As the football calendar turns its attention to the 2025 NFL Combine, we want to take a deep dive into another important event for future talent: National Signing Day on February 5th, 2025.
With the transfer portal, it seems as though the allure of National Signing Day has evaporated as teams are bolstering their rosters through the portal and have locked up many players during the early signing period in December. That being said, freshmen are still making impacts on the college football stage and should be celebrated on National Signing Day. For instance, these freshmen made their mark this past season:
- Jeremiah Smith (Ohio State)
- Collin Simmons (Texas)
- Ryan Williams (Alabama)
- DJ Lagway (Florida)
- Koi Perich (Minnesota)
In the post-Covid era, this past season was the first where athletes weren’t limited by their high school prep calendar. In previous years following the outbreak of COVID-19, events such as high school camps and 7v7 were often limited. Given the resurgence in play from the freshmen listed above, we can expect a bounce back in freshmen’s readiness for play at the next level. Below shows teams who utilized freshmen the most in the 2024 season. Schools like Alabama, Clemson, Notre Dame, Miami, and Duke have exciting 2025 seasons ahead based on how their 2024 season ended and how their returning talent will continue to develop.
While this shows teams with the highest usage of freshmen, nearly 1,800 players at both the FBS and FCS levels saw playing time in 2024 (averaging nearly two games per player with playing time). The lower the level of competition, the higher the significant playing time. This is an ever-present reminder that for players being under-recruited at the national level, playing time at the FCS level or below can still help them put together tape to get noticed. Just ask Cameron Skattebo, Jared Verse, or Kobie Turner, who all started at the FCS level before transferring up.
Although freshman utilization doesn’t seem very high overall, that may be caused by an increasing number of players returning to school in the NIL era. There are a few reasons for this. First, the NIL era has seen many players incentivized to stay in school. A player may, in fact, be making more money through their NIL payments than the guaranteed money offered in late-round NFL draft selections. They could take the risk and not be drafted and negotiate a higher contractual amount as a UDFA (like Ivan Pace Jr.), but that is quite the gamble. Second, with the investment many schools are making in sports science, we can see players’ athletic profiles continue to flourish at the collegiate level. Many schools have state-of-the-art sports science research labs that athletes can benefit from.
With all this in mind, high school recruiting is still very valuable for schools looking to build depth against rotating rosters from year to year. High school recruiting provides schools with the opportunity to develop players for the next level. Here are some schools with the highest expected roster turnover after the 2024 season, based on the percentage of total team snaps with eligibility expiring. This isn’t updated for players who declared early for the NFL draft or are petitioning for further eligibility with the NCAA. This is purely the exiting senior class. For these schools (and many others), this year’s high school recruiting will be very important for roster depth.
Top Players Set to Make an Impact in 2025
With this in mind, we have compiled a list of freshmen to watch out for in the 2025 season. The criteria for the list is understanding what incoming players have the best shot at contributing in the 2025 season given where the roster stands now (post-transfer portal).
Quarterback
Bryce Underwood (Michigan) headlines a really good 2025 QB class (with Keelon Russell at Alabama also having an opportunity to start). It’s hard to see a path where a player of his stature (high-profile flip from LSU and the rumored NIL offered) doesn’t get significant playing time in the 2025 season. Michigan did acquire Fresno State QB Mikey Keene in the transfer portal, who has had a productive collegiate career (90th percentile in our accuracy metric) and could offer a bridge/insurance QB if Underwood isn’t ready in the spring. However, a player with his athletic build (6-3, 200+ lbs) may be given a shorter bridge come the 2025 season.
Honorable Mention: Malik Washington (Maryland)
Running Back
With Phil Mafah exiting to the NFL, Clemson is left with a very young RB room, with Keith Adam Jr. (RS SO) as the most experienced RB returning. This suggests Gideon Davidson (Clemson) may be someone they can rotate in for meaningful playing time. It’s no secret that Clemson loves to develop and play high-profile recruits early (as indicated in the chart on freshman utilization). Having been personally recruited by high-profile college RBs (C.J. Spiller at Clemson and Cadillac Williams at Auburn) provides strong signals about his talent level. Davidson will have to separate himself from Clemson’s other high-profile recruit Marquise Henderson, but with Klubnik and the return of a very good young receiving room, the pressure to contribute and fill Mafah’s shoes may not be as high.
