The Joel Klatt Show: A College Football Podcast - Joel Klatt’s Top 10 Players in College Football for the 2025 Season

Episode Date: July 28, 2025

FOX Sports’ lead College Football analyst Joel Klatt ranks his Top 10 players in College Football going into the 2025 Season. Klatt reveals where Ohio State stars Jeremiah Smith and Caleb Downs land on the list and considers whether Texas’ Arch Manning deserves a spot in the Top 10 despite limited time on the field during his first 2 seasons in Austin. He reveals which Alabama teammates cracked the list as well as which team landed 3 players inside his Top 10. 0:00-1:18 Intro1:19-2:00 Klatt’s top 10 players for 2025 season2:01-3:57 Peter Woods3:58-4:55 Kadyn Proctor4:56-6:40 TJ Parker6:41-8:29 Anthony Hill8:30-11:06 Jeremiyah Love11:07-14:13 Ryan Williams14:14-18:13 Arch Manning18:14-19:56 Cade Klubnik19:57-21:49 Caleb Downs21:50-27:13 Jeremiah Smith Use my code for 10% off your next SeatGeek order*: https://seatgeek.onelink.me/RrnK/KLATT10Sponsored by SeatGeek. *Restrictions apply. Max $20 discount Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

I think Clemson could play for the national championship. We haven't even seen the full potential of Jeremiah Love, but we're going to see that. He reminded me a lot of Trevor Lawrence when Trevor Lawrence was at Clemson. Because of his name, people roll their eyes and they're like, hey, man, let him do something. Is he really that good? My answer is yes. Rice and Moss are at the top. For the first time in my career, there is a player that I believe could join that echelon.

He's the best college football player I've ever seen. College football has never been better. Interest has never been higher. Believe that we are at the dawn of the golden age of college football. Hey, what's up everybody? Welcome into the program. I'm Joel Klatte. This is the Joel Klatte show.

And this show, as always, is brought to you by Hampton by Hilton. We thank them for their support. As always, we are gearing up for the college football season. It is inching closer and closer. I could not be more excited about that fact. Texas, Ohio State cannot get here soon enough. Hey, if you have not followed the show, make sure to go do so out on YouTube, subscribe to the show right there.

You can hit the notification button. You'll know when all of our content drops. And you can follow us also on social media. Wherever you like to social media, we're there. You can find our content at Joel Clat Show anywhere on social media. Okay, here's what I wanted to do today. How about top 10 players for this season and college football? So this is not a big board for next year's draft,

although a lot of these guys will be not only draftable, eligible, but they'll go high in the draft. This is just the best 10 college football players, most impactful. college football players for this season in 2025. It's gearing up, right? And like camp is right around the corner. I can't wait for this. And so you start thinking about these names. You know, some of these names are going to be vying for the Heisman Trophy. Some of them will be vying for the Outland and the Buck Kiss and the Bidnerick Award. So super excited about this season, as you can imagine, and wanted to highlight these 10 guys. We'll start with 10. We'll go to. We'll go to the 10th best player in preparation for this season is from Clemson the defensive tackle Peter

Woods. Now, Clemson's going to be insane. I love the idea. I love the idea of Clemson kind of running through the ACC and getting back to the mountaintop. I don't know if they're going to win the national championship, but man, I am really toying around right now. It is, what is it? Middle of July. Like, I think Clemson could play for the national championship. I think Dabo could have the last laugh in all of this like, how are you doing this? The game has passed you by, so on and so forth. Part of that is that they're really good on defense.

Part of that is that they're great in the middle on their defense up front with Peter Woods. So I'm a big believer, and I know that this is old school, but I'm a big believer in front to back inside out. That's how you construct a great defense, front to back inside out. Now, again, that can be very old school. If you talk with a lot of NFL people, they'll talk about edges. You've got to be great at corner. You've got to be great at pass rush.

Yes, that is all true. But to be fundamentally good and correct and right, in particular in the college level, you've got to be good right down the middle. And that starts with your defensive tackles. I think that's the biggest reason why Michigan and Ohio State, and then even Georgia before them, were so dominant in college football and won national championships,

is that they were great at the defensive line. Okay? Peter Woods is that. I think he's the best defensive tackle in the country. He's excellent. Again, Clemson. I'm big on Clemson this year. year. He played on the edge as well as the interior, so you know he's got that athleticism,

the bend. He can be dominant up front in the middle of the defense. He's six three. He's three. He's three hundred and fifteen pounds. He can stuff the run. He disrupts the timing of the offense by getting to the quarterback, both interior and on the exterior. Big fan. Peter Woods, you're going to be hearing his name, and I think you're going to hear his name quite high in next year's NFL draft. Okay, to number nine, we moved to Alabama. I think the best offense of The lineman in the country is Caden Proctor. Now, Proctor has been a mainstay at Bama since he stepped foot on campus. This guy has been excellent since day one, has started since day one at Alabama.

