EA Sports CFB 27 Ratings Revealed for Gophers' Top Offensive and Defensive Players
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We're nearly two weeks away from the release of EA Sports College Football 27, which means they're slowly releasing some ratings. We got the team ratings on Tuesday, offensive players on Wednesday and defensive players on Thursday. Let's break down what it means for Minnesota.
Gophers team rating: 81 OVR
- Offense: 82 OVR
- Defense: 81 OVR
Big Ten ratings
Oregon: 91 OVR
Ohio State: 90
Indiana: 90
USC: 86
Michigan: 85
Nebraska: 83
Penn State: 83
Washington: 83
UCLA: 82
Minnesota: 81
Iowa: 80
Maryland: 80
Michigan State: 80
Illinois: 79
Northwestern: 79
Wisconsin: 79
Rutgers: 78
Purdue: 77
The Gophers are the 39th-ranked team based on overall ratings, and the ninth-best team in the Big Ten. They're notably ahead of Iowa, which has an 80 overall rating, and two points ahead of Wisconsin, which will be a 79 overall at the time of release. It's hard to argue that the Gophers deserve to be any higher.
Top five offensive players
RATINGS JUST DROPPED
Five of Minnesota's top 11 players at launch are on the offensive side of the ball. Tomorrow defensive ratings drop @EASPORTSCollege#RTB#SkiUMah#Gopherspic.twitter.com/L37KkIFeoJ
– Minnesota Football (@GopherFootball) June 24, 2026
- Greg Johnson: 92 OVR
- Darius Taylor: 87 OVR
- Ashton Beers: 86 OVR
- Javon Tracy: 86 OVR
- Drake Lindsey: 81 OVR
Johnson will be tied for the 27th-highest-rated player in the game at release, and he's tied for the third-best guard in the entire game. He moved back to guard last season after playing center in 2024, and he now projects as one of the best players at his position this fall.
Taylor is behind the top 10 running backs in the game by three points, but he's still the second-highest-rated player on the offense. Beers and Tracy both got a lot of respect at 86 overall, and Lindsey will clearly still have to prove himself in order to get respect from the national media.
Top defensive players
ELITE Defensive Ratings
Six of Minnesota's top 11 players at launch are on defense! @EASPORTSCollege#RTB#SkiUMah#Gopherspic.twitter.com/elH6WjkoDy
– Minnesota Football (@GopherFootball) June 25, 2026
- Anthony Smith: 92 OVR
- Maverick Baranowski: 88 OVR
- Kerry Brown: 87 OVR
- TJ Bush Jr.: 87 OVR
- John Nestor: 87 OVR
- Aidan Gousby: 81 OVR
In a surprise to nobody, Smith is the highest-rated player on the Gophers' defense, and the fourth-highest-rated edge defender. He opted to put the NFL on pause after a breakout 2025 season, and he now has the chance to be one of the best players in college football this fall.
Baranowski got a lot of love with an 88 overall rating. Brown and Nestor are both 87 overall as the leaders in Minnesota's secondary, and Bush is their highest-rated incoming transfer at 87 overall. Lastly, Gousby received an 81 overall. Minnesota will be one of the most fun teams to play with when the game releases later this summer.
This article was originally published on www.si.com/college/minnesota as EA Sports CFB 27 Ratings Revealed for Gophers' Top Offensive and Defensive Players.
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