College Football Live - CFB Live- 8/20- Top 100 Preseason Player Rankings

Episode Date: August 20, 2025

Join our crew, Zubin Mehenti, Sam Acho, and Roddy Jones as they dissect ESPN's Preseason Top 100 Player Rankings, as seen on ESPN.com. Which players are ranked too low? Which players are ranked too high? Which players weren't ranked at all? Find out what the crew thinks on today's episode of CFB Live! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This party is the best to begin. Rank up your TV if you like college football. Atmospheres don't get any better than this one. This is as good as it gets. This is college football. And we welcome you to college football live. It's a good way to get fired up in the season with Roddy Jones and Sam Acho. I'm Zubin Mahenty.

Today on ESPN.com, the list of the top 100 players in the sport came out, and that's what we're going to spend the bulk of our episode today talking about it. Once again, it's on ESPN.com right now. Top of the list, no surprise. Jeremiah Smith at Ohio State. And the scary part about this, guys, which we'll talk about in just a moment, is the fact that he's going to be at least on one more ESPN 100 list next year.

College football is going to have to figure out how to deal with him for a while. The best defensive player at this point we've got listed is Texas linebacker Anthony Hill Jr., obviously not getting the most attention of anybody on the Longhorn. Surely you know. But they believe. Our voters do. He's the best. If it's not him on defense, it's this guy. The Alabama transfer was an instant impact player for Ohio State, and Caleb Downs comes in at number three. Where are the quarterbacks? Here they are. Cade Clubnick is back, primed for a huge season and maybe looking to do something no Clemson player ever has. Talk more about that in a second as he enters just inside the top five. And Jeremiah Love, who he had on college football, live a couple weeks ago said, look, if I would have been healthy during that playoff run,

who knows, maybe that final step would have been completed. Right-hand portion of your screen are the five guys that round out the top 10. So take a good look at our preseason top 100 players. And just so you know, when the season does come to an end, we will have our 100 once the season has concluded. So a lot to go on between now and then as we welcome the guys back inside. Roddy, I want to start with you. I think even somebody as competitive as Jeremiah Smith, who's as insatiable and his desire as he can be, knows that at times he was awesome.

But as you said, there was a couple times where even for the number one player, you wanted to see a little more. Well, receiver is such a dependent position on everyone else. You're dependent on the offensive line to block for the quarterback. the quarterback has to throw you the ball and there has to be an accurate pass although not that accurate with Jeremiah Smith because he brings in just about everything

in his range. But there were a couple games last year. We kind of disappeared. You look at that Texas game and the Michigan game Michigan game he had five receptions on seven targets for 35 yards in that Texas game in the college football playoff, three targets, one reception, three yards. And then it gets Indiana late in the season.

Five targets, three receipts, three reception 34 yards. It's not because Jeremiah Smith had an off day. It's because defenses are going to scheme to take him away. So Ohio State and new quarterback Julian Sane are going to have to find ways when defenses are

taking away Jeremiah Smith to still get him the football because he is the best player in college football and that guy needs to touch the football. Yeah, but one of the most exciting things about this ranking is that Julian Sane, there's a lot of excitement about him and his armed talent on this Ohio State offense. Will Howard There were times last year where people were saying, man, is he a top-tier quarterback?

Yet even with those doubts, Jeremiah Smith still was the number one player, at least in these rankings. So now of a sudden you bring in the armed talent of Julian Sand combined with Jeremiah Smith, and I believe he'll have just as good of a year this year as he did last. I understand that games like Texas in Indiana, specifically in the college football playoff versus Texas, you double-team him, you bracket him, you put a safety over top of him to take him away. That's what you do to try and game plan against him. cannot do that weekend and week out because Ohio State has other weapons on the field that can try and negate that effect from happening. They do have other weapons, and Carnell Tate is number one amongst those, but they don't have as many weapons as they did a year ago.

They lost two backs that went in the second round that are playing in the NFL, and that's an unproven running back room. They lost production on the offensive line as well. So if I'm a defensive coordinator, if I'm Pete Kwiakowski at Texas, I'm going into that first game and I'm like, hey, look, everybody else, going to have to prove it. I know that guy's good. I know four is good. But everybody else is going to have to prove to me that they're good because Jeremiah Smith, the scouting report is out. And that's the one guy on Ohio State's team that you can't let beat you. Good point. Roddy, new quarterback. Top two running backs are new. Both coordinators are new. But Jeremiah Smith, same old problem. All right. Let's take a look at the next 10 guys on this list. So essentially 11 through 20.

And there's some guys that popped last year. There's some guys that have had a ton of college football playing experience on this list, like number 17. And there's others that are just getting their feet wet, like old number 12. So just take a good gander at this list here for one second. As Sam, we're going to discuss this concept with you. Which one of those guys listed 11 through 20? The guys on your screen right now has a legit gripe to join Jeremiah Smith and the other guys in the top 10. I would say number 19, Lenore Sellers, has a gripe to be in the top 10.

