Predicting Every Power 4 College Football Team's MVP for 2025 Season
It's here! It's finally here! College football season is upon us, mercifully, and as we embark on another journey to find a national champion, the trek begins with identifying the sport's top players.
In most cases, teams' most valuable players are their best players, but in others, it's the stars who are most-needed to have magnificent campaigns. In the case of the defending national champion Ohio State Buckeyes, it's a case of choosing arguably the nation's top offensive player or top defensive player.
Everywhere you look, superstars are blossoming. Others are in get-NFL-ready mode as they try to lead their programs to the top tier of the sport.
Some of these guys are household names, while others may be new that you need to commit to memory. In some cases, they've been with their team for years, while in others, they're transfer-portal gems.
In all cases, their teams will rely on them for leadership to win a championship. Obviously, this is completely subjective based on predicted production.
Here are our predictions for every Power 4 college football team's MVP for the '25 season.
ACC
1 of 4
When you look at the '25 ACC, you've got to start with the three teams that came closest to playing for everything last year. The Clemson Tigers and SMU Mustangs made it to the College Football Playoff, while Miami just missed.
All three have major aspirations again this year.
Clemson Tigers - Cade Klubnik, QB
The top team in the conference and perhaps the country is coach Dabo Swinney's Clemson Tigers, loaded on both sides of the ball with an elite stable of wide receivers and the defensive line tandem of Peter Woods and T.J. Parker.
But the guy who makes it tick is senior Texas gunslinger Cade Klubnik, who finally took a monumental leap forward under offensive coordinator Garrett Riley last year, completing 64 percent of his passes for 3,639 yards, 36 touchdowns and just six interceptions. He's a bonafide Heisman Trophy candidate.
SMU Mustangs - Kevin Jennings, QB
If the Mustangs are going to make it back to the final 12 this year, they'll need Kevin Jennings to have the type of season that can carry a team beyond some talent gulfs.
Last year was an unforgettable first foray into the ACC, but Breshard Smith is off to the Kansas City Chiefs, and coach Rhett Lashlee's team must restock the pantry around Jennings, who accounted for 3,599 all-purpose yards and 28 touchdowns a year ago. He needs to improve on that and minimize the turnovers (11 picks a year ago) in '25.
Miami Hurricanes - Carson Beck, QB
A season after coach Mario Cristobal's Hurricanes struck portal gold with top overall draft pick Cam Ward, who elevated The U back to the national spotlight with a transcendent year, they're banking on it again.
Miami paid big money to keep former Georgia quarterback Carson Beck from heading to the NFL, and Beck is betting on himself after a season that was supposed to be special wound up with him completing 65 percent of his passes for 3,485 yards, 28 touchdowns and 12 interceptions.
Those aren't bad numbers at all, but he must trim the interceptions and find some playmakers around him in Coral Gables.
Big Ten
2 of 4
The cream-of-the-crop conference in all of college football the past two years enjoyed its second natty in a row a season ago and placed four teams (Ohio State, Penn State, Oregon and Indiana) in the playoffs.
This season, the league is top-heavy and stacked again. Here are the top players.
Ohio State Buckeyes - Jeremiah Smith, WR
Every part of me wanted to say Caleb Downs here, simply because the do-it-all safety is arguably the nation's top defensive player and the leader of a unit that must replace coordinator Jim Knowles. But when you've got the best receiver in a generation on your team, too, well, the trigger on that gun jammed.
Sometimes the obvious choice is the best one, and that would be Jeremiah Smith, who stunned the college football world with a dynamic freshman season a year ago that went another level in the playoffs.
Now, Smith has to team with Carnell Tate to help bring along talented redshirt freshman signal-caller Julian Sayin, so a repeat performance of last year would be massive.
Oregon Ducks - Dillon Thieneman, S
A defensive back is being written about on this slide, anyway. Oregon's Dan Lanning has pieced together a strong defense in all his years in Eugene, and getting Dillon Thieneman from Purdue is a solid step toward doing it again in '25.
After piling up 106 tackles, forcing two fumbles and picking off six balls as a freshman with the Boilermakers, Thieneman was back at it again last year, finishing with 104 tackles and a sack. He hopes to get back to the game-changing turnovers with the Ducks as they try to get back to the playoffs.
Penn State - Nicholas Singleton, RB
If this is the year James Franklin finally wins enough big games to shake that gorilla off his back, it will be because Nicholas Singleton and senior backfield mate Kaytron Allen puts the offense on their shoulders.
Sure, star quarterback Drew Allar is back, too, but the thunder-and-lightning combo of Singleton and Allen is special. All Singleton has done is amass 2,912 rushing yards, 3,680 total yards and 40 touchdowns. Yeah, he's dependable.
