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Deion Sanders, Bill Belichick, Mario Cristobal headline coaches not featured in EA Sports College Football 26

IMG_6598by: Nick Kosko07/07/25nickkosko59
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Isaiah J. Downing-Imagn Images/Robert Deutsch / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Deion Sanders and Bill Belichick are not in the new EA College Football 26 video game, The Athletic’s Chris Vannini pointed out. Belichick didn’t give his likeness to the Madden franchise either.

The names used for Sanders and Belichick are “Kirk Patrick” and “Hector Luna” as the head coaches of Colorado and North Carolina, respectively. So as it stands, you won’t be able to use Coach Prime or The Hoodie to run your college football program at those schools or others.

Not only that, it was confirmed Miami coach Mario Cristobal is not in the game either, among others. The trio highlights noteworthy names not licensed to the new edition of the college football video game.

Other coaches that are not included, besides Sanders, Belichick and Cristobal, are: Kirk Ferentz (Iowa), Bronco Mendenhall (Utah State), Tyson Helton (WKU), Charles Kelly (Jacksonville State), Frank Reich (Stanford), Trent Dilfer (UAB), Bryant Vincent (ULM), Jason Eck (UNM) and Mark Carney (Kent St).

In any event, Sanders has bigger fish to fry. As in, Year 3 of his tenure at Colorado without Travis Hunter, Shedeur Sanders and others. Not to mention Deion Sanders has also battled some health issues.

He provided a statement following the reports of an unknown health issue that caused him to miss summer camps with Colorado. But, Coach Prime mentioned he was excited to get back with his time.

“Wow, I am truly blessed for the abundance of well wishes, for all the thoughts and all of the prayers. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!,” Sanders wrote on Twitter. “I can assure you all that everything is OKAY and will continue to be so. God got me like no other. I have so much more work to do to Glorify God so please believe God got me!

“I’m excited to get back to Colorado to be at home with my staff, team & all associated to our program. When we arrive back to Boulder you will be updated on everything. Until then, I’M COMING BABY, #CoachPrime.”

Sanders enters Year 3 with Colorado after a successful 2024 campaign, leading the Buffaloes to the Alamo Bowl. He is 13-12 at Colorado and 40-18 in five seasons with them and Jackson State since 2020.