Ashton Jeanty, Ryan Williams, Cam Ward Headline CFB 25 Week 9 Player Ratings Update

The college football season is more than halfway over, which means the cream is starting to rise to the top in the race for the national championship.

The cream is also rising to the top when it comes to the best players in the country separating themselves from the pack.

With that in mind, EA Sports released its latest batch of player-ranking updates for its College Football 25 video game Thursday. And some of the nation's most notable players received significant boosts ahead of the stretch run of the season.

Here is a look at some of the headline changes:

• Ashton Jeanty, RB, Boise State: +1 to 97 OVR
• Abdul Carter, DE, Penn State: +3 to 94 OVR
• Harold Fannin Jr., TE, Bowling Green: +2 to 94 OVR
• Cam Ward, QB, Miami: +2 to 93 OVR
• Shavon Revel, CB, East Carolina: +4 to 92 OVR 
• Kaleb Johnson, RB, Iowa: +4 to 91 OVR
• Nohl Williams, DB, Cal: +4 to 91 OVR
• Ryan Williams, WR, Alabama: +8 to 90 OVR
• Jeremiah Smith, WR, Ohio State: +6 to 90 OVR
• Trey White, DE, San Diego State: +15 to 88 OVR

The first thing that jumps out is Boise State running back Ashton Jeanty, who is the favorite to take home the Heisman Trophy as of Thursday on DraftKings. The last time a running back won the sport's most coveted individual award was when Alabama's Derrick Henry did so in 2015. And the last time a player from a non-Power Four conference won it was when BYU's Ty Detmer did in 1990.

Jeanty has been the talk of the college football season and is now tied with Colorado cornerback/wide receiver Travis Hunter and Michigan cornerback Will Johnson as the highest-rated player in College Football 25 at 97 overall following his latest one-point boost.

The Boise State star is basically averaging a first down per carry at 9.9 yards per rush, and an astounding 13.5 percent of his 126 rushes have gone for touchdowns (17). He is unstoppable in the virtual and real worlds and figures to only keep putting up monster numbers.

Elsewhere, Miami's Cam Ward saw his rating improve to a 93 overall after turning in another incredible game with 319 passing yards, four touchdowns and zero interceptions in the latest win over Louisville.

The Hurricanes are in the middle of the College Football Playoff discussion at 7-0 almost solely because of his individual brilliance, and EA Sports rewarded him accordingly.

Freshman wide receivers were also a storyline in the latest batch of player ratings with Alabama's Ryan Williams and Ohio State's Jeremiah Smith each checking in at 90 overall following their eight- and six-point bumps, respectively.

"I just feel like we're the best receivers in the country right now as freshmen," Smith told Richard Johnson of CBS Sports earlier this month, and it's difficult to argue with that notion.

Whether it is Williams spinning past multiple Georgia defenders for the winning touchdown in arguably the play of the year or Smith coming down with a handful of one-handed catches already this season, they continue to amaze every Saturday.

And their ratings are on the way up as a result.