The NCAA Football cover has been shared by 25 different athletes since the series officially adopted the name of NCAA Football. While many of these athletes never quite enjoyed a bountiful pro career, most came off of an incredible college career (I'm looking at you Ricky Williams).

While the NCAA cover has missed several times, with notable college standouts such as Cam Newton and Eli Manning not gracing the cover, it has featured a wide variety of programs. Both USC and Michigan have graced the cover the most at three times apiece. Texas, Florida, and Alabama are the other multi cover programs. Teams that have appeared on the cover once include Oklahoma State, Baylor, Pitt, Boise State, Florida State, Oregon, Boston College, Arkansas, Texas Tech, Utah, Cal, West Virginia, and Michigan State.

Of the ten winningest programs of the 2000s, six never graced a cover in the last decade: Ohio State, Oklahoma, TCU, LSU, Georgia, or Virginia Tech. Nine out of the seventeen Heisman winners have been on an NCAA cover since the series adopted that name.

Ranking the 25 cover athletes was tough, but I took my best crack at it. Here they are from worst to first.

Worst NCAA Cover...ever.

25. Sparty, Mascot Michigan State (NCAA 09) - Kiddos unite! The Wii version of NCAA 09 has a mascot on the cover. Accessibility and all of that -- but it was still a weak cover choice and a cop out for the most part.

24. FB Owen Schmitt, West Virginia (NCAA 09) - Had one punishing run against Oklahoma that’ll be remembered forever, but during his Mountaineer career he rushed for 1000 yards total. That’s right, total. Granted, Schmitt was the coverman on the PSP version of a game no one played -- but he was definitely one of the worst cover choices ever.

23. WR Desmond Howard, Michigan (NCAA 06) - Ok I get it, there were so many bad choices for a cover guy for NCAA 06 you went into novelty and nostalgia and made up a reason to build the game around Desmond’s Heisman pose. He’s even fun to watch on Gameday -- but I’m still waiting for the Four Horsemen and Bud Wilkinson to get their due on a NCAA cover now.

22. RB Shaun Alexander, Alabama (NCAA 2001) - Shaun Alexander was a puzzling choice for the NCAA 2001 cover.  You could’ve picked one of the Penn State defensive players picked at the top of the draft (LaVarr Arrington or Courtney Brown), Peter Warrick, or even Ron Dayne. Alexander wasn’t even the best RB in the 2000 draft class.

21.. DE Brian Orakpo, Texas (NCAA 10) - Orakpo was a great defensive end at Texas, he carried the weight of the Longhorn brand, but he spent his time on the Playstation 2 version of NCAA 10 -- few people even know there was a Playstation 2 version of NCAA 10.

Jackson has had a great pro career, but was hidden on the PS2 cover for NCAA 09.

20. WR DeSean Jackson, Cal (NCAA 09) - Jackson had a dynamic career and has enjoyed a pretty good pro career thus far, but his brand coming out of college for the cover of the 2009 version of NCAA just wasn’t there.

19. QB Mark Sanchez, USC (NCAA 10) - Clearly a weaker choice for the cover than Palmer or Bush were earlier in the NCAA series from USC and he was also a part of the split covers of NCAA 10. A solid name, but nothing compared to the names below. Being on the PSP cover doesn’t help.

18. QB Brian Johnson, Utah (NCAA 10) - The winningest QB in Utah history, enjoyed a very good senior season (27 TD, 9 INTs) but never sniffed the Heisman. He did lead Utah to an undefeated season, beating Alabama in the Sugar bowl.

17. QB Dernard Robinson, Michigan (NCAA 14) - This year’s cover athlete and fresh off a good but not great career at Michigan. Robinson never came close to sniffing a Heisman trophy like others on this list, and his image is not quite where it was even a year ago, maybe the EA PR machine was wanting to symbolize the state of the series?

16. WR Michael Crabtree, Texas Tech (NCAA 10) - Crabtree was a great college wide receiver during the wild days of the Big XII in the late 2000s. He made Texas Tech quite relevant, but his national brand was much like Texas Tech’s -- not quite that relevant from ocean to ocean.

