Meet the 5 players in EA’s College Football 25 from Butler County high schools
Monday’s highly anticipated release of Electronic Arts’ College Football 25 brought a little local flavor. Five former Butler County high school football players are featured in the long-awaited video game.
College Football 25 is the first in the series since 2013, when EA stopped producing the game amid lawsuits aimed at the NCAA about name, image and likeness compensation for college athletes.
Now for the first time, real players in college football can agree to have their likeness in the game.
That includes Maryland’s Josh Kaltenberger, Ball State’s Kevin Meeder, Hutchinson Community College’s Nick Hemer (formerly at Buffalo), Toldeo’s Chris D’Appolonia, and Colorado’s Nikhai Hill-Green each appear on rosters in the game.
All but the latter played under coach Ron Butschle at Seneca Valley. Hill-Green attended North Catholic before playing at Maryland’s St. Frances Academy as a prep senior.
A redshirt senior at Maryland, Kaltenberger is a graduate transfer from Purdue, for whom he played in 36 games. He started seven games with the Boilermakers, including two of their final three games in 2023. Kaltenberger was also Purdue’s center in its 43-22 loss to Michigan in the 2022 Big Ten Championship Game.
Kaltenberger’s digital self is rated 74 overall.
Meeder, a redshirt junior at Ball State, played in 10 of 12 games for the Cardinals last fall. He made a pair of starts — against Indiana State and Georgia Southern — in place of starting tackle Jon Mucciolo.
Meeder, who’s rated a 73 overall as a video game avatar, also started in a 51-20 loss to Georgia State in the 2021 Camellia Bowl.
Hemer, a long snapper now at Hutchinson Community College in Hutchinson, Kan., is featured on Buffalo’s roster as a 56 overall.
D’Appolonia, a sophomore at Toledo, appeared in a dozen contests for the Rockets last season. He totaled eight stops, including a pair against Buffalo, earning him a 53 overall in the video game.
Hill-Green is now at Colorado, his third collegiate stop after layovers at Michigan and Charlotte. He appeared in all 14 games for Jim Harbaugh’s Wolverines in 2021 before missing the next campaign with injuries.
Starting seven games and playing in 11, Hill-Green was Charlotte’s second-leading tackler in 2023 and was an All- American Athletic Conference third-teamer.
He’s listed as a 76 overall in the video game.
