Aidan Laros reckons he's one of the toughest punters in the nation despite video game rating

Aidan Laros, the starting punter for the University of Kentucky, took a phone call from KSR on Friday to discuss his notorious zero toughness rating on the new EA Sports College Football 26 released earlier this month. Laros became a video game sensation when CFB26 gamers discovered that the developers had rated Laros a 0 out of 99 in toughness. Laros’ toughness rating was even a topic on the popular Pardon My Take podcast, which joked, “That means your dead.”

On Friday, Laros, who is from South Africa, told KSR that he has enjoyed the publicity from his lack of virtual toughness and how it has reconnected him with old friends around the world.

“It came as a pretty big shock to me, and the fact that I got a lof of DMs from my buddies back at home and all over the place about it,” he said. “It’s quite comical. I just think it’s a good joke… I had a couple friends of mine text me and they’re like, I was listening to Pardon My Take on the way to work, and heard your name, buddies that I haven’t heard from in years, and so it’s been good, actually, good connection building from friends I haven’t spoken to in a while because it’s brought up a funny joke now.”

Laros believes his zero rating was a mistake, noting his rugby career back home as proof of his toughness. “There’s no question about my toughness in that sense,” Laros added.

He wouldn’t put an actual number on what his toughness rating should be in the game’s next downloadable update when asked; however, he believes it should be much higher than nothing.

“I’m going to be very confident about it and say a lot higher than that, but yeah, we’ll see. Hopefully–we’ll see if they change it. But yeah, definitely, I reckon I’m one of the tougher punters in the nation, for sure.”

Hear Aidan Laros in Hour 2 of Friday’s KSR podcast