SDS’ Top 100: Ranking the best college football players in 2025 (Nos. 25-1)

The 2025 college football season will feature thousands of players on 136 FBS rosters. Here’s Saturday Down South’s annual countdown of the best of the best.

PREVIOUSLY: Nos. 100-76. | Nos. 75 through 51 | Nos. 50-26.

25. Makhi Hughes | RB, Oregon

If you’re drafting a fantasy team, there are few safer bets in any given season than RB1 at Oregon: Excluding the COVID year, the Ducks’ feature back has finished with 1,000+ scrimmage yards in 20 consecutive seasons, under 6 different head coaches, usually with plenty of room to spare. Enter Hughes, a transfer from Tulane who looks like a lock to extend the streak. Like most of his predecessors, Hughes isn’t the most imposing back, or the shiftiest. He just moves the chains — in 2 years at Tulane, he churned out 2,779 yards, 135 first downs and 22 touchdowns, earning first-team All-AAC in both seasons. An efficient, one-cut runner listed at 5-11, 210 pounds, he’s plenty sturdy enough for the transition to the Big Ten, with more than 70% of his career output coming after contact, per PFF. (Also per PFF, he’s yet to fumble on 520 carries.) Don’t expect to be blown away by a viral highlight reel. Just put him down for triple digits on a weekly basis, and watch him hit his marks.

24. Jordyn Tyson | WR, Arizona State

Tyson’s ascent in 2024 was as unexpected as his team’s. After missing virtually all of ’23 to a torn ACL, he was a revelation in Arizona State’s run to the Big 12 crown and Playoff spot, finishing with more targets (113), receptions (75), yards (1,101) and touchdowns (10) than the rest of ASU’s wideouts combined. Tyson was 1 of only 3 Power 4 conference receivers with 1,000 yards and 10 TDs in the regular season; the others, Colorado’s Heisman winner Travis Hunter and Miami’s Xavier Restrepo, were both consensus All-Americans. Tyson only missed out on adding to those totals due to a broken collarbone that sidelined him for the Big 12 Championship Game and a second-round CFP loss to Texas. The Devils will never know whether his presence would have made a difference in that defeat, a double-overtime heartbreaker they were literally 1 play away from winning. But in the absence of MVP running back Cam Skattebo in 2025, they can be sure that getting back will involve Tyson taking the next step toward fulfilling his first-round potential.

23. Spencer Fano | OT, Utah

Utah’s offense was a wreck in 2024, battling injuries and gradually bottoming out over the course of Big 12 play. Which only made Fano’s trajectory that much more remarkable: A blue-chip recruit from rival turf – his high school is literally in BYU’s backyard – he moved from the left side as a true freshman to the right in Year 2 and cemented his reputation as a bona fide road grader. Fano played every meaningful snap and finished with the top overall PFF grade (92.7) and run-blocking grade (93.6) of any Power 4 lineman.

This year, the o-line is the only part of the offense that will look familiar under new coordinator Jason Beck, returning all 5 regular starters. (In particular, Fano’s fellow bookend, LT Caleb Lomu, is another former blue-chip with “future pro” written all over him.) For Fano personally, he could stand to clean up the rough edges as a pass blocker to be NFL-ready in 2026, when he’s almost universally projected as an early entrant and first-rounder. In the meantime, if the Utes take off under Beck and dynamic QB transfer Devon Dampier, who followed his OC to Salt Lake City from New Mexico, it will only be because the big men have paved the way.

22. Matayo Uiagalelei | Edge, Oregon

Yes, you recognize the name: All his life, Matayo has been known as DJ’s little brother. Now, though, the shadow is about to fall in the opposite direction. For one thing, the younger Uiagelelei has simply physically outgrown his older bro, having beefed into a 6-5, 270-pound specimen entering his third year on campus. For another, while DJ is a long shot to make an NFL roster as a rookie, Matayo’s stock is poised to achieve liftoff, coming off a breakout sophomore campaign in which he accounted for 31 QB pressures, 10.5 sacks, and a game-clinching INT in one of the Ducks’ closest calls of the season.

Oregon will miss the pass-rushing juice of departed first-rounder Derrick Harmon on the interior, but between Uiagalelei, fellow edge rusher Teitum Tuioti, and incoming transfer Bear Alexander, the front four still boasts arguably the highest ceiling of any d-line in the Big Ten, if not the country. How close they come to fulfilling it will go a long way toward determining how far the Ducks go in their pursuit of the program’s first national title. For what it’s worth, BetMGM Sportsbook has listed the Ducks’ national championship odds at +600.

