Former LSU wideout Odell Beckham Jr. followed a path that has become quite common for top-level SEC athletes in recent years.

He earned All-SEC and All-America honors during his days in Baton Rouge, worked his way into the first round of the NFL draft, then proceeded to emerge as one of the budding stars of professional football. There are dozens of former SEC players who fit that mold.

And while the most recent club to admit Beckham is a bit more exclusive than even the fraternity of first-round draftees, it’s once again a club that features more SEC alumni than former stars of any other conference.

The club I’m referring to, of course, is the fraternity of Madden cover athletes, which admitted Beckham on Wednesday night when he was chosen for the cover of Madden ’16, to be released this summer.

EA Sports’ popular NFL video game has grown into one of the highest-selling games, sports or otherwise, in America each year, especially after EA recently discontinued its NCAA football game. To earn a spot on the cover indicates that a player is not just talented, not just popular, but an iconic combination of the two.

So while it’s not an exact measure of a player’s worth on the field, it is a great indicator of who among the game’s biggest stars is also the most popular. So it should come as no surprise to the readers of this site that, yes, the SEC leads all other conferences in Madden cover-athlete alumni.

The game was first released in 1988, meaning this year’s release will be the 27th iteration of the video game since its introduction to the market. However, for many years there wasn’t a player on the cover, and often it featured John Madden himself. There have actually only been 21 NFL players to grace the cover, including two-timer Barry Sanders, who made the cover as an active player and again for the 25th anniversary edition.

Still, the SEC’s five cover boys lead all other conferences now that Beckham is a part of the club. Here’s a full breakdown of Madden covers by former conference affiliation:

Former conference Covers Cover boys (year)
SEC 5 Odell Beckham (2016), Peyton Hillis (2012), Shaun Alexander (2007), Garrison Hearst (1999), Karl Wilson (1995, shared cover with John Madden and Erik Williams)
Big 12 4 Adrian Peterson & Barry Sanders (2013, both on covers of multiple releases), Vince Young (2008), Sanders again (2000, shared with John Madden)
Other 4 Brett Favre (2009), Marshall Faulk (2003), Daunte Culpepper (2002), Erik Williams (1995, shared cover with John Madden and Karl Wilson)
Big East 3 Larry FItzgerald (2010, shared cover with Troy Polamalu), Donavan McNabb (2006), Michael Vick (2004)
ACC 2 Calvin Johnson (2013), Ray Lewis (2005)
Big Ten 2 Drew Brees (2011), Eddie George (2000)
Pac 12 2 Richard Sherman (2015), Troy Polamalu (2010, shared cover with Larry Fitzgerald)