EA CFB 26 turns high school football digital

Horizon High School senior Bryce Frazer found himself sitting in Horizon’s design studio class when his teacher asked if someone would like to work on a project for EA Sports.

Frazer’s hand shot up, even though as the captain of the cross-country team, drum major for band and a member of many other organizations on campus, he already has a hectic schedule. 

Courtesy photo

He didn’t know what he would be working on, but he knew he loves to volunteer and doing something for EA would be “awesome.”

The teacher told Frazer he would be designing Horizon’s football uniform for EA Sports College Football 26. He had five days to get it done. 

After spending late nights and many hours with his computer, Frazer finished the jersey. Now his design is in the EA College Football 26 video game, and he etched himself and the school in the game forever. 

ENTER THE DIGITAL FIELD 

Emotions rose in 2024 when EA finally released EA Sports College Football 25 after an 11-year absence. College football fans rejoiced and embraced the new title, but the game wasn’t without criticism. Among those: There was no high school feature.

Enter this year’s iteration, which includes a Road to Glory path. It allows players to start their career as a high-schooler under Friday night lights. Their performance in high school catapults them down the road of recruitment and scholarship offers. 

That feature opened the doors for a local tie — Orange County Public Schools were added to the game. EA Sports also added high school logos from around the United States for players to utilize. 

Horizon’s outside linebacker, Trace Kulczar, said it was an accomplishment for the school  to be added to the game and reflects the hard work the team puts in.

Players of the game now are able to custom-make uniforms using high schools’ logos and colors. High schools don’t have a pre-made jersey; game players have to design it themselves or the school has to provide its own design that EA Sports would add to the game.

That’s where Frazer came into play. 

“They put a software where you can make whatever team you want, like you can make a McDonald’s team or SpongeBob team if you want,” he said. “They asked me to do it with my school colors and my school branding so they could actually put it in the game.”

EA Sports made the entire design process simple. The game provides players and Frazer with part of its software to create their own uniforms. Frazer had to fuse the elements into a product that looked good. He finished the basic product in a few hours. 

“I wanted to push myself to make it look cooler and make it harder on myself, give myself more of a challenge,” Frazer said. “So I added the scratches and messed with some of the logos just to make it more interesting.” 

THE IMPACT 

Designing the jersey wasn’t just an opportunity for Frazer to challenge himself in the world of design, but it also was a chance for him to represent Horizon. 

“A few people had bought it after they realized that Horizon was in the game,” Frazer said. “One of my friends told me that if you click on the jersey or you click on something else, it says, ‘B.Frazer’ under the design.”

He asked for input from classmates, band members and football players. His peers provided Frazer with minor feedback on how they thought the jersey could be improved, but the overall, Hawk Nation was happy with his vision.

Frazer wanted to do it for the school, not just for himself, and he didn’t expect to have students react in the way they did. 

“I was trying to introduce myself to the football players and they were like, ‘Oh wait you’re Bryce? You made the jersey,’” he said. 

It was special for the football players encompassing Horizon’s football team. 

“It was definitely a big deal because we all have the game and we all play,” Kulczar said. 

EA Sports broke the barrier between a game and the physical world by having a student design the school’s own uniform, Frazer said. It was an honor for him to be able to represent Horizon’s whole school in a video game. 

“It got a lot more recognition than I thought,” Frazer said. “I thought it was just going to slip under the blanket and not going to be a super big deal.”