Monday afternoon, the EA SPORTS NCAA Football Facebook page posted a picture of Oregon RB Kenjon Barner with a caption reading "Sometimes...All you need is a step" while posting the comment that "NCAA Football takes the next step this week...", which seems to all but confirm that the first NCAA Football 14 news will be announced this week.


The March 25 edition of the Eye on College Football Podcast on CBSSports.com featured host Chip Patterson interviewing NCAA Football 14 cover athlete Denard Robinson. The two spent a few moments of the nine-minute podcast discussing Robinson being the winner of the NCAA Football Cover Vote. Robinson said that he "has been playing [NCAA Football] a long time" and that it is an "honor to be on the cover." He went on to add that there is a "big difference" between NCAA Football 13 & 14 and that 14 will be "one of the best NCAA games." While in Orlando for the cover shoot, he said he played a little bit of NCAA 14 and "think[s] it will be a great game," due in part to some "option (game) improvements."

While Robinson may have been vague in details, what improvements are you looking to see in the option game and what NCAA Football 14 news are you hoping to hear first? Share your thoughts with The Gaming Tailgate community in the comments. ...

Amazon, GameStop, Best Buy, Wal-Mart, Target have posted product listings for the PlayStation 3 & X-Box 360 versions of NCAA Football 14. Amazon, Target & Wal-Mart each list a release date of July 9, 2013 which matches the annual release date of the second Tuesday of July.

While no game features have been leaked through the product description (as has sometimes been the case in the past), the 360 placeholder box art indicates that NCAA 14 will feature Kinect integration.

There has been no official word from EA SPORTS on any game features, except to expect info to begin being revealed within the next few weeks. ...

Former Michigan quarterback Denard Robinson will grace the cover of NCAA Football 14 after prevailing in a tense final vote against former Texas A&M wide receiver Ryan Swope.

"I want to say thank you to all the fans at Michigan for getting behind me," said Robinson, the NCAA's all-time leader in rushing yards by a quarterback. "Michigan has one of the best fan bases."
...

In an article from the The Daily Mail (Charleston, WV), last summer EA SPORTS invited members of the West Virginia football staff to help improve the realism and fun when recruiting within Dynasty Mode in NCAA Football.

"Everything we've done for the game previously was what made sense to us and what we felt was the right way to do recruiting with the limited abilities within the game to emulate recruiting and have it be fun," said EA Sports producer Ben Haumiller.

"Then it was, 'OK, we've done that. It's time to change the way recruiting works.' It got a little stale, a little old, and we thought it was time to give it a new feel and a fresh look. We wanted to go out and take advantage of the opportunities we have. We have connections. We bring in coaches to talk Xs and Os and concepts and break down film all the time. We'd never extended to other aspects, particularly recruiting."

"There are definitely features that we've added and things that have happened that are based on the conversation we had with them," producer/designer Christian McLeod said. "There are a couple key points that eventually we'll be able to talk about that are the direct result of the conversation we had."

Continue on to read more excerpts from the article and then share your thoughts here with the TGT community. ...

Ever wanted to play professional athletes in a game of NCAA Football, Madden NFL, FIFA, or even Call of Duty? Former Vanderbilt Commodore and Chicago Bear Hunter Hillenmeyer is the co-founder of OverDog, a company that will allow gamers the opportunity to play their favorite games against professional athletes.

The company has already reached out and established relationships with the NHLPA, the MLBPA, and the MLSPA to groups like the UFC, the NCAA and Olympic athletes as well as console makers (Xbox, PlayStation), game publishers (EA, 2K, and Activision for starters), and potential broadcast partners (Twitch.tv, Machinima Sports, YouTube).

Today was the Kickstarter launch for OverDog as they look to reach $100,000 by March 29. Each pledge level provides different perks, including beta access beginning in April for those pledging $15 or more. The full service is expected to launch in August.

For more on OverDog, visit their official site or their Kickstarter page. ...

Under Armour Uniform Pack #1 & #2 are now available for X-Box 360 & PS3 users in the NCAA Football 13 Uniform Store.

Under Armour Uniform Pack #1:
The pack (80 MSP/$0.99 PSN) features alternates for Hawaii and Boston College.

Under Armour Uniform Pack #2:
This pack (160 MSP/$1.99 PSN) features alternates for Maryland, Texas Tech, and South Carolina. ...

Bowl season is here and that means the return of the Stat Box Stories Bowl Blitz Invitational.

Volunteers from around the NCAA Football community will be playing all 35 bowl match-ups with Stat Box Stories presenting their results with full statistics, game media, and in a template similar to what you would find for game recaps on ESPN.com.

Continue on to see the bowl schedule and links to the game simulation/recap from Stat Box Stories as they are released. ...

Under Armour Uniform Pack #3 is now available for X-Box 360 & PlayStation 3 users in the NCAA Football 13 Uniform Store.

Under Armour Uniform Pack #3:
The pack (160 MSP/$1.99) features alternate uniforms for Maryland, Temple, and Northwestern.

Continue on to see in-game screens of this new Uniform Store pack and to leave your feedback on them. ...

EA SPORTS has posted additional details on the NCAA Football cover vote.

Voting will run through December 31 and the top 32 programs will advance. Casting your vote on Facebook counts towards your school, but "Liking" posts, sharing stories with friends, voting on rivalries and leaving comments all count as votes for your school as well.

If you're looking to spread the word for your program, EA SPORTS has posted Facebook cover, milestone, timeline, profile, Google+ cover, Pinterest, Twitter background, and YouTube profile images for all 126 programs.

Continue on to read the entire news story from EA SPORTS. Also, let us know how you are spreading the word for your program. ...