For the first time in over a decade, EA Sports released its College Football 25 video game this summer. It became an instant national phenomenon, bringing back memories for many people who used to play the game growing up. Now, local Southwest Florida high schools are in the game.
North Fort Myers Football's defensive coordinator, Trevor Cottrell, built all of the Lee County public high school football teams and added them to the video game for the Southwest Florida community to use.
Cottrell has deep roots in the Southwest Florida football world. He played on Ida Baker's inaugural football team before graduating in 2009. After playing in college and then taking a sports sales job, he wanted more.
“I just wasn’t feeling a fulfillment in my life," Cottrell recalls. "So, at the time, I was like, 'What am I going to do?'”
The answer to that was to return to Southwest Florida. Cottrell says his teachers and coaches had a profound impact on his life, and he wanted to do the same for the next generation. So, Trevor came back to Cape Coral and got an assistant coaching job at his alma mater. Almost a decade later, Cottrell is now the defensive coordinator at North Fort Myers.
“It was just an opportunity that presented itself, and I couldn’t be more thankful," Cottrell said.
“He’s awesome," North Fort Myers junior lineman Wyatt Monnin said. "He’s a guy I can always talk to, a guy I can always fall back on if I need anything.”
However, coaching is not the only thing Trevor does. He calls himself a night owl. So, after his long hours of teaching at NFMHS, coaching, and then raising a 5-year-old, Cottrell plays video games and streams them online.
“This has always been a release for me," Cottrell said while playing a game.
That passion led Cottrell to spend hours over the last few weeks creating all of the Lee County public high school football teams through a program on his computer. He then uploaded them onto the new EA Sports College Football 25 video game for everyone to use.
“I wanted to kind of pay it forward," Cottrell said. "This was just some silly way of being able to do that and give kids a release.”
Cottrell built every team's brand, uniforms and stadium. He tried to replicate all of their real-life attributes but took some creative liberty in certain areas. Trevor even assigned each team a playbook that is similar to what that school actually uses on Friday nights.
Now, anyone can download the teams and play with them. You can pick just your favorite or download all of them to put in a league and run an entire season. Some of the North Fort Myers football players have already done that and get to play as themselves in the video game.
“It’s just awesome knowing that I can simulate how I play," Monnin said.
So, if you want to see a preview of your upcoming game, you can do so from your own couch.
Every Lee County team already has multiple downloads, and the response, Cottrell says, is amazing. So much so that some people in Collier County have even asked him to make all of their teams too. Trevor is still contemplating that.
So, it's safe to say Southwest Florida is in the game.