field in front of a packed home crowd or taking on a hostile road environment with 100,000 fans against you, College Football 26 brings gameday to life in a way that’s more immersive and personal than ever before.

During gameplay, we’ve introduced new Road to Glory camera options, based directly on player feedback, to help you see the field from better angles and feel more connected to the action. Presentation this year is built around you — especially when you take the field at home.

Now when you are running out of the tunnel, you’re no longer just watching the pageantry of college football; you’re a part of it. As you walk down the tunnel ready to run out onto the field, the camera will be directly behind your player keeping you fully in the moment. You’ll hear the band echoing through the stadium, see teammates rallying around you, and feel the electricity of a packed house welcoming you to the field. 

In Florida, you’ll touch the Gator Head. At Oklahoma, you’ll run behind the Sooner Schooner. At LSU, you’ll tap the Win bar. These are college football traditions brought to life, and now you’re a part of it. As you take the field you can pan the camera with the right stick, soaking in the environment and owning the moment as the crowd erupts around you.

As you start to cook and your player becomes him, the environment will begin to react to you. You’ll see fans holding signs with your name on them. Some will even have your name painted across their chests.

But gameday isn’t just about atmosphere — it’s also about survival. Each time you step on the field, you’ll need to manage your wear and tear. Push your body too far, take too many hits, or play reckless football, and your season health will suffer. Do you take the risk to hang in the pocket and deliver a strike knowing you’ll get hit? Do you run one more play late in the game at 40 carries, or check out to protect your body? These are the decisions you’ll have to make.

PER PLAY GRADING

Every snap matters. In College Football 26, your in-game performance is now tracked through a Per Play Grading system — a direct reflection of how your coach evaluates you, moment by moment. Your starting grade is determined by your current Coach Happiness level. Players with a low Coach Happiness level will start with a lower grade and have a much shorter leash as a result. Every play updates your grade in real time, whether it’s a clean touchdown pass, a key defensive stop, a costly sack, or a missed read. 

Grades are meant to be earned. Getting an A takes consistent execution and standout plays.  But make too many mistakes, and you’ll drop fast. If your grade falls to an F, you’ll be benched for a quarter. When you return, you'll start with a D+ — one more chance to prove yourself. But mess up again, and your coach won’t hesitate to pull you out a second time.

At the end of each game, your final grade determines what rewards (or consequences) you earn. That includes:

• Followers: Gain or lose fans based on performance
• Player XP: Progress your player more quickly with a strong grade
• Coach Trust: Gain or lose coach trust based on performance
• Coach Happiness: Increase or decrease your coach’s satisfaction with you

When it comes to how your coach sees you and their happiness level based on your performance, not all leashes are created equal. A high OVR starter may get the benefit of the doubt after a rough game. But a fringe contributor or backup? One bad performance can set you back fast.

Still, Coach Happiness is about consistency. To gain or lose significant amounts of happiness, you’ll need to stack performances across multiple weeks. One off-day won’t ruin you. But if you struggle again the next week, expect the consequences to start compounding — and to see your coach’s happiness with you begin to fade.

We see it every Saturday in real life. And now, you’ll feel it in Road to Glory. Every rep. Every drive. Every play.

PROGRESSION

Progression in College Football 26 has been reworked to offer a more natural and rewarding sense of growth throughout your career. We’ve increased the number of skill group levels from 10 to 20, allowing for more gradual development and greater control over how you shape your player.

As part of this overhaul, we’ve also rebalanced the upgrade costs at each level, ensuring that each investment feels meaningful and matches the pace of your career.

You can upgrade your player at any time by selecting the Upgrade Player action item in the Actions tab of the RTG Hub, or by pressing the Player Info button in the Player tab. Your player will progress through three primary activities: Gameplay, Training, and NIL Deals. Unlike Dynasty players, you will not receive offseason progression, so there’s increased importance on how you spend your time during the season.

This year also introduces new physical and mental abilities, as detailed in the Gameplay Deep Dive. Alongside these additions, we’ve updated how you unlock physical ability tiers. Previously, advancing an ability tier only required a single attribute rating, for example, hitting 95 Toughness to unlock Platinum Workhorse. Now, some abilities require multiple attribute thresholds to reach top-tier versions.

For example, Platinum Shifty now requires both 97 Change of Direction and 96 Acceleration for a Wide Receiver. These added requirements increase the value of elite traits and further drive player differentiation across archetypes and positions.