Honorable Mention: Jeff Overton (Virginia Tech)
Wide Receivers
The Oregon receiving room is set to lose Tez Johnson and Traeshawn Holden while retaining Evan Stewart and Malik Benson (transfer from Florida State). This room has many talented young receivers who could be next up, including Jeremiah McClellan and Jurrion Dickey. That said, one of the most electric recruits this past year has been Dakorian Moore (Oregon) from Duncanville, TX. He enters Oregon with 247 Sports’ fifth-best ever recruiting rating (best WR recruit in program history). There’s hype, and then there’s seeing him compete against other high-profile recruits where he put on a show recently in the Under Armour All-American game, winning MVP honors. In this game, he had 136 all-purpose yards with an 83-yard punt return TD. This will give Ducks fans flashes of De’Anthony Thomas and should push for immediate playing time in 2025.
Honorable Mention: Tayln Taylor (Georgia)
Tight End
Linkon Cure (Kansas State) is a former 110-meter hurdles champion and now incoming 5-star TE to Kansas State. At 6-6, 220 lbs, he comes to Kansas State as the best-signed recruit in program history. He should garner immediate attention in the Kansas State offense and be a go-to target for Avery Johnson in 2025. The exciting thing about Cure is that he can play both as an outside WR, in the slot, and as an in-line TE. Given his versatility and growing size (expected to put on more weight), he should get immediate attention in the Big 12 next season.
Honorable Mention: Elyiss Williams (Georgia)
Offensive Line
SMU was able to convince Dramodd Odoms (SMU) from Houston, TX to stay home, which should pay huge dividends for a team looking to continue their 2024 success, with Rhett Lashlee continuing his heater on the recruiting trail. There are many high-profile OL in this 2025 class to like who will make a significant impact, including Josh Petty (Georgia Tech), Michael Fasusi (Oklahoma), and David Sanders Jr (Tennessee). What stands out about Odoms is his frame at 6-6, 300 lbs, which puts him at a bigger size than the other players – and he’s still growing! With an SMU team that saw increasing success in the run game with the switch to Jennings, Odoms could provide even more value as a player who plays LB in 7v7 camps. This speaks to his agility level, which will be valuable with a mobile QB behind him.
Honorable Mentions: Josh Petty (Georgia Tech) & Michael Fasusi (Oklahoma)
Defensive Line
It’s hard to create a list of incoming defensive line recruits to watch without understanding who Texas has recently signed. Byron Murphy, T’Vondre Sweat, and Alfred Collins have anchored their defensive front in the past with high degrees of success. They have had great success at recruiting and developing at the position, and Justus Terry (Texas) is poised to continue the tradition of great defensive linemen at Texas. With the success of Collin Simmons as a pass rusher and Trey Moore on the outside, this can be a scheme for Terry to make an immediate impact. Given his frame and athleticism (6-5, 290+ lbs), he’ll likely be used in stunting formations, which can help him gain attention from generated pressures. Also, given how effective the coverage unit was this past year, the front 7 gets many coverage sacks from opposing offensive lines’ inability to sustain blocks over time, which could give Terry an opportunity to make an impact early in his career and get on scouts’ radar.
Honorable Mentions: Jahkeem Stewart (USC) / Iose Epenesa (Iowa)
Edge
Duke ended the 2024 season with an underrated good performance under Manny Diaz’s first year (top 15 in adjusted EPA allowed/play). With the success of this defense, Bryce Davis (Duke) can immediately add versatility to the Duke pass rush. He’s already graded as the best overall recruit in Duke football history (according to 247), and Diaz will be excited to use his existing frame in obvious passing downs early to gain him experience.
Honorable Mention: Hayden Lowe (Miami)
Linebacker
Kaleb Burns (Baylor) stands out as an intriguing player to watch in 2025 given the system he’s entering. Dave Aranda has a knack for disguised pressures, and with a former track star like Burns at LB, it seems likely he’ll get playing time his freshman year. Even more telling of his potential quality and playing opportunity was the fact that both Oklahoma and Oregon tried hard to flip Burns to their schools, both having big LB needs. Look for him to get rotating snaps with this stout defense in 2025.
Honorable Mentions: Madden Faraimo (Notre Dame), Tyler Lockhart (Miss State)
Defensive Backs
Georgia Tech had a great 2025 recruiting class with star OT Josh Petty, Christian Garrett (DL), and flipping Tae Harris from Clemson (#3 SAF according to 247 Sports). Having clocked a 4.38 at an Under Armour camp, Harris adds playmaking ability this defense has been searching for (#75 in adjusted EPA/play according to GameOnPaper). Georgia Tech does have a very tenured secondary, but I don’t think that will stop Harris from getting playing time in 2025.
Honorable Mentions: DJ Pickett (LSU), Devin Sanchez (Ohio State)