I thought he really came into his own last year. I remember preparing for the game that you're watching right now. If you're watching on YouTube, you should. But the highlights of that game, which I prepared for, and then called, I was just really impressed with him. And he hadn't even really, I would say, matured into the great player that I felt like he was, when analyzing some of his film from late in the year. Great in Pass Protection, he can be absolutely dominant in the run game, and he is a massive player. He's 6-7, 366 pounds, so he can be dominant at all stages.

Caden Proctor, you might not hear his name a lot, but I'm here to tell you, I think he's one of the best 10 players in the country for 2025. He checks in at number nine for me. All right, so number eight, here's another reason why I'm so high on Clemson. I've got another Clemson Tiger right here, and it's on the defensive side. On the edge, T.J. Parker. This guy can play now. And again, like, watch out for this Clemson defense.

I think the Clemson defense could be the best defense in the country. There was another one. I think it was it Avion Terrell that I was toying with putting in the top 10. He's a corner. That would have been three of the top 10 players in the sport on the same unit for Clemson. I didn't ultimately put Terrell there, but I've got Parker and Woods. And Parker, this is a guy that I think can change a game. He can be dominant.

He was a freshman All-American two years ago, followed that up with a season where he had 19 and a half tackles for loss, 11 sacks, and six force fumbles. Part of why I don't think you heard a lot of these names, in particular from Clemson last year, is that they struggled in the middle of the year. And then they made the late run, you know, got themselves into the playoffs, and then had a really good playoff. He's a complete game wrecker. He's got the size and combination athleticism

to be a dominant player on the edge. He's 6'3. He's 265 pounds. And with their new defensive coordinator, Tom Allen, I think that Woods and T.J. Parker, and Parker Moore in particular, can have a big year. Think of what Tom Allen meant for, and I know all these guys come out of Penn State. But last year, you look at what they were able to do at Penn State,

rushing the passer, Abdul Carter. These got like, you can have a T.J. Parker have that type of pop with a Tom Allen defense. And I think that he might. So he checks in at number eight. All right, number seven. We go back to the SEC to Texas, Anthony Hill, the linebacker for Texas. Quietly, no, I think a lot of people loved Anthony Hill. I loved Anthony Hill, getting ready for that game against Michigan when they went up there and beat the Wolverines.

I knew Anthony Hill was a really good player. All-American last year, he does it all for Pete Kukowski's defense. He's entering now his junior year, and this is a guy that I think can have one of those pop-type years where he could be easily a buckus guy. I believe he was a finalist last year. He's six three, two hundred 40 pounds. He had over 100 tackles last year. He also had 16 and a half tackles for loss. He had eight sacks. So he's not just a tackle machine.

He can fill up the stat sheet with production behind the line of scrimmage with those tackles for loss and sacks. And he'll be the focal point of that defense. This is a defense that I think can be very good. They've got that showcase game right out of the gate as we have them on Fox in Columbus against Ohio State. And that's going to be really difficult for Ohio State in part because of how good the Longhorn's defense is, specifically because of Anthony Hill.

He is outstanding. I love him as a player. He's easily a top 10 player. He checks in for me at number seven. Texas is going to be very good. I think they should start at one or two in the country, and rightly so. And Anthony Hill could be one of their better players. A lot of those guys are going to get overshadowed just with the arch media that I'm sure is going to descend upon us in college football.

But, you know, truth be told, a lot of good players. They've recruited so well. Sark has done an excellent job at Texas. Anthony Hill is kind of the epitome of that. He is a marquee player on that defensive side of the ball, and I think he's going to have a huge, huge year. All right, number six, the best running back in the country checks in from Notre Dame, Jeremiah Love. Now, love is a guy, and I'll be real honest.

And Notre Dame fans, you guys remind me of this all the time. First of all, I loved spending time with Marcus Freeman in South Bend this last summer. If you have not checked out that episode of the Joel Clad Show, please go back and do that. That was our first episode of Big Noon Conversations this offseason, sat down with Marcus Freeman. It was awesome. Go check it out on YouTube. You can find it right there at the show page. So I was late to the train on Notre Dame.

