The 2025 college football season is upon us with a Week Zero “Farmaggedon” showdown in Ireland on Saturday followed by a stacked Week 1 that carries us through Labor Day. After a long offseason marked by the dawn of the revenue-sharing era, it’s time for all comers to march toward a College Football Playoff spot. Many will be led by the players below who make up Sports Illustrated’s college football preseason All-American first and second teams.
First Team Offense
WR: Jeremiah Smith, Ohio State
The best player in college football, and he won’t turn 20 until the day of the Michigan game. Upon arrival in Columbus, Ohio, Smith might have been the most surefire, instant-impact freshman since Adrian Peterson. This season he has to deal with being the focus of every scouting report, given the turnover elsewhere on the offensive unit.
WR: Jordyn Tyson, Arizona State
He’s the leading returning power-conference player in receiving yards per game at 91.8, and had 10 touchdown catches. Before a collarbone injury cost Tyson the last two games of the season, he’d been on a tear—29 catches for 444 yards and three touchdowns in his last three outings. Tyson will team with ASU quarterback Sam Leavitt as the most productive returning pass-and-catch combo in the country.
TE: Eli Stowers, Vanderbilt
As recently as 2023, Stowers was a quarterback. Now he’s an NFL prospect tight end. Diego Pavia wasn’t the only important transfer from New Mexico State last year, with Stowers coming along as well and producing 49 receptions for 638 yards and five touchdowns. That included a 113-yard game in the upset of Alabama that changed the tenor of Vanderbilt’s season.
RB: Jeremiyah Love, Notre Dame
The two most memorable runs of the College Football playoff might have been by Love: one for 98 yards four minutes into the inaugural on-campus game, against Indiana; and one that covered just two yards but went through four tacklers against Penn State in the semifinals. Blazing speed (four runs of 60 yards or longer last season) and resolute determination are a nice combination.
RB: NickTron SingleAllen, Penn State tandem
Since it’s hard to separate their contributions, let’s not. Nicholas Singleton and Kaytron Allen have combined for 1,047 carries, 130 receptions, 5,789 rushing yards, 1,090 receiving yards and 69 total touchdowns in three seasons. Naturally, they both announced on the same day last winter that they would stay at Penn State for their senior seasons.
OT: Kadyn Proctor, Alabama
He crushes defenders and smells good doing it. Proctor says he owns 170 bottles of cologne, using them liberally to keep his 6' 7", 360-pound self fresh. “If you’re a big guy, you can’t stink,” he said. “You’ve got to be fresh, man … Got to flip the narrative.” Proctor leads the nation’s best offensive line, and has Crimson Tide company on this list.
OT: Spencer Fano, Utah
Talk about someone who was bred for this—Fano has four uncles who played collegiately in the state of Utah and in the NFL (and his brother plays for the Utes as well). At 6' 6" and 302 pounds, Fano is long and light enough to be fast on his feet—he can move laterally with startling ease. A junior who has been a starter from game one his freshman year, he could be NFL-bound after this season.
OG: Cayden Green, Missouri
After starting five games as a freshman at Oklahoma, Green came home to Missouri and allowed just one sack in 418 pass-block snaps, according to Pro Football Focus. Green also was solid in the running game as part of an offensive that led the SEC in time of possession last season.
OG: Paolo Gennarelli, Army
At a school that plays violent football in the trenches and builds beasts in the weight room, Gennarelli is the meanest and strongest. He’s benched 495 pounds, squatted 605 and deadlifted 675, all program records at the time of the lifts. Army led the nation in rushing offense last year by a wide margin, and the line won the Joe Moore Award for best in the country.
C: Parker Brailsford, Alabama
Kalen DeBoer wanted him in Tuscaloosa for a reason. After redshirting in 2022, Brailsford has started every game of his college career—15 at Washington in ’23 and 13 with the Crimson Tide last season. He’s got ideal mobility and agility for a center, able to get off the ball and engage defenders in any direction.
QB: Drew Allar, Penn State
In a season where every quarterback comes with question marks, this was a difficult choice. But Allar’s efficiency rating overall, and against power-conference competition, was appreciably higher than that of Cade Klubnik, Garrett Nussmeier and Carson Beck. Now, armed with better wide receivers, can he play his best in the biggest games?
First Team Defense
DE: Colin Simmons, Texas
In a world without wide receivers, Simmons would have been the most impressive true freshman in the sport in 2024. He had 14 tackles for loss, nine sacks and three forced fumbles, wreaking havoc off the edge. Even more is expected this season, as Simmons improves the subtleties of the pass-rush craft.
DE: Mikail Kamara, Indiana
He was a terror at James Madison, then carried that over to the Hoosiers—15 tackles for loss, 10 sacks, two forced fumbles, six quarterback hurries last year. At 6' 1", he’s shorter than the prototype edge rusher, but every bit as explosive as the best in the college game. With elite returning players on all three levels of the defense, watch out for the Hoosiers again this season.
DT: Peter Woods, Clemson
Dabo Swinney swiped him out of Alabama after Woods’s school won four high school state titles. He’s now the linchpin of a unit being compared to the Clemson maulers from 2017 to ’19—with a 700-pound squat and a 4.86 40-yard dash, he fits the mold of those defensive linemen. The 6' 3", 315-pound Woods has also seen action at fullback in jumbo packages; is it time to let him run the rock?
