What is not to love about the immense batch of returning talent in college football for the 2025 season? Between Jeremiah Smith headlining the wide receiver position, a host of veteran quarterbacks who elected to delay their NFL Draft entrances and contend for the Heisman Trophy and a bevy of defensive stars coming back for another year, there is no shortage of colossal names at the top of the sport.
Some of those returning players are a cut above the rest, and according to the Pro Football Focus grades from the 2024 campaign, a few already topped their respective positional leaderboards. Each position features at least one star who contended for top billing or outright led the country with their final grades.
College Football Playoff contenders Clemson, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Alabama and multiple others feature the top player at one position according to these analytics. Those stars will define the race for the national championship.
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Below is the highest-graded returning Power Four player at each position for the 2025 season:
QUARTERBACK: CADE KLUBNIK, CLEMSON
2024 PFF Grade: 89.3
Cade Klubnik is a Heisman Trophy frontrunner in the making on the heels of his breakthrough campaign. The 2024 season marked a return to high-end quarterback play for a Clemson program with rich history at the position, as Klubnik racked up an astounding 36 touchdowns to just six interceptions as a junior. And while the Tigers ended the season with a loss, Klubnik got over a key hurdle in the defeat with a fantastic individual effort against Texas. He previously struggled mightily against top defenses but now looks capable of going toe-to-toe with the nation’s best.
RUNNING BACK: JEREMIYAH LOVE, NOTRE DAME
2024 PFF Grade: 91.0
The Notre Dame offense was a run-first attack in 2024, and while the passing game has a chance to develop next season under a new quarterback, it would behoove the Fighting Irish to put the ball in the hands of Jeremiyah Love as often as reasonably possible. The second-year ballcarrier took a monster step forward last season to become a 1,000-yard rusher with 16 touchdowns, and that was even with him playing at less than full strength down the stretch. A fully healthy campaign in 2025 would likely push Love to the top of his position nationally.
WIDE RECEIVER: JEREMIAH SMITH, OHIO STATE
2024 PFF Grade: 89.7
Ohio State has a quarterback decision to make this offseason, but whichever option lines up behind center, he will have the best wide receiver in the sport at his side. Jeremiah Smith was the focal point of the Buckeyes’ passing game as a star true freshman and exceeded the already skyscraping expectations that followed him to Columbus as the No. 1 recruit and one of the greatest wide receiver prospects of the modern era. If Smith improves upon his debut season, he will continue his trajectory as a potential all-time college football legend.
TIGHT END: TANNER KOZIOL, WISCONSIN
2024 PFF Grade: 87.9
Wisconsin found a diamond in the transfer portal rough in former Ball State tight end Tanner Koziol, who joined the Badgers earlier this offseason. His 6-foot-7 frame makes him a matchup nightmare and gives him as much upside as nearly any player in the portal, and he arrives as a much-needed weapon for a Wisconsin offense that sputtered, albeit with a backup quarterback, last fall. Koziol amassed a stunning 94 catches for 839 yards and eight touchdowns as a junior, torching Group of Five defenses.
TACKLE: SPENCER FANO, UTAH
2024 PFF Grade: 92.8
Spencer Fano was the highest-graded tackle in the Power Four ranks last season. He enters his third year with Utah as a reigning All-American and promises to flourish as one of the premier NFL Draft prospects on the offensive line. Fano started for the Utes out of the gate as a freshman and holds 24 starts over 25 career games, and his steep upward trajectory is one of the many reasons why there is renewed confidence in Utah’s offense entering 2025. He has a new offensive coordinator (Jason Beck) calling plays and a new quarterback (Devon Dampier) behind him.
GUARD: AR’MAJ REED-ADAMS, TEXAS A&M
2024 PFF Grade: 82.4
Longtime Kansas lineman Ar’maj Reed-Adams could have departed for the draft after his first season at Texas A&M, but he announced ahead of bowl season that he would return to the Aggies lineup for the 2025 campaign. His additional year of eligibility makes him a sixth-year veteran at the right guard spot, where he slots back into a line that returns all five starters. Reed-Adams is the highest-graded of the experienced front and could be the top interior lineman in all of college football.
CENTER: JAKE SLAUGHTER, FLORIDA
2024 PFF Grade: 83.9
Jake Slaughter was the best center in the Power Four last season, according to his PFF grade. The former three-star recruit shattered expectations thus far in his career and could etch his name in Florida history next season. If he earns another first-team All-American honor, he would become the first Gator in a decade to receive such an award in consecutive years. Slaughter allowed just one sack over 402 pass-blocking snaps in his first season as the Gators’ full-time starting center, and he was the team’s top run-blocker, as well.
EDGE: DAVID BAILEY, STANFORD
2024 PFF Grade: 90.9
He only started two games as a junior, but David Bailey was so effective last season that he did not even need a massive role to cement himself as one of college football’s highest-upside defenders for 2025. Bailey paced Stanford in tackles for loss (eight) quarterback hurries (eight), sacks (seven) and forced fumbles (five) during the best year of his career. He is a former 247Sports True Freshman All-American and joined the Cardinal in 2022 as the No. 34 overall recruit in his class, narrowly missing five-star status.
DEFENSIVE LINE: TIM KEENAN III, ALABAMA
2024 PFF Grade: 86.2
Tim Keenan III apologized to the Alabama fanbase for the Crimson Tide’s poor finish to the 2024 season and used that ReliaQuest Bowl loss as part of his reasoning for making a return for his fifth year. He becomes a third-year starter in the middle of the defensive line and will be one of the most experienced players on the entire roster, and that continuity is critical for a defensive line unit that lost four players to the draft and transfer portal. Keenan accumulated 7.5 tackles for loss and 2.5 sacks in Year 1 under Kalen DeBoer.
LINEBACKER: AUSTIN ROMAINE, KANSAS STATE
2024 PFF Grade: 91.0
Former three-star recruit Austin Romaine surged as a sophomore to become one of the Big 12’s best defenders and the No. 1-graded linebacker in college football. He ascended to the top of the Kansas State tackle leaderboard with 96 stops, building upon a debut season in which he was thrust into action out of necessity. Romaine made the most starts in 2023 of any K-State true freshman linebacker in 35 years, developed the following year and is now a premier defender on the national level.
CORNERBACK: CHANDLER RIVERS, DUKE
2024 PFF Grade: 90.7
One Duke football player earned All-American honors in 2024, and his name is Chandler Rivers. He hauled in second-, third- and fourth-team selections after he amassed three interceptions, nine pass breakups and a bevy of other statistics as a defensive back capable of covering the entire field. He tied the Blue Devils record with picks in three consecutive games and announced at the end of his historic season that he will return for his senior campaign.
SAFETY: TERRY MOORE, DUKE
2024 PFF Grade: 90.1
The Duke secondary is flat-out loaded. In addition to Rivers, the Blue Devils also return the highest-graded safety in the nation in Terry Moore, who led all Power Four safeties last fall. The question is how ready he will be when the 2025 season arrives after he closed the previous campaign with an injury in the Gator Bowl. Moore hauled in four interceptions, forced a pair of fumbles, broke up nine passes and accumulated seven tackles for loss in what was a career-best year.
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