Count Patrick Mahomes among those thrilled to play EA Sports' College Football 25.
In fact, Mahomes is so excited for it, he brought a TV and gaming console with him to Chiefs training camp.
"This is my first year I'm bringing a TV," Mahomes told reporters on Tuesday after reporting for his eighth career camp. "I haven't brought a TV ever before, but NCAA (College Football 25) came out, I'm gonna have to turn it on. I brought a TV for NCAA and the Olympics."
When EA Sports last released a college game, it was 2013's NCAA Football 14. Mahomes was a senior in high school. With such a long hiatus, the return of the franchise (under a new name) is incredibly significant, so much that a three-time Super Bowl MVP is breaking routine to ensure he'll be able to play the game.
(If EA ever needed a marketing campaign, there's a great one.)
But as any gamer from more than a decade ago will tell you, there's just as much beauty in sharing this game's experience with friends as there is in enjoying it alone. By bringing a setup, Mahomes has to know he'll have teammates knocking on his door with the hopes of playing the game. And because the Chiefs pack up and hold training camp at Missouri Western State University, Mahomes can bank on spending free time hanging with his teammates and duking it out on the sticks like tens of thousands of college students in dorm rooms across America.
What a time to be alive. And what a time to create such an environment to welcome in some new arrivals who could be crucial to Mahomes' and Kansas City's success in their bid for a Super Bowl three-peat in 2024.
"It's fun," Mahomes said of spending training camp out of town. "The only thing for me is leaving the family is always tough, especially as the kids get older. But being in the building, being at lunch together, being at dinner together, always being around the guys, you build this culture and family-type brotherhood. I'm excited to continue to do that.
"A lot of new faces, and guys who have been here before because we know what it takes in order for us to go out there and be great."
Chief (pun unintended) among that group: Texas product Xavier Worthy, a burner of a receiver who reset the 40-yard dash record at the NFL Scouting Combine earlier in 2024 and is expected to give Kansas City a field-stretching weapon they've lacked since the departure of Tyreek Hill.
Worthy won't just step on the field and torch defenses immediately, not without working properly to prepare himself for the NFL game. Although we've talked video games, this is not Madden NFL. You cannot just insert talent and expect it to work. Mahomes knows this, and is hoping Worthy, who dealt with a hamstring injury this past spring, is ready for the challenge.
"There's no ease in. He's going to have to go out and be ready to go," Mahomes said of Worthy. "We have a lot of competition on this offense. (General manager) Brett Veach and coach [Andy] Reid did a great job of bringing in a lot of competition in. ... Xavier he got a lot of mental work in these last few weeks that he had during OTAs and minicamp, but it's time to go now.
"You saw with Rashee [Rice] last year some of the throwing up days he had. We're going to push you to the limit and prepare yourself to be ready to go for the season. That's not just him, that's everybody. Everybody has to have that mentality when they come into camp."
As with any camp for a rookie, there will be incredibly difficult days. But even in the toughest moments, Mahomes is prepared to support Worthy with the hopes he'll be able to become a new favorite weapon and power the Chiefs to a third straight Super Bowl triumph.
Just don't expect him to take it easy on Worthy on the virtual gridiron.