The early loss spooked me. I didn't love that they weren't great running the football or excuse me throwing the football last year. And I thought to myself a couple of times, like I think I picked Navy again. against them. And listen, Irish fans, you remind me and good on you. You should remind me because that was a bonehead pick. But what I was late to the party with is just how dynamic of an athlete and a running back, Jeremiah Love is.

They're great up front on the offensive line. They've been dominant up front on the offensive line. They play big boy football. They push Georgia around in that playoff win en route to playing for the national championship against Ohio State. But Love is something that we haven't really seen it. Notre Dame. You know, like Brian Kelly had good physical, tough, you know, fundamentally sound teams, but they would go against some of the SEC teams in the playoff or in the national

championship game and they didn't have the dynamic player that allows you to go out there and really compete. Well, guess what? Jeremiah Love gives you that ability. He is a dynamic athletic threat. And for the Irish, this guy is outstanding. I don't think he was really even able to show his full abilities, which you saw more in the middle of the year against teams like U.S. you're seeing those highlights on YouTube right now because of that injury that he sustained against USC. And he wasn't really himself towards the end of the regular season and even into the playoffs. That didn't stop him from getting 98 yards and a touchdown against Indiana.

But I don't think he was at his best against George. I believe he aggravated that injury again against Indiana. He was dealing with the flu. Again, like there's been reasons why we haven't even seen the full potential of Jeremiah love. But we're going to see that. He averaged nearly seven yards per carry last season. He's a home run threat every time he touches the ball.

That's why I love him. That's why I love him. Those type of running backs, man, they can catch it out of the backfield. You can hand it to him on any down, and they can change the game with one touch of the football. So Jeremiah Love checks in at number six. I'll tell you what, we're getting into the top five and like these guys are ballers.

Ballers. Number five, Ryan Williams, wide receiver at Alabama. I mean, dude is incredible. He would have been one of the best true freshman that I've ever seen, if not for another player that you will hear from later on this list. Ryan Williams, now 18 years old, going into his sophomore season. He was a first team all-SCC player as a 17-year-old, which is just wild to think of, which conference is so deep,

it's been so good for so long, obviously. And to come in at 17 and be as good and as dominant as he was, make the types of plays that he did. The 75-yard touchdown against Georgia is one of the plays of the year. He finished with 177 yards that night. He's dynamic. He's fast. His body control is outstanding.

The way that he can, as a young player, understand his position on the field and also where he's at in relation to the defender. His body control, yes, but it's more his spatial awareness. How many times were you able to see Ryan Williams understand his spatial awareness when the ball was still in the air and he was slowing himself down or turning himself in a fashion where he could either absorb the hit or he was putting himself in a better position to make a move after the catch. He's sure handed. He's electric. Ryan Williams, man, he's one of my favorite players to watch. These young wide receivers are better than they've

ever been. He, Jeremiah Smith, you'll hear from here later in this list. As good as a young combination of wide receivers I've ever seen. Ryan Williams, number five on the list. Hey, you know what? It's time to get out and do something fun. So whether it's catching a game or surprising someone with tickets, live events are back in a huge way. You know it and I know it.

This is why I want to give a huge shout out to the sponsor of today's show, Seat Geek. All right, so they've got 28 million downloads. Seatgeek is the number one rated ticketing app with more than 70,000. 70,000 events listed. So the college football season, that's upon us. You know it, I know it. The NFL is on the horizon.

Major League baseball, that's in full swing. Our team here at Joel Clashio, we use Seatgeek to grab tickets for all of it. It's quick, it's easy, and you know you're getting a great deal. That's what I love about it. So this is how it works. Every ticket is rated on a scale of 1 to 10. So you can see the value just at a quick glance. Green dots, that mean great deals.

Red dots, that means maybe, maybe. keep looking. Plus, every ticket is backed by their guarantee, buyer guarantee. It's there. And here's the kicker. You can use the code, Clat 10. That's Clat 10 for 10% off your next Seat Geek purchase. That's 10% off tickets with promo code Clat 10. Just click the link in the show description to download the app. The code will be automatically added to your account for later. Just a huge shout out. Huge thanks to Seatgeek for sponsoring today's show. At number four, I know. I know. I know he hasn't been a full-time starter. And I know that, like, people,

I do think people are going to get, I don't know about tired of the hype is the right word or thought to convey. But, like, Arch Manning deserves a spot on this list. If you just look at the way that he played when he got his chances to play, it was dynamic. We only got to see him for a little bit. Played in 10 games, yes, but there was only the two starts. And I want to point more so to the two starts than all the other time where he was kind of a specialty type player, filling a role on the offense.