21. Rueben Bain Jr. | DL, Miami

One of the top recruits to come out of Miami since the pandemic, Bain was an instant hit at The U, sweeping the 2023 Freshman All-America teams and earning ACC Defensive Rookie of the Year after finishing among the conference leaders in QB pressures (45), TFLs (12.5) and sacks (7.5). Cue the minor chord for Year 2: Bain suffered a calf injury on the first series of the first game, costing him the entire month of September and curbing his effectiveness the rest of the year. His output was effectively cut in half, and the defense as a whole shouldered the blame for keeping the nation’s Po. 1 offense out of the Playoff.

This year, the ‘Canes are resetting on defense with an influx of new starters via the portal and a new coordinator, Corey Hetherman, who oversaw one of the nation’s best units in 2024 at Minnesota. But they’re still banking on a healthy, well-seasoned Bain to make good on his initial promise in what is likely to be – at least if it goes according to plan – his last year. A new scheme is no substitute for a difference-maker.

20. Antonio Williams | WR, Clemson

It has been a minute since Clemson had a wideout worth remembering, but the post-pandemic drought is officially over. We’ve already covered the Tigers’ rising sophomore stars, TJ Moore and Bryant Wesco Jr., in Part 2 (Nos. 75-51). If there’s a first among equals, though, it’s Williams, former top-100 recruit who emerged in 2024 right on schedule. A smooth, elusive route runner, Williams rebounded from a nagging foot injury in ’23 to haul in 75 catches for 904 yards and 11 touchdowns, best among returning ACC receivers in each column. He also tacked on a couple TDs as a rusher and passer, just to show he could.

Now that Moore and Wesco are established on the outside, Williams will likely spend most of his time working out of the slot, where he thrived late last season as the freshmen settled into full-time roles. Wherever he lines up, getting the ball in his hands remains the offense’s top priority.

19. LaNorris Sellers | QB, South Carolina

There was a point last October when I openly wondered in my weekly SEC quarterback rankings whether Sellers was cut out to be a long-term SEC starter. The answer: An emphatic yes. Yes, he is. From that point on, he was arguably the best quarterback in America over the final month of the regular season.

Maybe it should have been obvious a lot sooner — Sellers’ upside was plain enough in the early going, even if his limitations were, too. At 6-3, 242 pounds, he instantly sets off the freak siren, boasting the kind of highlight-reel athleticism that at his size inspires lofty comparisons. A 75-yard touchdown run against LSU in Week 3 was an early, fleeting glimpse. Still, prior to an open date in in late October, he profiled as a typically raw, turnover-prone underclassman whose potential at that point far outstripped his production. After, the Gamecocks ended the regular season on a 6-game winning streak that vaulted them into late playoff contention.

Don’t just go by the record: For the month of November, Sellers ranked No. 2 nationally in total offense and pass efficiency, and first in total touchdowns, with 16 (12 passing, four rushing). In the same span, South Carolina averaged just shy of 500 yards per game, best in the SEC, with Sellers accounting for just shy of 70% of that total. And don’t just go by the stats, either. In a win over Missouri, he led not just one but two go-ahead touchdown drives in the fourth quarter. Two weeks later, he looked like the second coming of Cam Newton — how’s that for a lofty comparison? — in another come-from-behind win over Clemson, repeatedly turning shoulda-been sacks by future pros into big, loping gains in the open field on his way to 166 rushing yards.

Per PFF, Sellers’ 18 missed tackles forced against the Tigers were the most in a single game all season by any player not named Ashton Jeanty. With 164 passing yards, he was also the only FBS quarterback on the year to rush and pass for 150+ yards in the same game, turning in a season high 92.5 Total QBR rating in the process.

Sure, 6 games (1 of them vs. Wofford) is not exactly a foolproof sample size, and Sellers was a mere mortal in a 21-17 Citrus Bowl loss to Illinois. Do you wanna bet on this guy turning back into a pumpkin? If his progress continues apace, he’s a bona fide Heisman candidate in 2025, and could be NFL-bound as soon as ’26, his first year of eligibility. And even if it doesn’t, the glimpses of his upside he’s flashed already are enough to buy a whole lot of patience.

18. Harold Perkins Jr. | LB, LSU

Perkins was supposed to be in the NFL by now, redefining the concept of the “positionless” defender in the spread era. Instead, he’s back at LSU to rehab a) A torn ACL that cost him nearly all of his junior season; and b) His reputation as an all-purpose playmaker from anywhere on the field. Even before his injury last September, LSU seemed to be struggling with precisely how to deploy Perkins’ dynamic skill set, which made him a breakout star as a freshman but also has its limits. 