The reason why is you look at some of those guys in the top 10, guys like Peter Woods from Clemson and T.J. Parker from Clemson. All of a sudden, you're looking at what Lenora Sellers did against Clemson. He made those guys look like they were invisible. They could barely tackle him, let alone touch him in the game and the last game of the season last year. So you talk about a guy who's 6-3, 240. He's very hard to bring down. He's developing as a passer. And for him not to be in the top 10, for me was a bit surprising, especially considering some of the other quarterbacks who were in front of me.

them. But Sam, those past rush reps for Peter Woods and T.J. Parker were great. They just couldn't bring down the quarterback. They met there. They just couldn't get the big fella down. I do agree with you, though. Lenora Sellers, based on what he did in that Clemson game should be up there. Illinois solved the issue in the ball game, though. For me, Deny Dennis Sutton is a guy that probably shouldn't be in the top 10 yet, but I think by the end of the year, he'll be in the top 10. Deny Dennis Sutton was the defensive end opposite Abdul Carter last year. And he is a massive, long, tenacious defensive end. And I think with Abdul Carter gone, him being the primary focus of that Penn State pass rush,

where they still have talent elsewhere in that defensive line. So it's not like defense are going to be able to double team him. I think he is really going to have a great season. I think by the end of the year, Deny Dennis Sutton could be one of those guys in the top 10 with the production that I think he'll put up this season. You guys obviously were a part of some great locker rooms. So take me inside the locker room. Not that being like the number 15 guy in the country is some sort of slight when there's thousands of players.

But if you feel here at top 10 players, Sam, let's start with you. And I didn't make your top 10 list. Is this just manufactured anger? Or can you actually get something out of this? No, it's real. If you're in a locker room out of college football team, you're a competitor, especially if you think you're one of the best players in the nation. Let's say you're at 14 or 15.

and you feel like you should be number one. Let's say there's another player in front of you at your position and you feel like you're better. That's not manufactured. There's going to be a real idea of, hey, I have to go and prove to whoever made these decisions, whoever is voting, that I am the best tackle in the nation, the best guard in the nation, the best receiver,

whatever you might have you in the nation. So there's not manufactured excitement. There's real, this real energy of, hey, I've got to go prove myself to the world that I should be a top five, top 10, whatever ranking is available. Yeah, the first thing you do is you pick it up and see if you're on there. The second thing is, who did I play against this year or last year that is on the list?

And you compare yourself. If someone's on the list, let's say T.J. Parker, although he had great production against just about everybody. But if you had a great day against T.J. Park, you're thinking, man, he's top 10, and I'm not even on the list or I'm at 50, and it is that motivation. I do think there are some really good players, and we'll talk about it later on, outside of the top 100, where if I'm the head coach, of that player, I'm walking in and handing him the list and saying, hey, look, the experts don't even think you're top 100 in the country. You better go out and show everybody. And in the middle of camp, these are the dog days where you need any motivation. That can certainly provide it to guys that didn't make that list. Very interesting. So it's a bunch of guys that never played the game telling a bunch of guys that played the game how good they should be.

You got to love the media. You got to love the media on the way. You guys played the game. We're going to talk quarterbacks. And there's one guy with a number next to his name that Roddy. has a real problem with. He'll unload. Next. College Football Live is brought to you by Popeyes. Love that chicken from Popeyes.

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There are some Texas and Ohio State players that are littering the top 100 players, which, by the way, if you're just joining us, the list is out on ESPN.com today. And as usual, all eyes go to the quarterback position. This ranking a little different than your Heisman list because it would be be quarterbacks all over it. But instead, the two guys that are actually going to meet in week one against each other, Kate Klubnick and Garrett Nussmeyer, are actually the only guys

that are in the top 10, according to our group. All right, guys, quote, nothing gets people going like quarterback discussion. So Rodney, let's start with you. I mentioned right before the break. There was one guy who's ranking. You could not disagree with more. Let's go.

Zubin, it is time to stop disrespecting Carson Beck. It is time to put the respect back on Carson Beck's name. At 29, he is the ninth. ranked quarterback on this list. A guy that's for 7,900 yards in his career. A guy who was eighth in the country in QBR a year ago. That's third highest among returning players. Only Soya Robertson and Blake Horvath are quarterbacks coming back that had a higher

QBR than Carson Beck. He did all this for a Georgia team that had those second most drops in the country a year ago with 35. And yes, he had his struggle. Three interceptions in three separate games last year. Three interceptions against Bama. Three interceptions against Florida. Three interceptions at Texas.