He would come in in a lot of short yardage situations. In his two starts, that's when I thought his potential popped. In his two starts, he reminded me a lot of Trevor Lawrence when Trevor Lawrence was at Clemson. an athletic guy that didn't beat you with his athleticism, but could, but beat you with his arm. Smart, competitive, great pedigree, obviously. And his two starts, 13 total touchdowns, two interceptions. Like, the guy can play, and he's very, very good. There are some, and I get this, I get it.

Listen, I get it. Because of his name. People roll their eyes, and they're like, man, let him do something. Is he really that good? My answer is yes. If you watch the film, if you actually see the way that he plays, the way that he moves, the throws that he can make, Texas could be a more dangerous offense because of Arch Manning. Now, you understand, like they had the experience of Quinn Ures, but Arch attacks the grass on the field in a different way. One, I do believe that you have to account for him as an athlete and as a runner. And we saw that

in some of those games. His ability to take it the distance is there. So you have to account for that, at least at a minimum, which is difficult because there's only so many defenders that you get to deploy as a defensive coordinator. Then you have the aspect that he can threaten the grass on the field to what I would say, a greater extent that Quinn Ewers did. Yours was a really good player.

I loved Ewers. But Manning makes throws that I think scared defensive coordinators versus just, yeah, he can make the throw. because he can threaten the outside of the numbers from the far hash down the field. Well, now all of a sudden, what you're doing is you're expanding the defense. When you expand the defense, you expand the seams in the defense. You put a greater level of importance on each individual's ability to tackle in space. And now all of a sudden, the defense is under more stress.

When the defense is under more stress, they're more apt to give up big plays, give up yardage, give up first downs, give up points. So Manning's going to be a better option for Texas. I think he's going to be one of the best quarterbacks in the country. When you look at the way he played in those two starts, it jumps off the tape. I thought late in the year that they could be in a better position if he would have played. Now, that doesn't account for the experience of viewers whom I loved, but he's a major threat. Speaking of Manning, in a lot of different ways.

Texas is likely going to be looking downfield a lot more than they were in the last couple of years. And that's scary because they've been bringing in so many talented. and fast wide receivers. I really, really love the thought of doing that game, opening week against Ohio State. Arch getting out there. It's his car. It's his keys. It's his program.

And he gets to go against a defensive coordinator. Matt Patricia, who's going to be trying to learn the college game for the first time with a bunch of new players. Now, he's going to have to face Caleb Downs, who's one of the better players in the country. You'll hear from him later in the list. But that's going to be an incredible matchup on Fox, by the way. I don't know if I've mentioned that. All right, number three.

Let's go to number three. Hey, let's check in with the third Clemson Tiger in the top 10. That's right. It's Cade Clubnick. I think Cade Clubnick is going to be the best quarterback in the country. I think he's going to have a great chance to win the Heisman trophy. He grew last year in major ways. And now all of a sudden he's going to be, not even all of a sudden,

now he will be a third year starter for the third year in the same system. So now he's going to have a third year with Garrett Riley, the offensive coordinator. I know that they've got questions at running back. I understand that. But they've recruited well. They've got a top five running back in the country coming in. But he's got Garrett Riley, quality-wide receivers,

and I believe four offensive linemen back. Yeah, man. Like, Clubnick should be excellent. I thought he was really good against Texas, even in the loss in the playoffs on the road. Tough to do. Go play on the road. This idea,

that, like, he was the reason they struggled. I just disagree with. He finished with 36 passing touchdowns and seven rushing touchdowns, just through six interceptions. So he takes care of the football. He's athletic. Maybe not Manning, but athletic. Maybe not Lawrence, but athletic.

And he's got great players in front of him. Four senior offensive linemen, all played before, quality-wide receivers, good dynamic young. I'll be it running back, and he's going to have a great defense. I'm telling you guys, I'm telling you guys. Clemson is legit, and they will be great. I will be very surprised if they're not at a minimum in the national semifinal. All right, top two players in the country.

Number two, safety for Ohio State Caleb Downs. Downs is unbelievable. Talk to anybody who watches this sport for any extended period of time, and you'll hear them talk about Caleb Downs. And just his overall instincts, his ability to tackle in space, what he can do from an athletic perspective, even in the return game. Again, get to YouTube.

You're watching highlights right now. This is a punt return against Indiana. He takes it back to the house, changed that game in the first half. Downs is so good that Ohio State basically, basically changed the defense about mid-year in order to, focus on getting him in a position to impact more plays than he otherwise would have.