One problem the Tigers faced in 2023 was reconciling Perkins’ dynamic presence as a pass rusher with the fact that, at 6-1, 222 pounds, he’s much too light to hold up as an every-down edge defender against the run. The only game they parked him on the edge full-time, a 55-49 loss at Ole Miss, was one of the worst defensive performances in school history. Instead – much to the fans base’s frustration – he spent the rest of that season primarily as a conventional box linebacker or in a nickel role, more “spacebacker” than edge terror. Sacks and pressures declined from ’22 despite a significant increase in Perkins’ overall snap count.

In 2025, coaches have explicitly designated Perkins for “Star,” the hybrid linebacker/nickel position, reportedly at his own request. That probably corresponds with how he’ll be deployed at the next level, as a search-and-destroy type whose coverage skills are more likely to translate than his ability to torch lumbering o-linemen off the snap. To neglect his capacity to harass opposing QBs would be criminal, but if they have to pick and choose the right moments to turn him loose, well, that’s why defensive coordinator Blake Bell makes the big bucks.

17. Suntarine Perkins | LB, Ole Miss

Suntarine is no relation to Harold, but the comparison is impossible to miss: 5-star hype, tweener size, elite closing speed in pursuit – he even wears the same jersey number, No. 4, that Harold wore as a freshman at LSU. And in many respects, Suntarine actually delivered the 2024 campaign his doppelganger was supposed to. While Harold’s season was derailed by injury, Suntarine broke through on cue, generating 43 QB pressures and 11 sacks for the most productive pass-rushing front in the country. Now a junior, he’s 1 of only 2 returning starters on the Ole Miss defense and the unquestioned captain of the unit.

The big difference between the respective Perkinses is that Suntarine has not moved around very much, lining up as a full-time edge each of the past 2 seasons. But that may be due to change. At 6-1, 210, Suntarine is even more undersized opposite colossal offensive tackles than Harold, and he’s benefited from playing on a stacked d-line that just had 3 outgoing starters drafted. Much of his success in ’24 came from hawking down quarterbacks who’d been flushed from the pocket; he was often more of a QB spy than a conventional rusher. His duties this fall reportedly will involve more standard linebacker stuff, including dropping into coverage, if only to allow pro scouts to check that box. When the rubber meets the road, though, the Rebels still want his ears pinned back.

16. Keldric Faulk | DL, Auburn

Enough with the tweeners. Faulk is a hoss: 6-6, 285, and still just a couple weeks shy of his 20th birthday entering his third year on campus. So far, so good. A rural product, Faulk was Hugh Freeze‘s first big recruiting win at Auburn, flipping his commitment from Florida State on signing day in December 2022. He made an immediate impression as a freshman, moving into the starting lineup midway through the season. As a sophomore, he established himself as one of the most disruptive forces in a league full of them, accounting for 45 QB pressures and 11 tackles for loss. 

Obviously, any blue-chip specimen who combines the explosiveness of an edge rusher in the body of a tackle has a bright future. Faulk’s size and skill set put him in the class of jumbo-sized mutants like Travon Walker, Mykel Williams and Shemar Stewart, who in recent years have made “Freakazoid SEC D-Lineman Dominates the Combine” an annual phenomenon. All of those guys went in the top half of the first round despite mediocre-at-best college production; Faulk has a chance to be the rare prospect who boasts create-a-player traits and the stats to back it up. Another step forward in Year 3 for a player still growing into his potential is a terrifying prospect.

15. Mikail Kamara | Edge, Indiana

In Part 3 (Nos. 50-26), we featured 3 of the 13 transfers who followed coach Curt Cignetti from James Madison to Indiana in 2024 and formed the core of arguably the best team in IU history. Even among the JMU contingent, Kamara distinguished himself. A first-team All-Big Ten pick, he was as unblockable as any rusher in the conference this side of Penn State’s Abdul Carter. Per PFF, Kamara led the entire FBS with 68 QB pressures, including 10 sacks – the first Indiana player to record double-digit sacks since 2008. Including his JMU years, he’s also forced 7 career fumbles, tied for the most of any returning defender in a Power 4 conference.

Résumé notwithstanding, the lingering question about Kamara’s skill set is his length, or lack thereof at (officially) 6-1, 265 pounds. No number in the box score is going to stop scouts from wringing their hands over a sawed-off frame at a position where wingspan is at a premium. It doesn’t help, either, that the only game in which he was shut out as a pass rusher last year was the Hoosiers’ lone regular-season loss at Ohio State. (Although he did fare better in their CFP loss at Notre Dame, generating 7 pressures against the Irish.) The Buckeyes rotate off the schedule in ’25, but future NFL offensive tackles from Illinois, Iowa, Oregon and Penn State rotate on. If Kamara still has anything to prove as a sixth-year senior, he’s going to get his chance.