He went through some struggles. But this is a guy who is incredibly experienced. I mentioned that 7,900 yards that he's passed for in the SEC. For anybody else, we would have them vaulted to top 10 if they have those stats. The injury certainly is a concern, but he's going to be playing for an offense. It just produced the number one overall pick in the draft with weapons or him. So Carson Beck should not be the ninth ranked quarterback on this list. That one has me a little wrinkled. Yeah, I think the reason why he was the ninth ranked quarterback on the list is

because there were some low points throughout the season. You talked about two of those games with three interceptions. Well, there was a three game span where he threw eight picks, right? Texas, Florida, Mississippi State, eight picks in three games. And though Georgia was able to win those games, there were some questions on, man, what's going on with Carson Beck? Now, he did end up finishing the season strong and taking Georgia to an SEC championship game, which he got hurt right before halftime. So I think it's those interceptions in that middle part of the season, along with the injury that has Carson Beck as low as he is in the top 100. Yeah, but from a perception standpoint, it's like Carson Beck was never, he was never able

to recover from that tough stretch. This is a guy who threw 12 interceptions a year ago in total. Garrett Nussmeyer also threw 12 interceptions a year ago. It's a guy they did have some struggles. As you mentioned, Kate Klobnik also had struggles early in the season against Georgia and throughout the year. And for some reason, the injuries that Carson Beck had, we overlooked the injuries that DJ Lagway has. He's above Carson Beck as well. So I just feel like from a perception standpoint, we had Carson Beck as the number one quarterback coming in a year ago. He did not perform to that level. I think even he would tell you that.

But that stretch has sort of tainted the perception that we have of him. And I feel like it has really pushed him too far down this list. Sam, I know you're really itching to get here on a guy like John Mateer, who is such an impactful player that he's going to really adversely affect what happens at Washington State without him and a critical piece for a huge season at Oklahoma. Rated properly over, under? What do you say? Yeah, I thought he was rated a little higher than I expected. I believe he was a 16 on that list. I understand at Washington State, he was outstanding.

Ben Arbuckle, their offensive coordinator now, is coming to Oklahoma as well. well. But to be in front of guys like Lenore Sellers, you want to even add Carson Beck to that list. I was very surprised by the ranking of John Mateer. He is a dual threat quarterback. There's a high level of confidence. He is an elite level runner. He could throw it

as well. But there are other names on that list that can do all the exact same things and they did it against better and tougher competition. So that's the reason why I'm surprised by the ranking of John Mateer and what we'll be able to do at Oklahoma. As you well know, Oklahoma's had some big time Heisman trophy winners.

They got statues out there in Norman for all of those guys. And that's where I kind of want to go with you guys next. Let's take a look at some of the guys here that have won the most coveted award in all of collegiate sports and where they were on our preseason rankings. As you see, Travis Hunter was expected to be great and was, Jaden Daniels, though, was flying a little bit under the radar when the season started before he won the award. As you can see, somebody like Bryce Young was outside of the top 20 and ended up being the Heisman Trophy winner. So let's talk about guys that are currently in the top five of this year's rankings,

which once again I'll emphasize for reviewers that are just joining us, Jeremiah Smith, Anthony Hill, Caleb Downs, Cade Clubnick, Jeremiah Love. Those are our top five guys. Roddy, let's start with you. Of those five, when it all comes down to it, that first Saturday night in December, how many are going to be in that Heisman race, maybe even at that ceremony? Well, I think you can automatically eliminate the defensive guys, fair or unfair. So Caleb Downs and Anthony Hill have to go to the side, unless Caleb Downs is able to return a couple of puns for touchdown, create a bunch of interceptions, or Anthony Hill has a bunch of defensive touchdowns as well. So Zubin, I'm going to go with two.

And I think the two that I feel best about are Jeremiah Smith and actually Jeremiah Love at Notre Dame. Kate Klobnik, I feel good about it. I just don't know if the numbers are going to be there. Clemson has never had a Heisman trophy winner, and it would be a great story if he's able to get there. But Deshawn Watson didn't win it despite the numbers that he put up. He lost to Lamar Jackson. Trevor Lawrence, those teams were blowing teams out so much.

He didn't have the numbers to support a Heisman run. So I kind of doubt that Kate Klobnik is going to be able to do that just because I think they're going to be more like the Trevor Lawrence teams. So I would go Jeremiah Smith and Jeremiah Love in New York, Sam. Yeah, I'd say a third. I would add Kate Klobock to that list. I'd go Jeremiah Smith, Jeremiah Love, in the top five, but also Kade Klobnik because of the maturity of the young receivers around him. Last year, he was playing with two freshman receivers, T.J. Moore and Bryant Westco,