- Illinois Fighting Illini - Gabe Jacas, OLB
- Indiana Hoosiers - Makail Kamara, Edge
- Iowa Hawkeyes - Logan Jones, C
- Maryland Terrapins - Nolan Ray, RB
- Michigan Wolverines - Justice Haynes, RB
- Michigan State Spartans - Aidan Chiles, QB
- Minnesota Golden Gophers - Koi Perich, DB
- Nebraska Cornhuskers - Dylan Raiola, QB
- Northwestern Wildcats - Cam Porter, RB
- Purdue Boilermakers - Devin Mockobee, RB
- Rutgers Scarlet Knights - Eric O'Neill, DE
- UCLA Bruins - Nico Iamaleava, QB
- USC Trojans - Makai Lemon, WR
- Washington Huskies - Jonah Coleman, RB
- Wisconsin Badgers - Billy Edwards Jr., QB
Big 12
3 of 4
If you love fun and wide-open, we-have-no-idea-what's-going-to-happen football, the Big 12 is for you. Take into consideration a season ago, Arizona State, BYU and Iowa State came from nowhere to contend.
Wild-and-wacky shenanigans could ensue once again with sleepers like Baylor and Kansas primed for rebound seasons. Oh, and the league already played a marquee game in Week Zero with Iowa State upending Kansas State in Ireland.
Arizona State Sun Devils - Sam Leavitt, QB
How do you replace a program hero who will be remembered forever in running back Cam Skattebo? The answer lies with redshirt sophomore quarterback Sam Leavitt, who is the ideal signal-caller for quarterback-friendly head coach Kenny Dillingham.
Kanye Udoh, who transferred in from Navy, will be the bell cow in the backfield, and Jordyn Tyson is a playmaker on the perimeter, but none of that ticks without Leavitt, who should take a huge leap in Year 2 under center after accumulating 3,328 total yards and 29 scores a season ago.
Iowa State Cyclones - Rocco Becht, QB
Rocco Becht didn't put up stat-stacking box score numbers in Ireland a week ago in the Cyclones' 24-21 win over Kansas State, but he gritted out a game against a great defense.
In the end, his 183-yard, two-touchdown performance was enough to give Matt Campbell's team a leg up in the conference race early on. That's just what the junior does, though: He wins. A season ago, he led the team to 11 victories, passing for 3,505 yards, 25 touchdowns and nine interceptions.
The kid makes plays time and time again.
Utah Utes - Spencer Fano, OT
Without question, the biggest disappointment in the Big 12 a season ago was first-year program Utah, which was expected to compete for a title. Instead, the injury-plagued farewell of quarterback Cam Rising fell flat.
This year, coach Kyle Whittingham has rebuilt a team with playmakers like quarterback Devon Dampier and running back Wayshawn Parker, but the offensive line duo of Spencer Fano and Caleb Lomu will be the stars of the show. Fano is a road-grader who could be an early first-round pick, and the massive 6'6", 309-pound tackle should star.
SEC
4 of 4
It's not possible for conferences to be embarrassed, but a league that has dominated college football for the past two decades has been a bit of an afterthought the past two years, full of sound and fury but failing to hoist hardware.
As always, the talent level is elite again to produce a champion. But with teams like Ohio State, Clemson and Penn State flexing around the nation, can the big, bad SEC be back? Here are some players who'll have a say in that.
LSU Tigers - Garrett Nussmeier, QB
If you want a bit of an outside-the-box national champion contender, look toward the Bayou where this should be coach Brian Kelly's best LSU team. If it isn't, maybe he isn't the right guy, after all.
With stars on both sides of the ball, none shine brighter than senior signal-caller Garrett Nussmeier, the quarterback with an NFL pedigree who may be Cade Klubnik's and Jeremiah Smith's biggest competition for the Heisman.
A year ago, Nussmeier flung it all over the field to the tune of 4,052 yards, 29 touchdowns, and 12 interceptions, but he must play better in key moments.
Texas Longhorns - Anthony Hill Jr., LB
One team that won't sneak up on anybody is preseason No. 1 Texas, which will break in heralded quarterback Arch Manning, who is stealing the headlines.
But it's a slobberknocker defense that will change the complexion of games. While Colin Simmons is a havoc-wreaker in the backfield and a secondary with stars like Malik Muhammad and Michael Taafe, it's Anthony Hill Jr. who is poised for a breakout year.
Hill was all over the place a season ago, finishing the year with 113 total tackles, including 59 solo, eight sacks, four forced fumbles, an interception and 16.5 tackles for a loss.
South Carolina Gamecocks - LaNorris Sellers, QB
Again, Manning is getting a lot of hype, but young signal-callers like LaNorris Sellers at South Carolina and Florida's DJ Lagway have proven their ability over a longer stretch of time.
Sellers, especially, is a dual-threat force who can carry the Gamecocks. Learning the trade as a redshirt freshman a year ago, he threw for 2,534 yards, 18 passing touchdowns, and added 674 rushing yards with seven more rushing scores.
He's big, strong, fast and should only be better. He's the reason Shane Beamer's Carolina team could contend.
- Alabama Crimson Tide - Ryan Williams, WR
- Arkansas Razorbacks - Taylen Green, QB
- Auburn Tigers - Keldric Faulk, DL
- Kentucky Wildcats - Zach Calzada, QB
- Florida Gators - DJ Lagway, QB
- Mississippi State Bulldogs - Fluff Bothwell, RB
- Missouri Tigers - Ahmad Hardy, RB
- Oklahoma Sooners - John Mateer, QB
- Ole Miss Rebels - Suntarine Perkins, LB
- Tennessee Volunteers - Arion Carter, LB
- Texas A&M Aggies - Ar'maj Reed-Adams, OG
- Vanderbilt Commodores - Diego Pavia, QB
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