14. Drew Allar | QB, Penn State

Let’s dispense with the throat-clearing — 5-star recruit, exemplary traits, 23-6 record as a starter, tangible improvement from ’23 to ’24, so on and so forth. If you’ve made it this far, you know who Allar is, and you know his return is at the top of the list of reasons Penn State is facing its highest expectations in decades. BetMGM gives Penn State +700 odds to win the national championship.

As a senior, he’s going to be judged solely by the one thing we don’t know: Is this guy capable of being The Guy?

Fairly or not, the losses over the past 3 years — the past 2 with Allar entrenched as QB1 — loom much larger over the Nittany Lions’ championship-or-bust mission than the wins. All but 1 of Penn State’s 8 defeats since 2022 have come at the hands of opponents ranked in the AP top 5 at kickoff, a run of big-game futility that includes an 0-5 record vs. Ohio State and Michigan; a shootout loss to Oregon in last year’s Big Ten Championship Game; and a heartbreaker against Notre Dame in the CFP semifinal, a game the Lions led with 5 minutes to play.

Allar in particular has been mostly forgettable in those games, except for the moments he’d actually like to forget. Most memorably, he was the goat (not the good kind) of the loss to the Irish, failing to complete a pass to a wide receiver and finishing with a season-low 92.8 passer rating. With the season on the line in the 4th quarter, he was bailed out of 1 ghastly interception by a dubious pass interference call, and ended the night by throwing what might be the costliest pick in school history to set up Notre Dame’s walk-off field goal to win.

In Allar’s defense, both a rebuilt offensive line and a pedestrian bunch of wideouts were considered weak links in 2024. Those defenses aren’t going to fly in ’25: The OL is now well-seasoned, and Penn State made upgrading the options at receiver its top offseason priority, adding 3 likely starters via the portal. Nick Singleton and Kaytron Allen have a chance to go down as a 1-2 backfield punch for the ages. (See: Part 3, Nos. 50-26.) The defense is a standard-issue Penn State defense, meaning it’s a safe bet to finish in the top 10 nationally in scoring D for the 5th year in a row. Everything is in place to get the Lions back to the threshold. Allar’s only mandate is a senior is to be the guy who finally carries them across.

13. Sonny Styles | LB, Ohio State

There was never much doubt that Styles, the son of a former Buckeye who grew up just outside Columbus, was going to wind up at OSU. Figuring out exactly what do with him once he got there was slightly more complicated. Initially listed as a safety, the 6-4 Styles arrived in 2022 already threatening to outgrow the position, and kept on beefing over the next 2 years even while lining up predominantly as either a free safety or nickel. Finally, he accepted his fate in 2024 as a full-fledged, 235-pound linebacker, and he looked like a natural. He started every game in the Buckeyes’ national title run, finished 2nd on the defense in snaps and tackles, and led the team in “stops,” PFF’s metric for tackles that represent a failure for the offense based on down and distance. 

As a senior, Styles is 1 of only 3 returning starters on defense following a mass exodus for the draft. (All 8 departing starters were picked in the first 5 rounds.) He’s still growing, too, now listed at an imposing 6-5, 243. Ohio State opens the season with odds as low as +525 at BetMGM. If a repeat is in the cards, he will be quite literally one of the biggest reasons.

12. Whit Weeks | LB, LSU

Harold Perkins’ torn ACL last September was a red-alert moment for a defense already short on proven playmakers. But his absence wasn’t nearly the disaster that it could have been, thanks largely to Weeks’ emergence as one of the SEC’s most relentless ball hawks. A model weakside ‘backer whose motor never stops, Weeks was inescapable, finishing as the conference leader in tackles (89) and stops (43) in SEC play. In addition to grading out as the Tigers’ top defender against the run, per PFF, he also made plays as a pass rusher (25 pressures, 4 sacks, including a pair of strip sacks) and in coverage (3 PBUs, 1 interception). He was the only underclassman on the first-team All-SEC defense as voted by league coaches, joining 11 other guys who are currently on NFL rosters.

Long-term, Weeks might be destined for the motor/grit curve, with questions about his size/speed/ceiling. Short-term, he’s still recovering from a serious ankle injury in the Texas Bowl that required surgery and has limited his preseason reps due to concerns over load management ahead of LSU’s season opener at Clemson. Once he and Perkins are finally on the field at the same time, the caveats aren’t going to count for much.