DT: Zane Durant, Penn State
Durant doubled his production from 2023 to ’24, going from 5.5 to 11 tackles for loss and from 17 to 42 total tackles. One of the keys: He asked Penn State’s offensive line coaches for what they saw in his tendencies. His ability to move laterally and get off the ball are elite for an interior player.
LB: Anthony Hill Jr., Texas
Arch Manning was the Longhorns’ most-celebrated recruit of the 2023 class, but Hill has been the most productive to date. After flipping from Texas A&M late in the recruiting process, Hill made an instant impact as a freshman and then blew up into a star last season, leading the team in tackles (113), tackles for loss (16.5) and forced fumbles (four).
LB: Sonny Styles, Ohio State
Styles was underappreciated on the national champion defensive unit last year, but his production was extremely consistent—at least four tackles in all 16 games, with 10.5 of them behind the line of scrimmage and six sacks. In the CFP semifinal win over Texas, Styles forced a Quinn Ewers fumble and blasted tight end Gunnar Helm into dropping a pass.
LB: Kyle Louis, Pitt
Was anyone more productive than Louis last season? He had 101 total tackles, 15.5 of them for loss and seven sacks. He had four interceptions, including a pick-six against Syracuse. He blocked and returned an extra point 85 yards for two points, forced a fumble and recorded nine quarterback hurries. Pat Narduzzi’s defenses always showcase their playmakers, and Louis is one of those guys.
CB: Leonard Moore, Notre Dame
He was another instant-impact freshman last season, becoming a starter in a stellar secondary by the fifth game and never leaving. Moore led the Fighting Irish with 11 pass breakups and had two interceptions and 48 total tackles, with two forced fumbles. At 6' 2" and 191 pounds, he has the size to handle the biggest receivers.
CB: Daylen Everette, Georgia
Here’s a solid guess: Texas will know where Everette is on every snap when the Longhorns go between the hedges Nov. 15. In two games against Texas last season, Everette had three interceptions, a sack, a forced fumble and nine total tackles. He was good the rest of the year as well, including a 10-tackle effort against Georgia Tech.
S: Caleb Downs, Ohio State
The Buckeyes might very well have the two best players in college football, with Downs as the defensive complement to Smith on offense. Downs can play anywhere and do everything, from pass coverage to tough run support in the box to lightning-quick blitzes to explosive punt returns. He’s also two-for-two making the playoffs, first as a freshman at Alabama and then at Ohio State.
S: KJ Bolden, Georgia
Bolden was the No. 1 safety prospect in the country and quickly lived up to it last season. If a true freshman can crack the lineup on the Bulldogs defense, he’s a player. Bolden finished with 59 tackles despite just two starts, with more production expected this season.
First Team Specialists
P: Brett Thorson, Georgia
In a season when the Georgia offense took a step back, Thorson was an underrated reason why the Bulldogs still managed to win the SEC championship. He averaged 47.6 yards per punt and made a touchdown-saving tackle against Tennessee—and his absence due to injury against Notre Dame in the CFP quarterfinals loomed large.
K: Dominic Zvada, Michigan
The Arkansas State transfer stepped in and immediately became the most reliable scorer on the Wolverines’ roster, making 21 of 22 field goals and 26 of 27 extra points. For his career, Zvada has made 152 out of 161 kicks.
PR: Parker Kingston, BYU
Kingston had a pair of punt return TDs last season, including a wild 90-yarder against Kansas State in which he ran both backward and sideways. He’s also thrown three TD passes over the past two seasons and has a couple of receiving scores.
KR: Makai Lemon, USC
He had 15 all-purpose plays of 30 yards or longer last year, third-most in the nation. That included a few big kickoff returns—an 80-yarder against Rutgers, a 50-yarder against Washington and a 35-yarder against a Notre Dame team that ranked among the national leaders in kickoff coverage.
AP: Koi Perich, Minnesota
After a sensational freshman season as a defensive back and kick returner, Gophers coach P.J. Fleck says Perich will add some offensive duties to the workload this season while continuing to see action in the other two phases of the game.
Second Team Offense
- WR Ryan Williams, Alabama
- WR Cam Coleman, Auburn
- TE Max Klare, Ohio State
- RB Makhi Hughes, Oregon
- RB Isaac Brown, Louisville
- OT Francis Mauigoa, Miami
- OT Austin Barber, Florida
- OG Keylan Rutledge, Georgia Tech
- OG Olaivavega Ioane, Penn State
- C Jake Slaughter, Florida
- QB Cade Klubnik, Clemson
Second Team Defense
- DE T.J. Parker, Clemson
- DE Gabe Jacas, Illinois
- DT Tim Keenan III, Alabama
- DT Dontay Corleone, Cincinnati
- LB Deontae Lawson, Alabama
- LB CJ Allen, Georgia
- LB Whit Weeks, LSU
- CB Jontez Williams, Iowa State
- CB D’Angelo Ponds, Indiana
- S Terry Moore, Duke
- S Jeremiah Cooper, Iowa State
Second Team Specialists
- P Ryan Eckley, Michigan State
- K Lucas Carneiro, Mississippi
- PR Kam Shanks, Arkansas
- KR Keelan Marion, Miami
- AP Desmond Reid, Pittsburgh
Bryan Fischer and Mike McDaniel contributed to the All-American selections.
More College Football on Sports Illustrated
This article was originally published on www.si.com as Sports Illustrated’s 2025 College Football Preseason All-Americans.
