Under PJ Fleck, the Minnesota Gophers have never been known for explosive offense. They’ve traditionally leaned on the run game, but their quarterback play has usually been respectable—somewhere in the middle of the Big Ten pack.
EA Sports clearly sees it differently.
In the new “EA College Football 26” video game, Minnesota lands squarely in the middle of the conference overall. But the real surprise? First-year quarterback Drake Lindsey is rated the lowest among all Big Ten starters, coming in at just a 72 overall.
Sure, Lindsey has yet to play a real down for the Gophers, but that rating feels low—especially when you consider how Fleck and his staff have developed quarterbacks like Max Brosmer and Tanner Morgan, both of whom reached the NFL as undrafted free agents.
Names ranked ahead of Lindsey include Purdue’s Malachi Singleton (73), former Gopher and now Rutgers quarterback Athan Kaliakmanis (80), Wisconsin’s Billy Edwards Jr. (81), and Iowa’s Mark Granowski (81).
It’s not that those names are undeserving—but the gap between Lindsey and the rest of the conference feels exaggerated, especially for a player with his kind of upside.
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Lindsey may be unproven at the college level, but to suggest he’s clearly behind all of those guys feels like a reach—and it adds even more doubt to Minnesota’s outlook entering the season.
The Arkansas native was a three-star prospect out of Fayetteville High School and ranked as the No. 23 quarterback in the 2024 class by 247Sports.
As a junior, he threw for 3,620 yards, 37 touchdowns, and just three interceptions while completing 67% of his passes. He even led his team to a state semifinal appearance during one of the toughest playoff runs in the state.
EA’s not buying the hype just yet—but that might be exactly what Lindsey needs. With the tools and the staff behind him, don’t be surprised if he flips the narrative this fall.