11. Ryan Williams | WR, Alabama

As teenage phenoms go, Williams wasn’t the most productive, or even the most likely to succeed as the rest of his career unfolds. (An impossible claim for anyone else in the same freshman class as Jeremiah Smith.) But few if any have passed the “Know It When You See It” test with as much style. A Day 1 starter for Alabama at 17 years old, Williams needed just a few weeks to burn his name in the national consciousness, flashing an uncanny knack for viral panache from the first time he touched the ball. By the first weekend in October, he’d accounted for 7 touchdowns in his first 5 college games, 6 of them on receptions of 40+ yards, and 1 of them entering directly into the pantheon of greatest plays in Bama history while it was still in progress.

What else do you need to see after that? In fact, there wasn’t much to see — Williams’ output slumped down the stretch, with his last touchdown vs. an FBS opponent coming in an Oct. 19 loss at Tennessee. By that point, though, he could have skipped the second half of the season altogether and the accolades still would have rolled in. He was a unanimous Freshman All-American and first-team All-SEC, making him the first true freshman receiver to earn that distinction from the coaches since at least the turn of the century. If those first 6 weeks were just the beginning, they’re also the bar he’ll be measured by for the rest of his tenure.

10. Arch Manning | QB, Texas

To cite headline writers’ favorite Arch-themed cliché, the advance hype for the Manning era is touched with a bit of madness. More than just a bit, actually: With a grand total of 260 snaps to his name, Manning is beginning his tenure as QB1 as the betting favorite for the Heisman, at the helm of the No. 1 team in both major polls, based mainly on — let’s be honest — some combination of the original recruiting buzz that followed him to Austin 2 years ago and his perennially clickable last name. Rarely, possibly never, has a player with a résumé this thin been sucked into a preseason hype cycle this powerful.

Now, does that mean we’re above it? Please. Not a chance. For one thing, Arch himself has never seemed the least bit affected by the din, to which he’s been acclimating since the 9th grade. For another, what little we have seen of him so far has advanced the plot. In 3 extended appearances in 2024 — September wins over UT-San Antonio, UL-Monroe and Mississippi State in relief of an injured Quinn Ewers — he looked the part and then some, averaging an eye-opening 11.2 yards per attempt with 8 touchdown passes vs. 2 interceptions. Even after Ewers returned to full-time duty, neither his performance nor Steve Sarkisian’s weekly insistence that Ewers’ job was safe were a match for the murmurs that flared up every time the offense failed to score 2 possessions in a row. In the meantime, while Manning barely put the ball in the air again as an understudy, he took advantage of his few appearances off the bench to flash better-than-advertised mobility, both as an open-field runner and as a short-yardage threat with a nose for the end zone.

Then again, it’s also worth remembering that on his only meaningful drop-backs against a real opponent, Georgia hounded Manning into 2 sacks and a fumble on just a handful of snaps in the Longhorns’ only loss of the regular season, a 30-15 decision in Austin in mid-October. That was the game when the broadcast caught both Texas QBs looking stunned on the sideline at the end of a miserable first half. So, you know, take his breakthrough against the likes of UTSA and UL-Monroe for what it’s worth.

At any rate, at least we won’t have to wait long to begin drawing some actual conclusions: Texas’ opening-day trip to Ohio State is the main event of Week 1 and one of the premiere nonconference collisions of the season. Both Manning and his counterpart, OSU’s Julian Sayin, have a chance to make a lasting first impression that puts one or both on the Heisman track. If Arch is who pretty much everybody seems to think he is, a win in Columbus could cement his status as the Face of the Sport overnight.

9. Cade Klubnik | QB, Clemson

Klubnik’s lofty recruiting ranking inspired visions of the next Deshaun Watson or Trevor Lawrence. By the end of his first season as a starter in 2023, the verdict was in: In Klubnik’s own words, “everybody kind of told me I sucked.” Clemson finished 9-4, snapping a streak of a dozen consecutive seasons with 10+ wins, while Klubnik struggled to distinguish himself in any way from the guy he replaced, the much-maligned DJ Uiagalelei. 2024 started in the same vein, with the offense failing to move the needle in a 34-3 flop against Georgia.

Then a funny thing happened: Slowly but surely, Klubnik actually… improved? Is that still a thing young quarterbacks are allowed to do? Apparently, yeah. With the team flying well below the national radar for a change, the offense perked up, improving its output in ACC play by nearly 13 points per game compared to ’23. The turnaround began behind center, where Klubnik accounted for nearly two-thirds of the Tigers’ total offense and 43 total touchdowns on the year (up from 23 TDs as as sophomore) vs. only 6 interceptions (down from 9).

