SDS’s 2025 All-Aura Team: The most entertaining offensive players in college football
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College football, as a product, has arguably never been better. We get more games with national championship implications. We get more upsets. The players have never been bigger, never been faster, and never been more spread out. While it’s something more for the men who live it on Saturdays in the fall, the entertainment factor is through the roof.
That’s especially true with these 12 players you’ll read about below. Call it the All-Aura team — the most exciting, most intimidating, most entertaining players in college football. The offense is up first. The defense will be revealed at a later date.
The 2025 All-Aura Team Offense
Quarterback: Taylen Green, Arkansas
The starting quarterback at Arkansas, Green is 6-6, he’s 235 pounds, he can peel the leather off the football when he rifles a pass down the field, and he’s blazing fast. If defenses didn’t go into games knowing they could trip him up and force a turnover or 2, he might be one of the most intimidating players in the country. Like, “first guy off the bus” intimidating. He produced 32 explosive runs last season to go along with 45 pass plays of at least 20 yards. He produced 453 rushing yards after first contact and forced 41 missed tackles, both of which were top-5 marks among power conference quarterbacks. He also had a 92.6 pass grade from PFF on throws of at least 20 air yards. He had 17 turnover-worthy plays and a sub-60% completion rate last season, so there are some warts in his game, but that’s also part of what makes him so entertaining. It’s chaotic excellence for 60 minutes.
Running back: Jeremiyah Love, Notre Dame
In lieu of droning on about what makes Notre Dame’s star running back so impressive, I will provide you with 2 clips that will perfectly capture what makes Love such a force.
The first:
The second:
I’m 80% certain Love is going to try to recreate Saquon Barkley’s backwards hurdle during the upcoming season.
Running back: Jonah Coleman, Washington
When Coleman was a freshman at Arizona, he was often compared to Maurice Jones-Drew. He was over 200 pounds as a 5-9 back coming out of high school. He’s up to nearly 230 pounds now entering his fourth collegiate season. Coleman is a bowling ball who also happens to be blazing quick in a phone booth. His short-area burst is just insane given his size. He’ll lower a shoulder into defenders, but he’s also shown a penchant for jumping over people and sidestepping them as they crumple in an embarrassing heap on the turf. He has averaged 5.8 yards per carry for his career, he has forced 139 missed tackles in his career, and has gained nearly 3-quarters of his rushing yardage after first contact.
Wide receiver: Jeremiah Smith, Ohio State
What can be said about the Ohio State star that hasn’t already been said? Smith stepped onto a college campus loaded with the very best athletes in the country and was instantly one of the most physically imposing players on his team. As a true freshman player, Smith was simply unguardable in man coverage. He was targeted 32 times against man coverage last season and produced 20 first downs on 25 total catches. He completely dismantled Oregon in the Rose Bowl and dropped only 1 pass all season. Smith was a 6-3, 215-pound receiver when he arrived at Ohio State. Over his final 2 seasons in Columbus, he’ll get stronger and he’ll get faster. He told The Athletic’s Bruce Feldman he could only bench 225 pounds for 5-ish reps as a freshman and he repped out 2 plates for 20 this offseason. That’s a terrifying development for defenses.
Wide receiver: Ryan Williams, Alabama
The most impressive part of Williams’ game is his body control. He’s long, he’s lanky, he’s unbelievably fast, and he shouldn’t be able to twist and contort his body the way he does. One of his most impressive catches of his freshman season didn’t even count.
Williams was targeted 87 times last season. He only caught a little more than half those targets, and his deep-threat pedigree wasn’t exactly backed up by production. According to PFF, Williams only had 8 receptions on 25 targets on throws of at least 20 air yards. His first 5 games were outstanding, but he was less effective as the year went on. That may have had more to do with the overall pass game and less with Williams. Kalen DeBoer and Ryan Grubb should have a better feel of how to use Williams; he should be a nightmare matchup in 2025. The tip-toeing hesi-spin move he pulled against Georgia last fall was one of the best plays we saw from anyone all year.
Wide receiver: Cam Coleman, Auburn
The sophomore receiver stands 6-3 and weighs 201 pounds. According to The Athletic’s Bruce Feldman, Coleman squatted 540 pounds this offseason. Receivers should not squat that much. Coleman is explosive and he’s going to be a contested catch machine next fall so long as Auburn’s quarterback is willing to throw it to him. Coleman’s closing 3-game stretch last fall was a marvel, and it included a 3-touchdown day against ULM where he made video game catch after video game catch.
Tight end: Eli Stowers, Vanderbilt
Stowers was a 4-star quarterback recruit coming out of high school. He began his career at Texas A&M, transferred to New Mexico State, then went to Vanderbilt last season and blossomed into one of the country’s most electric receivers. According to PFF, Stowers placed above the 99th percentile in the outlet’s Game Athleticism Score metric last season. Vandy can use him as a runner, like NMSU did. It can use him as a shuttle option for quarterback Diego Pavia in the option game. It can use him down the field as a jump ball target. It can use him in double-pass concepts. He’s really technically skilled as a route-runner and hard to bring down in the open field.
Offensive lineman: Kadyn Proctor, Alabama
Alabama’s starting left tackle was an elite recruit, then an immediate starter, and now a sure-fire first-rounder. Proctor is massive at 6-7, 360 pounds, but it’s his movement that feels unreal. According to Feldman, this summer, Proctor has squatted 815 pounds, benched 535, and power cleaned 405. A 6-7 tackle should not be able to squat 815 pounds. It defies the laws of men. Frankly, it’s a little insulting. We need to find something this dude isn’t elite in. Badminton, maybe?
Offensive lineman: Jaeden Roberts, Alabama
Alabama’s starting right guard is the first guy off the Crimson Tide bus. Or, at least, he should be if he isn’t already. According to Feldman, Roberts can bench press 525 pounds and clocked a top speed of 19.1 miles per hour. What are they feeding the offensive lineman in Tuscaloosa?
Offensive lineman: Shadre Hurst, Tulane
Hurst is Tulane’s starting left guard — an interior offensive lineman who has played under 300 pounds for each of his 3 seasons with the program. And that size hasn’t mattered one iota. Pound for pound, he’s as strong as they come. A first-team All-AAC selection last year, Hurst saw nearly 400 snaps as a pass-blocker and didn’t allow a single sack.
Offensive lineman: Paolo Gennarelli, Army
In the FBS last season, there were 641 offensive linemen who played at least 500 snaps. All but 1 allowed multiple quarterback pressures. Army’s right guard, Gennarelli, allowed only 1 pressure. Additionally, his 81.6 run-blocking grade from PFF was the sixth-best among qualified FBS guards. It was a breakout season for the 6-1, 310-pounder in his redshirt freshman year. But he has been an absolute beast from the moment he stepped on campus. As a true freshman in December 2023, Gennarelli pause benched 405 pounds for 3. In April of this year, he benched 505 to set an Army record. He makes 4 plates look like baby food. And he went ATG on a 605-pound squat in April 2023. He might actually be the Hulk.
Offensive lineman: Olaivavega Ioane, Penn State
Imagine, for a moment, a 6-4, 330-pound man with a head of steam running at you. Former UCLA defensive lineman Luke Schuermann actually knows exactly how that scenario would play out.
First of all, putting an offensive lineman in motion to deliver a block is just cruel. But Ioane is also just a violent player. His hands are awesome, and he played nearly 500 snaps as a pass-blocker last season without allowing a sack.
Derek Peterson does a bit of everything, not unlike Taysom Hill. He has covered Oklahoma, Nebraska, the Pac-12, and now delivers CFB-wide content.
