It’s here! It’s finally here! College football season is upon us, mercifully, and as we embark on another journey to find a national champion, the trek begins with identifying the sport’s top players.
In most cases, teams’ most valuable players are their best players, but in others, it’s the stars who are most-needed to have magnificent campaigns. In the case of the defending national champion Ohio State Buckeyes, it’s a case of choosing arguably the nation’s top offensive player or top defensive player.
Everywhere you look, superstars are blossoming. Others are in get-NFL-ready mode as they try to lead their programs to the top tier of the sport.
Some of these guys are household names, while others may be new that you need to commit to memory. In some cases, they’ve been with their team for years, while in others, they’re transfer-portal gems.
In all cases, their teams will rely on them for leadership to win a championship. Obviously, this is completely subjective based on predicted production.
Here are our predictions for every Power 4 college football team’s MVP for the ’25 season.
When you look at the ’25 ACC, you’ve got to start with the three teams that came closest to playing for everything last year. The Clemson Tigers and SMU Mustangs made it to the College Football Playoff, while Miami just missed.
All three have major aspirations again this year.
Clemson Tigers – Cade Klubnik, QB
The top team in the conference and perhaps the country is coach Dabo Swinney’s Clemson Tigers, loaded on both sides of the ball with an elite stable of wide receivers and the defensive line tandem of Peter Woods and T.J. Parker.
But the guy who makes it tick is senior Texas gunslinger Cade Klubnik, who finally took a monumental leap forward under offensive coordinator Garrett Riley last year, completing 64 percent of his passes for 3,639 yards, 36 touchdowns and just six interceptions. He’s a bonafide Heisman Trophy candidate.
SMU Mustangs – Kevin Jennings, QB
If the Mustangs are going to make it back to the final 12 this year, they’ll need Kevin Jennings to have the type of season that can carry a team beyond some talent gulfs.
Last year was an unforgettable first foray into the ACC, but Breshard Smith is off to the Kansas City Chiefs, and coach Rhett Lashlee’s team must restock the pantry around Jennings, who accounted for 3,599 all-purpose yards and 28 touchdowns a year ago. He needs to improve on that and minimize the turnovers (11 picks a year ago) in ’25.
Miami Hurricanes – Carson Beck, QB
A season after coach Mario Cristobal’s Hurricanes struck portal gold with top overall draft pick Cam Ward, who elevated The U back to the national spotlight with a transcendent year, they’re banking on it again.
Miami paid big money to keep former Georgia quarterback Carson Beck from heading to the NFL, and Beck is betting on himself after a season that was supposed to be special wound up with him completing 65 percent of his passes for 3,485 yards, 28 touchdowns and 12 interceptions.
Those aren’t bad numbers at all, but he must trim the interceptions and find some playmakers around him in Coral Gables.Boston College Eagles – Amari Jackson, DBCalifornia Golden Bears – Jaron Keawe-Sagapolutele, QBDuke Blue Devils – Darian Mensah, QBFlorida State Seminoles – Thomas Castellanos, QBGeorgia Tech Yellow Jackets – Haynes King, QBLouisville Cardinals – Isaac Brown, RBNorth Carolina Tar Heels – Gio Lopez, QBNorth Carolina State Wolf Pack – CJ Bailey, QBPittsburgh Panthers – Desmond Reid, RBStanford Cardinal – Matt Rose, LBSyracuse Orange – Duce Chestnut, CBVirginia Cavaliers – Chandler Morris, QBVirginia Tech Hokies – Kyron Drones, QBWake Forest Demon Deacons – Demond Claiborne, RB
The cream-of-the-crop conference in all of college football the past two years enjoyed its second natty in a row a season ago and placed four teams (Ohio State, Penn State, Oregon and Indiana) in the playoffs.
This season, the league is top-heavy and stacked again. Here are the top players.