College Football Game won’t feature HBCUs, but will feature ‘Neck’

HBCUs won’t be in the College Football 25 video game, but a song that became a stadium staple in them will be. 

“Neck” — an adapted version of Cameo’s 1982 single “Talkin’ Out The Side of Ya Neck” will be in College Football 25, according to reporting from Matt Brown of Extra Points. 

“Neck is in the game,” Brown tweeted on Wednesday. “I saw the sheet music for it and everything.”

The song will be in the College Football included along with unique fan chants, according to The Athletic.  EA acquired thousands of assets from schools and in many cases had staff members replicate the cheers for recording. A total of 41 real game crowds over the last two years were recorded from programs of all sizes. That includes LSU, whose “Golden Band From Tigerland” plays the song often despite it being banned nearly a decade-and-a-half-ago. 

The song was banned at Tiger Stadium back in 2010, due to the profanity involved in the response by the crowd. 

Of course, HBCUs have been playing the song since the original version dropped back in the mid-1980s. There is a debate as to whether Norfolk State’s Spartan Legion or Texas Southern’s “Ocean Of Soul” band was the first to play the tune. But what is undeniable is the song has been a part of HBCU culture for thirty years, and now it will be a part of College Football 25.

The College Football 25 video game is scheduled for a July 19th release. It will only have FBS teams natively in the game, however, there is a TeamBuilder function that will allow for up to 32 teams to be created.