LEAVING YOUR LEGACY

Every great player leaves a legacy — now Road to Glory gives you the tools to build, track, and celebrate it. There is no set ending. No scripted finale. Whether you’re chasing Heismans, winning a title at a different school every year, or simply trying to carve out a meaningful career on your terms, Road to Glory supports the path you choose. This year, we’ve added multiple systems to help you capture and remember the journey — not just when it ends, but as it unfolds.

TROPHY ROOM

The Trophy Room is your place to celebrate the biggest moments of your Road to Glory career. Every time you win a rivalry game, bowl game, conference title, national championship, or individual award, the trophy is automatically added to your Trophy Room. You’ll receive a notification in-game, and you can view your full collection from the RTG Hub, main menu, or global profile.

Each Road to Glory character has its own Trophy Room, tied specifically to that player. Team-based trophies include full context: season, team, opponent, and final score. Individual awards show your name, team, and the year you brought home the hardware. You can even select a trophy to learn more about its history and significance in college football.

In total, there are more than 160 rivalry, bowl, and individual award trophies to collect. Whether you’re flexing your second Heisman, third natty, or just looking back on the moments that defined your storied career, the Trophy Room is built to celebrate your legacy. College Football has a list of all time greats — those unforgettable players who became synonymous with the sport. Now, your legacy, name, and moments live on, immortalized forever in your Trophy Room.

ETCHING YOUR NAME INTO COLLEGE FOOTBALL HISTORY

Your legacy isn’t just personal — it can now be etched into the record books of college football itself. In College Football 26, the College Football History screen gives you the chance to see your name listed alongside some of the sport’s all-time greats.

Accessible from the Stats & Records tab of the Road to Glory Hub, College Football History is a curated archive of the sport’s biggest achievements. It tracks a timeline of historical award winners, national champions, and conference champions — stretching from Yale’s first national title in 1869 to Jay Berwanger winning the first Heisman Memorial Trophy in 1935.

As you earn these same accolades during your Road to Glory career, your name will appear in those same records. Whether it’s a national championship, a conference title, or a major individual award, every major moment you earn is added to the legacy of the sport — side by side with real legends.

And with College Football 26, we’ve deepened this experience even further by adding 14 new authentic awards, including the Maxwell Award and the Walter Camp Award, giving you more ways to make history.

In addition to College Football History, you can now view all of your awards and accolades from your player card. Within the player card, go to the more tab and then stats. Once you are within the stats screen filter to Awards. This will show all of your individual awards like Heisman Trophies, conference championships, national championship, All-American and All-Conference selections, how many times you have been national and conference player of the week, and your transfer history.

FROM FRIDAY NIGHTS TO SUNDAY

Your Road to Glory career begins under the Friday night lights — a high school hopeful with dreams of something bigger. From there, your path winds through Saturdays filled with pressure, rivalries, championships, and growth. Once your college journey comes to a close, it is time to finish your career at the highest level on Sundays.

In College Football 26, we have expanded the integration between Road to Glory and Madden NFL 26 Superstar mode. This is a story and a journey that stretches from Friday to Saturday to Sunday, across two games, and one player. See the Madden NFL 26 Superstar deep dive for more details (EA account, internet connection, and all game updates required).

Your decisions and your choices will ultimately shape your journey and your Road to Glory. That journey doesn’t end with college. It’s just getting started.

POST-GAME SPEECH

Being a college athlete is not easy and that’s exactly the experience we set out to replicate. The pressure. The choices. The grind. The moments that matter. Our goal is to give you the tools and meaningful decision points for you to craft your own story, your own path, and your own Road to Glory. 

Your decisions in the classroom, on field, and in the locker room will ultimately shape your journey and your Road to Glory. We cannot wait to see the stories you craft and the legacy you leave, from Friday nights to the Saturday lights, and all the way to the biggest stage on Sunday.

We’ll see you in the next Deep Dive.

— Chad Walker, Ben Haumiller (@BenHaumiller), and the entire College Football 26 Development team

College Football 26 launches worldwide on July 10, 2025. Pre-order the Deluxe Edition** or the EA SPORTS™ MVP Bundle* and play 3 days early. Conditions and restrictions apply. See disclaimers for details. Stay in the conversation by following us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and Answers HQ.

**Conditions & restrictions apply. See ea.com/games/ea-sports-college-football/college-football-26/game-disclaimers for details.

*Conditions & restrictions apply. See https://www.ea.com/games/madden-nfl/madden-nfl-26/game-disclaimers for details.