He made strides as a passer and a runner, recording healthy year-over-year gains in passer rating, Total QBR and rushing yards; excluding sacks, he finished as the team’s second-leading rusher, and his legs were responsible for arguably Clemson’s biggest play of the year — a game-winning, 50-yard touchdown scramble at Pitt in mid-November that ultimately punched the Tigers’ ticket to the ACC Championship Game, which they had to win (and did) to reach the Playoff.

From there, Klubnik’s postseason outings against SMU (a dramatic, 34-31 win in the ACCCG) and Texas (a 38-24 loss in the CFP) were two of his best, with the vast majority of the Tigers’ output and all 7 touchdowns in those games coming courtesy of his right arm.

So, OK, Trevor Lawrence he is not. If Klubnik had a Lawrence/Watson-caliber skill set, he’d be plying it as a newly-minted franchise QB at the next level. He is, however, the MVP of an offense that returns virtually intact, in a wide-open year for the national championship, the Heisman, and most everything else. This is an especially pivotal season for Dabo Swinney, whose homegrown, portal-averse approach to roster building is on the verge of being vindicated after several years on the rocks. (Although it’s worth noting that even Dabo’s zero-tolerance policy toward the portal has begun to thaw.) He’d love to prove it’s still possible to recruit-and-develop your way to the top of the sport, with Klubnik serving as poster boy for the virtues of patience. The Tigers are prohibitive betting favorites to win the ACC, and every step the Tigers take toward a national title, the closer he’ll be to leaving a legacy of his own.

8. Jeremiyah Love | RB, Notre Dame

Love was the opposite of a workhorse in 2024, averaging just 10.2 carries per game as part of Notre Dame’s backfield-by-committee. But the Irish got plenty of bang for their buck: Among Power 4 backs with 100+ carries, Love ranked No. 3 in yards per carry (6.9); No. 5 in touchdowns (17); No. 9 in missed tackles forced (62); and No. 1 in “elusiveness,” a PFF metric that combines missed tackles forced and yards after contact. Altogether, his 19 rushing/receiving touchdowns came in 1 shy of the single-season school record, 4 of which covered 60+ yards.

You wouldn’t know it from his breakaway TD against Indiana, but Love was limited throughout the postseason by a nagging knee injury, which severely curbed his explosiveness; his second-longest gain across 4 CFP games covered just 9 yards. He was notably a non-factor in the CFP Championship Game, managing 8 yards on 6 touches in Notre Dame’s loss to Ohio State.

Given the need to keep him healthy and available for the long haul, there’s not much urgency to increase Love’s workload throughout the 2025 season. His primary running mate, Jadarian Price, was plenty productive on his share of the carries, and there’s no shortage of depth. The biggest variable is how the Irish will divvy up the dozen or so carries per game reserved for departed QB Riley Leonard, who actually led the team in carries even after excluding sacks. Leonard’s replacement, redshirt freshman CJ Carr, projects more as a conventional pocket type than a dual-threat. As enticing as it is to get the ball in Love’s hands as often as possible, preventing a repeat of last year’s hobbled finish must be also be a priority.

7. Francis Mauigoa | OT, Miami

A native of American Samoa, Mauigoa’s route to big-time college football was a far-flung one – the distance between his hometown in the South Pacific and Coral Gables spans some 6,000 miles, with multiple stops in between. But one look at his industrial-strength frame is all you need to understand that, wherever he was born, he was born to be an offensive lineman. After following older brothers Frederick and Francisco to the mainland, Mauigoa entered the pipeline at IMG Academy, and emerged 2 years later as one of the most sought-after OL in the country.

At Miami, he reunited with his brother Francisco, a 2-time All-ACC pick at linebacker who was drafted in the 5th round this spring. Francis, a second-team all-conference pick in 2024, has his sights set higher. At 6-6, 315, he boasts ideal size to go with 26 consecutive starts at right tackle and is coming off a sophomore campaign in which he allowed a single sack on 576 pass-blocking snaps, per PFF. The Hurricanes led the nation in total and scoring offense, and sent QB Cam Ward (a former teammate of Francisco’s at Washington State) out as the No. 1 overall pick. That’s a tough act for Ward’s successor, Carson Beck, to follow. Mauigoa’s job is simply to give him a chance.

6. Kadyn Proctor | OT, Alabama

It’s been a long way to the top for Proctor, a mountain of a man whose potential has loomed larger than his performance. A 5-star prospect and Day 1 starter in 2023, he had all the makings of the next great plug-and-play Bama left tackle. Instead, he visibly struggled as a freshman, allowing an SEC-worst 36 pressures and 12 sacks, per PFF. Understandably frustrated, Proctor transferred home to Iowa that winter following Nick Saban’s retirement and went through spring drills with the Hawkeyes before reversing course and returning to Tuscaloosa last summer. Despite missing the first 2 games to injury, he was vastly improved in Year 2, cutting pressures (15) and sacks (3) en route to a second-team all-conference nod from SEC coaches. Still, a couple of rocky outings down the stretch in demoralizing losses to Oklahoma and Michigan were reminders that, for a full-grown colossus, he remained a work in progress.

