Aidan Laros channels Happy Gilmore after EA Sports dings him with 0 in toughness
Aidan Laros has officially entered his Happy Gilmore era.
The Kentucky kicker found himself at the butt of a digital punchline when EA Sports College Football 26 released its player ratings. Laros, a 6-foot-2 sophomore from Cape Town, South Africa received the lowest possible mark in toughness: a flat-out zero. The only player in the entire game saddled with that score.
Rather than sulk, Laros took the cinematic route—literally. In a hilarious social media video now making rounds, Laros reenacted the iconic Happy Gilmore scene where Adam Sandler’s character willingly takes fastballs to the chest, claiming, Only 364 days until next year's hockey tryouts. Only this time, it was Laros standing boldly on the practice field, letting the machine hurl footballs at his chest.
.@EASPORTSCollege, @aidan_laros is working on his toughness rating for next year’s game. pic.twitter.com/eOBKab8NBU
— Kentucky Football (@UKFootball) July 16, 2025
“364 days until the next college football video game,” Laros said. “Gotta toughen up.”
It’s a cheeky nod not just to his low toughness rating, but also to Happy Gilmore itself—a 1996 cult classic about an unlikely golf star with a hockey enforcer’s mindset. In the original scene, Happy trains by taking brutal pitches to the chest, preparing for his NHL dreams with reckless abandon. Sandler’s absurd mix of pain tolerance and pride made it unforgettable.
Laros may not be gunning for the NHL, but he’s winning the offseason PR battle. As the only kicker in the SEC brave—or unhinged—enough to parody a ‘90s sports comedy, he’s flipped an insult into an Internet moment.
The timing is even more perfect. Happy Gilmore 2, with Adam Sandler returning to the role nearly 30 years later, drops on Netflix at the end of July. Laros’ tribute just might be the best grassroots promo the sequel gets.
As for his toughness rating? EA might want to revisit that decision.