RJ Young presents college football Pre-Spring Top 25
Spring football is underway all over the country, giving a way-too-early sense of what the college football landscape could look like in 2023, though there is still plenty left to unfold before things really get going in the fall.
It’s never too early for predictions, though, and some of those have emerged. That includes college football analyst RJ Young’s pre-spring Top 25, which he released Wednesday.
Those include 4 teams in the Southeastern Conference between the Georgia Bulldogs, Tennessee Volunteers, Alabama Crimson Tide, the LSU Tigers and read as follows for the top 5 teams:
1. Georgia
2. Michigan
3. Ohio State
4. USC
5. Tennessee
.@RJ_Young gives you his top 4 teams in his Pre-Spring Top 25 ?
1. @GeorgiaFootball
2. @UMichFootball
3. @OhioStateFB
4. @uscfbCheck out RJ's full Pre-Spring Top 25 article below ⬇️
— The Number One College Football Show (@numberoneshow) March 8, 2023
This list includes a lot of teams in the mix in the same places they were last year, with Georgia having the chance to repeat a third time as national champions in what looks to be the beginning of a dynasty. Tennessee will also be one to watch as it prepares for life without Hendon Hooker but with one of the most intriguing quarterback rooms in the country within what it set to be a dominant overall SEC once more in 2023.
Colorado at 20 is just plain laughable and assine, same team with 1 win last season. So he thinks cu is gonna have a turn around like usc had from 99 to 2000? Go from 0 wins to 8 wins?
Michigan at #2 and the team that last beat them at #14? That makes complete sense….. in the mind of a mindless media moron.
Michigan has everyone basically coming back on offense and defense. Your gators don’t even belong on the same field with them and you’re talking junk. Tell your team to focus on beating Vandy, then speak.
Having “everyone come back” from a team that got beat by TCU, given what happened to TCU after that game, is nothing to crow about and certainly nothing to rank them ahead of Alabama. But hey, that’s why they play the games on the field and not in the minds of B1G biased media analysts.
As for the Gators, they’ll get back up there in due course. The guy that kicked the snot out of Meeechigan with a TE playing QB did a lot of damage with bad recruiting that needs to be repaired. Who knows, we may even see Meeechigan again this season in the Outback Bowl, or whatever they’re calling it nowadays.
LSU should be significantly higher than 18. 9-3 season, won the SEC West and have a lot of returning talent. Swap them and Notre Dame who is (as usual) overrated.
Agreed, but with all those “powerhouse” B1G, ACC and Pac “10” teams crowding the top ten, there’s no room left there for another SEC team.
What a joke!
It really is. The top 6 are the only part of this list that I think is correct.
I don’t even agree with the top 6. I believe both the Tide and Vols would kick the stuffing out of Michigan, even breaking in new QBs.
How those two rank vs. each other will be settled on the field on the 3rd Saturday in October.
Lol keep telling yourself that. Vols were a one hit wonder with Hooker. Milton is a nice guy, but the real Joe Milton will show up and UT fans won’t be patient. Nico will be starting before end of year.
AsI said above, even breaking in a new QB, the Vols are better than Michigan. So is Alabama.
I’ll agree with that take StLGator. Michigan may not belong at 2 but I would keep them in the top 6.
Hail2TheVictors – Not sure who you’re for or if you’ve been watching but this TN team is significantly better than they were 2,5,10 years ago. Maybe Nico starts before the end of the year but I’m hoping Milton keeps that Orange Bowl touch. We shall see. This season is going to be odd. A lot of teams lost a lot of top tier talent and half are breaking in new QBs.
Generally, I would agree with ranking Meeechigan at #6 VFL_88, although I sincerely believe Clemson will be stronger than Meeechigan and all the others between them and the top 6 as shown.
From what I saw at the end of last season, UofM is slightly better than Clemson. Clemson plays in a much softer conference so they look better on paper. They were undefeated in their conference play but finished 11-3 while Florida State went 5-3 in conference but finished the season 10-3. ACC is whack. Same goes with the PAC12.
We’re in the realm of opinions now. However, I look at composite talent and coaching capability.
Clemson had the #5 247 composite talent squad in 2022 and underperformed, due mainly to Dabo being obligated to play “the Ukulele” most of the season, blowing a couple of winnable games and slowing Klubnik’s development. Michigan had the #13 247 composite talent squad and over-performed, mainly due to good coaching and a fairly easy schedule.
Clemson had the #11 recruiting class in 2023 and Michigan had the #18 class. So, the talent gap doesn’t close much if at all. However, Clemson also hired Riley away from TCU as new OC and said goodbye to “the Ukulele,” which will dramatically improve their offensive performance in 2023, while Michigan stood pat.
Given both will play fairly easy schedules again this season, I see Clemson beating FSU and having a better overall record than Michigan by year’s end. I’ll be surprised if Clemson loses two games this year.
TBH, I haven’t really kept up with either since the season ended. When you lay it out like you did her, I’m gonna have to change my tune agree with you.
Klubnik looked lost in the Orange Bowl. He has a ways to go but the OC change could help him a lot. He was running for his life for most of the game. His jersey had as much green on it as it did orange.