In Year 3, the Tide are expecting a finished product. On top of his outrageous feats of weight-room strength and agility for a man listed at 6-7, 366 pounds, Proctor is the ranking vet in the trenches, with 25 career starts at a position that Alabama has produced 5 first-round picks over the past decade. If he’s going to fulfill his promise as the next name on that list, the time is now.

5. Anthony Hill Jr. | LB, Texas

By certain metrics, Texas’ defense was the best in the country in 2024, and by any metric Hill was the Longhorns’ most versatile defender. Smooth, instinctive and ferocious in pursuit, he did a little bit of everything, most of it at an elite level in just his second year on campus. He was omnipresent against the run, logging triple-digit tackles, 44 stops, including an SEC-best 17 tackles for loss. He hounded opposing QBs, generating 23 QB pressures and 8 sacks on just a handful of pass-rushing reps per game. He created takeaways, tying for the SEC lead with 4 forced fumbles. He made plays between the tackles, coming off the edge and in space. On a unit loaded with future pros, Hill was the one who consistently leapt off the screen.

The only red flag in Hill’s game is in coverage — PFF cited him for 453 yards allowed on 60 targets, more than three-quarters of that total coming after the catch. No other SEC linebacker allowed more yards, and only 1 linebacker in the entire FBS allowed more YAC. (Note for the record here that PFF singled out Hill as the responsible party on the random screen pass that Ohio State’s TreVeyon Henderson broke for a 75-yard touchdown against the Longhorns just before halftime in the Cotton Bowl, a play that caught the entire defense with its pants down; there wasn’t a white jersey within 20 yards of Henderson when he caught the ball. This stuff is useful in context, but it is not an exact science.) There’s no reason athletically that Hill should be a liability on this front, and he wasn’t in 2023 as a freshman. If that’s the only remaining hurdle he has to clear to becoming a complete package in his money year, show him the money.

4. Peter Woods | DL, Clemson
3. TJ Parker | Edge, Clemson

Clemson has been cranking out elite d-linemen for long enough at this point that they’re starting to run together, each new guy inevitably filling a mental space shaped by the old guys. Even at a position as decorated as this one, though, Parker and Woods – the highest-rated players in the Tigers’ 2023 recruiting class – have a chance to play their way to the top of the list. 

Parker’s impact is obvious at a glance. Over the past 2 seasons, he has accounted for 86 QB pressures, 33 TFLs and 16.5 sacks, ranking among the returning FBS leaders in each column; in 2024, he also tied for 2nd nationally with 6 forced fumbles, a school record. If you repeat the words “Clemson defensive end” three times in front of a mirror, Parker’s image will appear in the reflection. 

Woods’ impact is harder to quantify, mostly because he has logged significantly fewer snaps. (He was limited over the first half of last season by a knee injury.) But when he has been on the field, he’s earned a reputation as a freak and a half, splitting reps between the edge and the interior at 6-3, 315 pounds, and looking equally disruptive in both roles. A classic run stuffer, Woods has also generated 40 pressures on 396 career pass-rushing snaps.

The plan in ’25 is to limit Woods to his natural position on the inside, a move facilitated by the arrival of Purdue transfer Will Heldt to man the edge role opposite Parker. Notably, Heldt was the first defensive player ever to join Clemson via the portal, an indication of just how urgently they want to maximize Woods’ massive presence in what will likely be his final college season. A full season at full speed will set the standard future generations are measured against.

2. Jeremiah Smith | WR, Ohio State

Let’s turn back the calendar one year, to August 2024. Smith, the No. 1 overall recruit in the ’24 class, has already broken the hype meter before ever putting on a Buckeyes uniform. He enrolled early, showed up looking the part, and immediately starting going viral in a series of “My God, a Freshman” highlights in spring practice. The idea, at this point, that he might exceed the hype is absurd. To put it mildly. Like, it’s not even an idea because it’s not possible. Simply to be as good as advertised, Smith would have to deliver something like the best rookie campaign on record for a wide receiver at a program where even some of the most revered wideouts of the past decade have had to wait their turn. Garrett Wilson, Chris Olave, Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Emeka Egbuka, Marvin freakin’ Harrison Jr. — none of them made more than a ripple as freshmen. How good can this kid be, really?

