Denard Robinson’s dorm room at Michigan featured one activity 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, he remembers: NCAA Football. Before he became the video game’s final cover athlete in 2014, Robinson would create himself – even if the shoelaces weren’t ever quite right – and play daily.

Robinson liked controlling his virtual avatar so much that he played older versions of the game that featured his likeness – or pseudo likeness (more on that in a second) – far more often than he did the 2014 iteration plastered with his image.

Over half a decade later, Robinson still misses NCAA Football.

“I’d definitely would like to see it come back,” Robinson told 247Sports. “If they were to do a pool and asked kids if they want to be on NCAA football and if they want to bring NCAA back, a lot of kids would say yes although they wouldn’t get paid.”

About that … The story of NCAA football’s demise is a tale well worn at this point. Lawsuits over athlete likeness, including the landmark proceedings of Ed O’Bannon, ended the game’s circulation with the 2014 version. The courts ruled EA Sports had used athlete likeness without permission or compensation. EA Sports eventually paid out $60 million in settlements to athletes who appeared in its games between 2003-14, according to CBS Sports.

Thus ended NCAA Football for the modern generation. The NCAA did not renew its licensing agreement with EA, and though recent Madden games have featured colleges – EA individually licenses the brands from the schools – there has been little movement toward a new flagship college football game.

That could change soon.

The NCAA made a quiet yet potentially momentous announcement May 14 that it would create a working group to examine the issue of likeness in college athletics. Currently, athletes lack the right to monetize their name or brand. If the NCAA choose to alter its rules and allow athletes to capitalize on their image, it would potentially open an avenue for the return of NCAA Football.

EA was reportedly willing to pay athletes in the past but the NCAA’s rules prohibited it, according to lawyers of the plaintiffs in the O’Bannon case. If the NCAA softened its rules on likeness, there could be another path toward NCAA Football.

EA would be open to making the game again, according to former NCAA Football Executive Producer Ben Haumiller. 247Sports reached out to EA Sports prior to the working group announcement and Haumiller, currently a producer for the Madden franchise, responded two days afterward through a PR representative.

“We loved making college football games,” Haumiller told 247Sports via email. “If the opportunity ever presented itself we’d be very interested in potentially getting back into that space.”

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The appetite for NCAA Football has never gone away – only the product.

Brian Williams is a four-star 2019 Texas A&M signee. He’s also a NCAA Football junkie. Last year, Williams traded in his PlayStation 3 for a PlayStation 4. No worries. He could still play NCAA Football on his PS2. One problem – he had no memory card. To cope, Williams left his PS2 on all day and night to keep his dynasty session going. When that solution stopped working – “PS2s get really hot” – he and his brother went in for another PS3 just to satisfy their NCAA Football fix. Williams still plays NCAA Football 14, downloading a mod for the latest rosters. He takes schools like Eastern Michigan and turns them into champions. The PS3 will follow Williams to College Station this summer.

He’s not alone. Preston Stone, the top dual-threat QB in the 2021 class, said that’s the first game he and friends pull out when hanging at someone’s house.

“We miss it,” Williams said. “If one of my friends has a PS3 we play it no matter what. We would LOVE for it to come back, especially now being in college. That would be super cool.”

That reaction is similar to how former cover athletes feel about the game.

Brian Orakpo, who graced one of the 2010 covers (the game made different covers for different consoles), remembers his college evenings going the same way. He and his fellow Texas Longhorns would get out of study hall and play NCAA Football. Orakpo would only user Texas, but many of his teammates would take over different programs for dynasty mode.

The game came out every summer and many of Orakpo’s teammates would pre-order a copy. Being rated in the 90s was the ultimate compliment, and players would always seek out their speed and strength ratings.

“There were definitely a lot of hours put into that game,” Orakpo told 247Sports.

An All-American, future first round pick and a four-time NFL Pro Bowler, Orakpo’s career hardly needed an additional affirmation. But his NCAA Football cover remains a highlight. A copy of it is framed in his house.

