Most interesting college football teams this spring

Between the cancellation of spring games and the looming presence of Transferpalooza II, aka the spring transfer portal window, on the horizon, it's clear that spring football -- plus the storylines it used to produce -- just isn't what it used to be. (That's doubly true with the NCAA turning down the prospect of intersquad spring scrimmages.) And with each passing year, it feels like college coaches only become more secretive about position battles and whatnot, meaning we don't see quite the same plot development from key storylines.

But spring football, such as it exists, remains an opportunity to talk about the season ahead. Here are 10 teams I find particularly interesting heading into the 2025 campaign, whether we've learned anything particularly interesting in spring ball or not.

Alabama

Why the Crimson Tide are interesting: A ridiculously talented team needs a quarterback.

When I hit the big red button* to run February's SP+ projections, the most interesting result it produced was in the No. 2 spot, where a team with a familiar name resided despite coming off its worst season in 17 years.

Alabama went 9-4 in Kalen DeBoer's first season, collapsing offensively at all the wrong times -- the Tide scored 17, 3 and 13 points in their last three losses, and it was easy to reach a sort of "Nick Saban's gone, and this is not the same program anymore" conclusion. Maybe that turns out to be true. But the SP+ projections served as a reminder that the roster still overflows with blue-chippers and that a lot of last year's contributors return, including sophomore receiver Ryan Williams, most of the offensive line and 13 defenders who saw at least 200 snaps in 2024. Plus, DeBoer was considered one of the best coaches in the country just one year ago; it wouldn't surprise anyone if the Tide began to roll again.

A top-two performance, however, will require more consistency from the quarterback position. Jalen Milroe boasted massive upside and mobility, but he never offered the passing consistency that DeBoer and his staff are used to and went just 27-for-58 with one TD and four interceptions in late losses to Oklahoma and Michigan. Longtime DeBoer offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb is back in tow after a year in the pros, and for better or worse the Tide will start a new quarterback in 2025. If that guy's good, Bama will be, too.

Right now, the spring tea leaves suggest that Ty Simpson will most likely start against Florida State in Week 1. A top-40 recruit in the Class of 2022, Simpson has the most experience in the quarterbacks room -- he has thrown for 381 yards with no touchdowns or picks (and three rushing touchdowns) as a backup over parts of three seasons -- and he has been the most consistent spring performer, per Greg McElroy and others. But whether it's sophomore Austin Mack (who followed DeBoer from Washington last season) or incoming top-100 dual-threat prospect Keelon Russell, it's likely that Simpson will have to continue fending off a young up-and-comer as the season progresses. Of course, considering Bama will have played FSU, Wisconsin and Georgia by the end of September, the starter of choice won't be able to ease into the job.

(* There's not actually a big red SP+ button, but it'd be cool if there were.)

Clemson

Why the Tigers are interesting: We're about to learn if a former champion still has championship upside.

In his first 26 games starting for offensive coordinator Garrett Riley, Cade Klubnik mastered the art of safety. He completed 64% of his passes and threw 52 touchdown passes to only 14 interceptions, but a lack of explosiveness held Klubnik and the Tigers back. He averaged just 10.7 yards per completion in these 26 games and 9.7 in the seven Clemson lost. The Tigers advanced to the College Football Playoff last year after winning a weak ACC, but you can't be considered an actual title threat if you so thoroughly lack big-play capabilities.

Clemson bowed out of the CFP with a loss at Texas, but Klubnik completed passes of 30, 29, 28, 27 and 25 yards in the process, and blue-chip freshman T.J. Moore caught nine passes for 116 yards and a TD. A one-game sample doesn't tend to tell us nearly as much as we like to think, but combined with the upside of another blue-chip freshman, Bryant Wesco Jr. (17.3 yards per catch in 2024), the Klubnik-to-Moore show offered a tantalizing glimpse at a new Clemson. That version might have decent offensive upside to go with the highest initial returning production percentage in the country. (Coach Dabo Swinney recently told the media that Wesco, who was listed at 180 pounds last season, has put on 20 pounds this offseason. "Skinny, fast young guy has bulked up!" has been the source of plenty of spring optimism through the years, hasn't it?)

With this experience and potential upside, the Tigers have started out ranked pretty high in the Way Too Earlies. But the explosiveness will have to continue beyond a one-game sample. A new defensive coordinator will need to produce immediate improvement, too. Former Penn State defensive coordinator Tom Allen takes over a unit that ranked only 29th in defensive SP+ and hasn't ranked in the single digits since 2021. There's plenty of spring buzz about the renewed energy he's bringing to the table, but with LSU coming to town in Week 1, he'll have to produce immediate improvement.

Hey, speaking of LSU ...

LSU

Why the Tigers are interesting: Going all-in, baby.

Quarterback Garrett Nussmeier ranked 11th in Total QBR last season, fifth among 2025 returnees. Brian Kelly signed what might be the most instant-impact transfer class in the country, bringing in power-conference starters at receiver, tight end, center, guard, defensive end, cornerback and slot corner. Aaron Anderson is one of the nation's most proven slot receivers. If/when healthy, Harold Perkins Jr. and Whit Weeks might form the most disruptive linebacker duo in college football. The puzzle pieces are impressive if they actually fit together.

