Preseason College Football Rankings 2022: Top 25 Coaches Poll Released

Alabama is once again in a familiar perch atop college football.

The Crimson Tide will open the 2022 season as the top-ranked team in the Amway Coaches Poll after the preseason Top 25 was released Monday. It's the second straight season and fifth time in seven years that Alabama has topped the preseason coaches poll.

Ohio State, Georgia, Clemson and Notre Dame round out the Top Five.

Here is a look at how the entire Top 25 played out:

1. Alabama
2. Ohio State
3. Georgia
4. Clemson
5. Notre Dame
6. Michigan
7. Texas A&M
8. Utah
9. Oklahoma
10. Baylor
11. Oklahoma State
12. Oregon
13. NC State
14. Michigan State
15. USC
16. Pittsburgh
17. Miami
18. Texas
19. Wake Forest
20. Wisconsin
21. Kentucky
22. Cincinnati
23. Arkansas
24. Ole Miss
25. Houston

Alabama returns 15 starters from last season's national runner-up team, including eight on the defensive side of the ball. The Tide defense should open the season as the best in the country and is led by linebacker Will Anderson Jr., who is the reigning SEC Defensive Player of the Year.

The offensive side is led by Heisman Trophy winner Bryce Young, who will go into the 2022 season attempting to solidify himself as the No. 1 pick in the 2023 NFL draft. Young and Ohio State's C.J. Stroud are currently considered the top two quarterbacks in the 2023 class.

"So these guys have not only been great players, they've contributed from a leadership standpoint probably as significantly as any leaders that we've had—and we've had some really good leaders in our program and organization," Alabama coach Nick Saban told reporters of Anderson and Young.

"Really excited about having these guys on our team. You couldn't ask for two better people. I've always said that when the best players on your team are really good people with great attitude and great mindset, it's really helpful to developing the type of team chemistry you need to have a successful team."

Stroud has every chance to earn his own Heisman this season as part of a stacked offense for No. 2 Ohio State. TreVeyon Henderson and Jaxon Smith-Njigba return to give the Buckeyes an elite running back and first-round lock at receiver, while the defense should be improved after hiring Jim Knowles to come in and fix the team's biggest problem from a year ago.

Defending champion Georgia comes in at No. 3 after the NFL gutted its Tide-stifling defense from last season. The Bulldogs will have to replace a whopping 15 players who were taken in the draft, including five first-rounders on the defensive side of the ball.

The losses on the defensive side will place a greater onus on Stetson Bennett to step up and improve the offense. Brock Bowers returns as Bennett's top target from a year ago and could compete for the John Mackey Award as a sophomore.