both of them were outstanding, but now they're sophomores. There's a higher level of maturity with not only the receivers who were freshmen, but also with Kade Klemnick, who's been through the fire and come out on the other side. Yes, the defense will be dominant at Clemson. Yes, it might not be as tight of games, but I think that the number of the numbers. that Cade Clubnick will put up will be a lot godier than they were in the past because of the talent around him. Yes, on the offensive line, more mature Matt Lucas, the offensive line coach, but also the receivers in their maturity that they have this going into this season. All right. So we kind of know that it always revolves around the quarterback,

but let's take a look at the distribution of the list. If I've heard a million coaches say, it takes all 11 to win, but no surprise quarterback dominating and to Roddy's point if you take a look. I mean, pretty much the bulk of the list is going to be offensive skill positions or guys that essentially protect the offensive skill positions. You guys talked about Jeremiah Love. Sam, I want to start with you. Give me maybe a position on the field that's got some great talent on that list of 100. But because the position is not glamorized, we may be sleeping on it a little bit.

I would go interior defensive line. There's so much talk about edge rushers. pass rushers, linebackers, corners, even safeties, but the big uglies in the middle, the space eaters, do not get a lot of love. One guy I'll point out as Dante Corleone, who is on this list. He is one of the top players,

but defenses need, especially three, four defense, need interior linemen, not to necessarily make splash plays, but to take on double teams to allow your linebackers to be free. That's what Corleone was able to do. He didn't practice a lot in the spring last season, was dealing with blood clots, but when he stepped on the field early in the year, he was nearly unblockable, not just in the run, but also as a past rusher, 6-1, about 330 pounds.

So he's a space heater. But that's one thing in a position that people don't give a lot of love to because their job isn't as glamorous as others. I don't understand how you don't put a guy that's nicknamed the Godfather in the top 10 just based on that. So I'm with you there, Sam. Based on the list that we have, I probably should have said offensive tackle or tight-in because having three and two of those respectively

seems like it's a little low. But I went interior offensive line because interior offensive line and offensive line in general is so hard to evaluate. But a guy like Connor Lou from Auburn I think should probably be on this list. He's a guy that was phenomenal for Auburn a year ago, super athletic center.

And this is an Auburn group that will be led by him and be very good. But his ability to move to direct, to hold up and pass protection, and to do everything that he is asked to do and open up holes in that run game, I think it's phenomenal. But because a lot of us don't know

what the offensive line is supposed to do on any particular play or what great technique looks like, we just listen to what guys like Cole Kublich say who played the position, but he says Connor Lewis really good, and I've seen it with my own eyes. Connor Lewis certainly is. It's a great point to you guys both raised.

Even somebody like Indama can Sue, who you could see the output. Even he had a tough time getting votes, and he was about as dominant as you can be. So for a couple guys like that, it could be pretty difficult, but they're still talented. I'm sure the guys mentioned him. On the way here, we've got 100 guys.

So who didn't make the list that we think should have made the list or will make it when the season is over? We'll be glad to be wrong, but we'll give you a primer on who's on his way up into that list next. That music can only mean one thing. It's time for the Air Lingus College Football Classic, between two old foes. Big 12 action on the Emerald Isle between Iowa State and Kansas State.

Today we're going through our top 100 players is listed on ESPN.com. These three guys are notable omissions at this point, which just goes to show you when it comes to the money Underwood got and the money Mensa got. Sometimes money doesn't solve all your problems or at least get you on that list. All right, Roddy, let's start with you. Give me a guy here who didn't make our top 100, which again, you can see on ESPN.com.

but by the time the season ends or maybe when we get to the midpoint of the season, we'll be knowing his name. First off, Zubin, I'm not going to let the money comment slide. I would take the money that those guys got to be left off the list. I'm with you. I volunteer for that. Fair. But I'll go out to Colorado and go DJ McKinney is a guy that should be on the list.

The corner opposite Travis Hunter a year ago, Travis Hunter got overshadowed everybody, but he's 6'2, 190 pounds, long, three interceptions in the last five games last year. He's one of the top prospects at Corner for this upcoming year's draft. I think he should be on the list, and it certainly will be by the end of the season. Yeah, I'll go with the name of Isaiah World. He's offensive tackle from Oregon. He actually was at Nevada last year, didn't give up a sack.

6-8, 310 pounds, transferred to Oregon. Obviously, a premier program. I think he's a guy talking about offensive tackles being looked over who was going to be on that list by the time the season ends. Roddy, real quick. The last guy that I'll throw out. I was going to throw out Chris Bell from Louisville. Give him an honorable mention. Six foot two, 230 pound receiver that can absolutely fly.

I think he's going to have a phenomenal year with Miller Moss as his quarterback. All right, we'll see. Maybe the one guy on that list that's not on there. If Michigan doesn't bounce back from an eight and five season with Bryce Underwood, it'll be a problematic thing in Ann Arbor. I think a lot of people are expecting him to be on that top 100 list sooner, rather than later. We'll be back with you soon enough tomorrow at 3 p.m. Eastern for more college football.