Heading into the 2025 college football season, the Clemson Tigers are loaded at several key positions.
The most obvious is at quarterback with Cade Klubnik returning for his senior season after a banner 2024 (3,639 passing yards, 36 touchdowns). The Tigers have talent and depth at wide receiver with senior Antonio Williams, sophomores Bryant Wesco and T.J. Moore, and senior transfer Tristan Smith. T.J. Parker and Peter Woods man a skilled defensive line, and Avieon Terrell leads the secondary unit.
But one obvious area of concern lies in the run game, where the Tigers will have to replace 1,000-yard rusher Phil Mafah (1,115 yards, eight touchdowns) from their 2024 team that went 10-4 and won the ACC championship.
The good news for coach Dabo Swinney and offensive coordinator Garrett Riley is they have a promising freshman at tailback who drew rave reviews in the spring: four-star recruit Gideon Davidson from Liberty Christian Academy in Lynchburg, Virginia.
Davidson is the No. 4 running back and No. 90 overall player in On3’s class of 2025 recruiting rankings. According to CBS Sports, he’s also the Tigers’ biggest X-factor heading into the 2025 season.
CBS Sports’ Carter Bahns highlighted Davidson as one of 12 players that he views as poised to make or break a team’s College Football Playoff hopes in 2025.
Per Bahns:
“The best-case scenario for Clemson is that Gideon Davidson steps in as a true freshman, establishes himself as a standout and never looks back as the featured ballcarrier. That would solve what is probably the biggest question mark on an otherwise loaded, balanced and experienced roster. The running back room is such a sizable concern that the Tigers moved wide receiver Adam Randall to potentially serve as a top option. As strong as the passing game figures to be, Clemson has to keep defenses honest with at least a serviceable ground attack.”
Swinney raved about Davidson throughout his first spring camp at Clemson earlier this year.
“He’s physically impressive,” Swinney said in March. “Just further along than I thought he would be coming in. He doesn’t look like a high school kid. He looks like a kid that’s been in college about three years. He’s really thick. Strong. Explosive. He’s north of 200. He looks great physically and he’s just what you thought he’d be.
“Really smooth athlete and a lot of confidence. Fast. He’s done a nice job of picking things up well. I’m proud of him,” Swinney added.
Clemson will kick off the 2025 season against the LSU Tigers at Memorial Stadium in prime time on Aug. 30 at 7:30 p.m. ET. The game will be televised on ABC.
Clemson football schedule 2025
All start times Eastern.
- Aug. 30: vs. LSU (7:30 p.m., ABC)
- Sept. 6: vs. Troy (3:30 p.m., ACC Network)
- Sept. 13: at Georgia Tech (12 p.m. ET, ABC or ESPN)
- Sept. 20: vs. Syracuse
- Oct. 4: at North Carolina
- Oct. 11: at Boston College
- Oct. 18: vs. SMU
- Nov. 1: vs. Duke
- Nov. 8: vs. Florida State
- Nov. 14: at Louisville (8 p.m., ESPN)
- Nov. 22: vs. Furman
- Nov. 29: at South Carolina (12 p.m. ET, ABC or ESPN)
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