Jared Zabransky attended the Hula Bowl in 2007 fresh off leading Boise State to a massive upset of Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl; Zabransky was the statue in the statue of liberty play. During the week, a USC player in attendance who had EA Sports connections told Zabransky he was in consideration along with LSU quarterback JaMarcus Russell to be the 2008 NCAA Football cover athlete.

“This couldn’t be real,’ Zabransky thought.

It was. Zabransky landed the cover, an appearance that helped cement Boise State’s placement within the college football conscious.

“It added to that big moment in time,” Zabransky told 247Sports. “It just added to the creditability of our program and what we had built to that point. It touched a gaming community and traveled globally.”

Social media is often abuzz about anything related to NCAA Football.

A viral 2016 Facebook post on NCAA Football’s account showing a heartbeat monitor was viewed over 300,000 times. This is despite that account not posting anything in the year and a half before that. Edits of potential NCAA Football covers blow up on social media. Influencers like ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit, a commentator on previous NCAA Football games, have openly campaigned for the franchise to return.

The drumbeat hasn’t gone unnoticed at EA Sports.

“We’re glad to see our fans keep the spirit of the game alive, their devotion is really touching,” Haumiller said.

***

Robinson, Orakpo and Zabransky were compensated for being on the cover of NCAA Football. Zabransky said he received around $50,000 and a lot of swag – customized games, video game consoles, etc.,… Every non-cover athlete was not. No names appeared on the back of jerseys, but EA Sports used virtual avatars who wore the same number and looked suspiciously similar to the athletes on those teams in the real world.

That was the heart of O’Bannon’s suit against EA Sports. Eventually, players who applied for a settlement received a modest sum, ranging from hundreds to a couple thousand dollars, and NCAA Football disbanded.

Former cover athletes are torn when asked about their love of the game versus an athlete’s right to his own image.

“I mean, on black markets you can sell your body parts,” Zabransky said. “Who we are is owned by us and us only. If your likeness can generate a revenue for you then in a free capitalist society you should be able to use it.”

“At the same time, nobody was mad about. Nobody was really, really angry. The entrepreneur in me says: ‘Yes, I’d like to be paid for it.’ But as a college student it’s still a really cool thing to be a part of.”

For Orakpo, who owns several businesses, it’s a matter of perspective gained through experience.

“Once you get older you understand,” Orakpo said. “When you’re young coming in, it’s kind of hard to know. You’re just trying to make a name for yourself. You’re 18 or 19 years old trying to make a name. That’s far from your mind getting paid for a video game. At the same time, as you get older and see your jerseys getting sold and all the revenue behind your likeness, you start to wonder, 'Why am I not living as good as other people?'”

“There’s more knowledge now. Before it wasn’t as much knowledge and information. Now you can’t hide from anything. I don’t think both sides would agree on anything unless there’s sort of settlement or compromise. We do lose a beloved video game, but there has to be some sort of middle ground.”

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NCAA Football is just a minor aspect of the likeness/student athlete compensation conversation. Yet it remains a touchstone subject through which the topic is explored. The NCAA didn’t mention NCAA Football during its press release. It explicitly stated it would not explore options “constructed as payment for participation in sports.” But the possibility of the game’s return, even a small chance, helped set the college football social sphere aflame.

Will NCAA Football come back? If so, will it happen soon? These questions remain unclear.

The NCAA’s working group will deliver its final report in October.

Video games remain a beloved venue for college football for fans and players. But there doesn’t seem to be a way forward for a college football video game without the NCAA altering its rules on likeness.

Yes, EA Sports does license individual agreements with universities to use their logos in Madden – 10 schools will be featured in 2020 – but a sense of authenticity that comes with EA’s other properties would be lacking without the actual players. A big reason EA was willing to pay players in 2014, according to court documents, was a “more precise” likeness to the on-field product.

Thus, NCAA Football fans wait.

Robinson is among them. He graced the last cover of the video game and was paid for it. But he’s still quite happy to play the versions in which he was not. There’s just something about seeing that No. 16 Michigan uniform create havoc for an opposing defense.

“Not too many people make it to the NFL to be in a video game,” Robinson said. “Just to have your likeness in a game … that’s pretty cool man.”