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While toughness isn’t exactly the first thing you think about when you think of football punters, it appears that someone at EA Sports has a personal vendetta against Kentucky Wildcats punter Aidan Laros.
When the company released its new “College Football 26” video game, Laros was the only one of more than 16,000 players in the game to be given a toughness rating of zero. Not a 10. Not a five, or a one, but zero, zilch, nada.
EA Sports
At that point, it becomes more than just an assessment of Laros’ perceived toughness. It almost feels personal. After all, Laros is not a small guy. The Cape Town, South Africa native stands at 6-foot-2 and 218 pounds according to the Wildcats’ latest roster.
While that doesn’t necessarily make him tough, one could probably infer that he’s not a complete weenie, as EA Sports would have you believe. So Laros did what any person with a modicum of pride would do: he set out to prove them wrong … in the most hilarious fashion possible.
.@EASPORTSCollege, @aidan_laros is working on his toughness rating for next year’s game. pic.twitter.com/eOBKab8NBU
— Kentucky Football (@UKFootball) July 16, 2025
Kentucky Punter Aidan Laros Proves His Toughness After ‘College Football 26’ Slight
The Kentucky Football social media team posted a video showing Laros in the practice facility using a JUGS machine meant for practicing catching passes or snaps. But Laros had a different use. Instead of catching the ball, he stood in front of the machine as it repeatedly launched footballs into his chest, brushing off each blow as if it were nothing.
Safe to say Laros isn’t just tough, he’s double tough. And somebody at EA Sports better be sure to fix his toughness rating in the next roster update.
In all reality, whoever was responsible for the rating likely just glossed over it while knowing little to nothing about Laros’ toughness. In fact, game designers likely know little at all about the toughness of any player, which makes it a hilarious rating for the game to have at all.
But Laros can now rest easy. Not only was he named a preseason second-team All-SEC selection, but now the whole world knows that he’s plenty tough … at least by punter standards.