15. RB Darren McFadden, Arkansas (NCAA 09) - McFadden had a great career at Arkansas, he played in the SEC (game marketability), and he was fresh off a 1800 yard rushing season. His national brand wasn’t very strong, despite his excellent career.

14. QB Matt Ryan, Boston College (NCAA 09) - Ryan was part of a split cover, but was easily the best of the covermen of the NCAA 09 season. Had a great career at BC before having an even better pro career in Atlanta.

Who doesn't remember Joey Heisman on the NCAA 2003 cover?

13. QB Joey Harrington, Oregon (NCAA 2003) - Harrington had a huge Heisman push in 2001, with Joey Heisman being displayed in Times Square. He was an All-American while leading the 2001 Oregon Ducks to a #2 final National Ranking.

12.  QB Jared Zabransky, Boise State (NCAA 08) - Thanks to the infamous statue of liberty play against Oklahoma in 2006, Zabransky and Boise were a household name in America and the darlings of the sport. An obvious and solid cover choice.

11. QB Chris Weinke, Florida State (NCAA 2002) - Weinke was old enough to cover the AARP version of the game at this time, but he certainly had a great career to show for it. He won the 2000 Heisman and was a household name in 2001, as was Florida State football at the time.

10. RB, Barry Sanders, Oklahoma State (NCAA 13) - Nostalgia done right. Sanders did share the cover with Robert Griffin III, but Barry Sanders could have had the best single season of any player in college football history in 1988. In terms of sheer greatness and recognizeability, Sanders remains one of the most well known figures in college football history.

Mark Ingram was a solid NCAA Football cover choice, one of nine Heisman winners to grace the cover.

9. RB Mark Ingram, Alabama (NCAA 12) - Won a Heisman for Alabama and was picked over Cam Newton and Julio Jones. Not a bad pick, but there were certainly other names out there that were better.

8. WR Larry Fitzgerald, Pitt (NCAA 2005) - He didn’t win a Heisman, but had an amazing senior season and his pro career has worked out quite well for him. Fitzgerald holds an NCAA record with a touchdown catch in 18 consecutive games.

7. QB Danny Wuerffel, Florida (NCAA 98) - What else is there to say about Wuerffel? He led one of the most explosive offenses in history in 1995 and 1996 at Florida, won a Heisman trophy, and was hot off of a National Championship dismantling of Florida State.

6. QB Robert Griffin III, Baylor (NCAA 13) - RGIII is still a major media figure today, even more so thanks to his rise to the top of the NFL this past season. Its hard to argue with the choice of a Heisman winner from a school that used to the butt of many jokes, now thanks to RG III respect is restored.

Bush was a strong name in college thanks to the media frenzy around USC.

5. RB Reggie Bush, USC (NCAA 07) - So maybe Bush might have been discovered to have been a pro athlete before his time was up at USC, but his media star was undeniable coming out of college in USC’s dynasty of the 2000s.

4. CB Charles Woodson, Michigan (NCAA 99) - The last defensive player to have won the Heisman trophy and was on the cover of the game which catapulted the series to it’s modern era. A great pick for the cover.

3. QB Carson Palmer, USC (NCAA 2004) - Palmer was highly regarded coming out of USC in 2003, and was the quarterback that led the resurgence of USC football in the early 2000s. Its hard to find much fault with this choice as USC was a hot brand and so was Palmer.

2. RB Ricky Williams, Texas (NCAA 2000) - Because seriously, Ricky Williams had an amazing college career. Let’s forget about his escapades after his college career and instead focus on the fact he rushed for nearly 6600 yards and won a Heisman trophy. Williams’ brand was big time when he left college.

The media hype surrounding Tebow was well noted by EA with the NCAA 11 cover.

1. QB Tim Tebow, Florida (NCAA 11) - Tebow covered what was one of the most highly regarded NCAA Football games and has been nothing short of a media phenomenon. Making him the coverman of your game was a brilliant decision at the time.