At safety, you can get stuck like in a half or in a deep third, and you can't really impact the play if you're playing some of those positions, although those structures are solid in football. So they changed the structure. They have three safeties or did last year, and they put him in more of a position in the middle of the field to be involved not only in the run fit, but also in the past defense.

And because of that, he became more impactful. and they got better as a defense. The pass rush got better up front because they were better in coverage. Why? Because Downs was more involved in the middle of the field impacting more plays than he otherwise would have. When Jim Noles started moving him closer, that's when I thought their defense got a lot better. He is one of my favorite guys to talk to in the lunchroom, even though we're always bothering him as he's trying to eat. Great head on his shoulders. smart young man, very smart young man, his instincts are born from thoughtful preparation.

And most great players are like that. And he's a great player. So Downs checks in at number two. All right. The best player in college football for next year. I think we can all say this together, by the way, is Jeremiah Smith, the wide receiver for Ohio State. Never seen anything like this. I played against Adrian Peterson when he was a true freshman.

at Oklahoma. And those are the only two guys that I've ever seen. And I've been around this sport my entire life. Those are the only two guys that I've ever seen that I'm like, yeah, they could have played and not only played but succeeded in the National Football League right away out of high school. And Smith was one of those guys. Very rarely, very rarely do we see a player that comes in with all the hype of Smith,

number one player in the country, so on and so forth. and then he doesn't just live up to that, but he exceeds those expectations. He was the best player on the field at all times last year. It didn't matter who they were playing. When I would talk with opposing coaches and I would bring up like, what's your plan for Smith? They would look at me and be like, oh, there's not really a plan. You can't really have a plan. 1,300 yards, 15 touchdowns as a true freshman.

That's stupid, good. lived up to all of that hype. He's basically built physically in a lab, okay? He's listed as about 6-3-215. I've got really good reports from Columbus that he's rolling at about 220, 225, and they think he's faster than he was a year ago. He's got unbelievable hands. He catches everything. So I was trying to go back and I'm like, well, what's the comp? And it's a lot. It's like, is it Megatron? And it's like, well, Jeremiah is more athletic than Megatron. Is it Julio Jones?

And I'm like, Jeremiah is more fluid than Julio. And it's like, is it Randy? And it's like, well, you can't do that because, because Moss is like Moss. And rice and moss are at the top. For the first time in my career, there is a player that I believe could join that echelon at some point, and that's this player. I think that we need to collectively as a college football community. And I understand that we are tribal in this community and we hate the things that others

have, but I don't care. Unless you're a Michigan fan and you just can't, I want us to enjoy for the next couple of years getting to watch this guy play college football. Because that's what I'm going to do. He's the best college football player I've ever seen. he's the only guy that I can just sit there and think to myself like, man, if he continues to have this type of head on his shoulders, if he continues to work, he can and will develop. He's got the talent to be one of the best of all time. He's the only guy.

Like, just watch the film. I mean, I know this is a little peek behind the curtain, but there were times in my coaches meetings with some of the offensive coaches at Ohio State when I was like, hey, like, maybe don't overthink it. You know, like, hey, he's a regardless player. So regardless of the coverage, throw him the ball, which ended up being exactly what happened, in particular in the Rose Bowl. In the Rose Bowl, he goes to that right corner. And there's three Oregon ducks all over him. And Will Howard still throws it to him, and he just jumps up over all of them and catches the football.

Similar plays against Michigan State. It was just like game in and game out. he's making amazing plays. Look at what the game plan was surrounding the national championship game, getting him the football. He ended the season with that huge third and long catch in the national championship game, and that's born out of complete trust. Think about what was on the line for Ryan Day.

Think about what was on the line at that place with that amount of pressure and expectation like there is at Ohio State. And Ryan Day is like, all right, what are we going to do? It's the most important snap of my life as a coach. What are we going to do? Throw it to the guy I trust the most. Jeremiah Smith. That's all you need to know.

He's great. Great player. So like I said, all these guys are great, but him in particular. And again, I get it if you're a Michigan fan and you just can't. and you're going to spam the comments below with like, he's not even good. Stupid. If you write that in the comments below,

dumbest thing of all time. Because he is the best college football player I've seen since I started covering this sport. Again, I played against Adrian when he was a true freshman. Those are the only two, man. I just like absolute beautiful players to watch. He's smart. He knows what he's doing. He knows how to run routes.

He works hard. I'm here for it. Absolutely here for it. That'll do it. Those are my top 10 players in the country for the 2025 season. We'll be back with more content next Monday as we inch closer to the college football season. Have a great week, everybody.