Well … pretty dang good, as it turns out.

By the time the confetti fell on the Buckeyes’ national title, Smith’s debut had entered the realm of myth. The stats speak for themselves: Including his dominant turn in the Playoff, Smith’s debut ranked 6th in Ohio State history in receptions (76), 4th in receiving yards (1,315) and 2nd in receiving touchdowns (15). (That’s all of Ohio State history, not just freshmen, obviously.) He scored a TD in 12 of 16 games, and was charged by PFF with a single drop in the season opener. What the numbers don’t convey is the astonishing, man-among-boys ease of it all by an 18-year-old.

At 6-3, 215, Smith’s high-rise skills in traffic were predictable — no less incredible to watch in real time, but consistent with the scouting report. At the same time, though, he was an advanced route-runner, a home-run threat in the open field, and, on an offense loaded with skill talent, a focal point for opposing defenses. In the CFP alone, he dusted blue-chip corners in man coverage, put a 6th-year safety in the spin cycle, and ran through arm tackles like they were pool noodles.

Now, the question in Year 2 is how much better can this kid get? BetMGM lists Smith at +1000 to win the Heisman — the lowest odds to win the Heisman of any non-quarterback, and behind just 3 other quarterbacks overall.

Unless coaches are determined to force-feed him in blowouts, there’s not a lot of ceiling room left on paper. Athletically, the notion of a sophomore leap by a borderline extraterrestrial specimen who by the end of Year 1 was already being compared favorably to Julio Jones is frankly terrifying. What would that even look like? It hardly seems possible. But based on what we’ve seen already, notions of what is or isn’t possible in Smith’s immediate future have no bearing on what he’s actually capable of producing.

1. Caleb Downs | DB, Ohio State

It’s not easy to wax rhapsodic about safeties, a position that by definition tends to do its best work offscreen, out of sight and out of mind of the average viewer. The ideal safety is boring: A sound tackler who rarely whiffs; a reliable cover man who’s rarely challenged deep; a guy who’s entire job consists of taking responsible angles, never being caught out of place, and preventing disaster so efficiently that it looks routine, if it’s noticed at all. He’s the sensible suburban soccer dad of the defense.

Downs, as ideal a college safety as there has ever been, has the boring stuff down cold. Over 2 years, 30 starts and 1,807 snaps at Alabama and Ohio State, he has consistently been where he’s supposed to be, when he’s supposed to be there, doing what he’s supposed to be doing. He has allowed a grand total of 2 touchdowns in coverage, per PFF, both of them in his freshman season at Bama in 2023. He’s committed a grand total of 2 penalties, again, both of them as a freshman. Opposing QBs were so reluctant to test him downfield in 2024 that the average depth of target on passes with Downs in coverage was a meager 5.1 yards. In 11 of Ohio State’s 16 games, he didn’t allow a reception of 10+ yards; in 7 of those games, he didn’t allow a reception at all. He’s recorded 189 career tackles, including 61 stops and a dozen TFLs, with only 24 misses — a success rate of 89 percent. 

And he makes it all look effortless enough that, if you’re just tuning in on a given Saturday, it’s easy to take him for granted. In fact, it’s almost impossible not to.

With the great ones, though, seeing is believing, and the cumulative effect of watching Downs at his best is to appreciate just how much faster he’s moving than everyone else on the field, mentally and physically. A premium athlete with NFL bloodlines — his father, Gary Downs, and uncle played in the league, as does his brother Josh, a wideout with the Colts — Downs’ foot speed is arguably exceeded by his processing speed, which for a guy with easy sideline-to-sideline range is saying something. The next time he gets caught chasing might be the first. Instead, he doesn’t read and react so much as he attacks: By the time the ball gets where it’s going, Downs has usually absorbed the play, defeated any blockers in his path, closed on his target, and is poised to deliver a textbook strike with all 205 pounds flying downhill.

Oh, and if you allow him to field a punt, he will take it to the house.

Although he’s only a junior, Downs has nothing left to prove at this level, or even to add to his résumé, having started every game for a couple of Playoff teams and already claimed most of the accolades he’s eligible to claim — All-American, Freshman All-American, first-team all-conference in both of the sport’s premier conferences, national champion. There’s still, say, the Jim Thorpe Award, bestowed upon the best DB in the country, which Downs was a finalist for in 2024 but did not win (possibly because voters acknowledged that he’s a shoo-in to win it this year). But he doesn’t really need to chase any trophies, either. At this point, he has already established himself as the type of player for whom an awards snub says more about the award than it does about him. All that’s left is to put the finishing touches on a career that’s going to endure as the standard-bearer for his position.