Last season, it seemed as though Ole Miss was going all-in, combining experienced offensive players with a dynamite transfer haul (and a level of NIL spending it probably wasn't going to be able to match every year) in the hopes of a huge 2024 season. It didn't quite work out -- three one-score losses narrowly kept the Rebels out of the CFP -- but they had more upside than perhaps anyone besides Ohio State. Now LSU takes the all-in mantle. Kelly is still waiting for a breakthrough in Baton Rouge; he has fielded three top-15 teams (per SP+) but has lost at least three games each season and has yet to secure a playoff bid. Impatience is building, and somewhat justifiably so. But the offense has loads of proven players, at least if the line has the depth it needs, and second-year defensive coordinator Blake Baker has a lot of options to play with after engineering a little bit of first-year improvement.

Baker could start transfers at both corner spots (Virginia Tech's Mansoor Delane and Florida's Ja'Keem Jackson, both of whom have evidently looked good this spring) and both defensive end spots (between FSU's Patrick Payton, Nebraska's Jimari Butler and Florida's Jack Pyburn), and if Weeks and Perkins are both fully recovered from 2024 injuries, one has to think a serious defensive leap is possible. Spring has been about building depth while stars rehabilitate, but LSU looks like a major breakthrough candidate on paper.

Michigan

Why the Wolverines are interesting: A ridiculously talented team needs a quarterback (and a defense?).

Michigan pulled off something incredibly unique in 2024, going just 8-5 a year after winning a national title but somehow finishing the year with as many positive feelings as anyone. That's what happens when you beat Ohio State and Alabama back-to-back despite quarterback play that I can best describe as "hostile to success." The Wolverines' defense held the Buckeyes and Crimson Tide to 23 combined points in tight wins, and the offense averaged just 13.6 points per game in losses. It became very clear that with even average quarterback play, Michigan's ceiling could still be massive in the post-Jim Harbaugh era. And then Sherrone Moore, with help from wealthy boosters, landed the best freshman quarterback prospect in the country in Bryce Underwood. That's a pretty good way to build offseason buzz.

Spring has produced all the headlines you would expect to see regarding Underwood. He's "turning heads," he has "made some crazy throws" (that one was from defensive tackle Rayshaun Benny), he's flashing major upside, he's working hard and embracing competition, etc. Moore also brought in Fresno State veteran Mikey Keene to assure that Michigan's QB floor was higher than last season, but Underwood's ceiling is tantalizing. We'll see if new offensive coordinator Chip Lindsey starts Underwood from day one or goes with the "start out with the veteran until the freshman overtakes him" approach. Regardless, Michigan's offense should be far less of an eyesore in 2025.

That's good because the defense might need a little bit more help without a trio of likely first-round draft picks: tackles Mason Graham and Kenneth Grant and sacks leader Josaiah Stewart. Experience levels are still pretty strong on D, especially with the addition of transfer tackles Tre Williams (Clemson) and Damon Payne Jr. (Alabama) and safety TJ Metcalf (Arkansas). Coordinator Wink Martindale raved about Michigan's depth in pre-spring interviews, but he needs some new standouts to emerge. Edge rusher Derrick Moore, perhaps? Benny? Linebacker Jaishawn Barham? Corner Zeke Berry?

North Carolina

Why the Tar Heels are interesting: B-E-L-I-C-H-I-C-K.

With all due respect to quarterback Max Johnson, linebacker Amare Campbell and whomever else you might describe as North Carolina's most proven returnees, the Tar Heels aren't interesting because of anyone on the current roster. They're interesting because of who's leading it. Bill Belichick became one of the sport's most innovative defensive coordinators with his 3-4 attack with the New York Giants in the 1980s, then won six Super Bowls as New England's head coach in the 21st century. Now, at 72, he'll try to win as a college coach.

Belichick is the first Super Bowl-winning head coach to try his luck in college since Bill Walsh returned to Stanford in the 1990s. (Walsh enjoyed a stellar first season, going 10-3 in 1992 at age 61, but went just 7-14-1 over the next two years and bowed out.) Depending on how kind you are, Belichick has surrounded himself with either known entities or yes-men: two Belichicks (defensive coordinator Steve, DBs coach Brian), two Lombardis (general manager Michael, quarterbacks coach Matt) and other key former NFL assistants (offensive coordinator Freddie Kitchens, special teams coordinator Mike Priefer). He has raved about enjoying popping pads and yelling at tight ends, and he's regarded as a good enough teacher that, for all we know, this unheralded roster might develop well and thrive. Or not. I have no idea how to set expectations for this.

Oklahoma

Why the Sooners are interesting: Can an offensive transplant fix everything?

In 2021, Western Kentucky head coach Tyson Helton, feeling a little bit of heat after slipping to 5-7 thanks to a moribund offense, attempted a transplant of sorts. And it worked. Helton brought offensive coordinator Zach Kittley, quarterback Bailey Zappe and a host of receivers to town from Houston Christian, gave them free rein to sling the ball around as much as possible and watched Zappe throw for a patently obscene 5,967 yards and 62 TDs as the Hilltoppers surged to 9-5 and seventh in offensive SP+.

Ben Arbuckle, a former Houston Christian assistant himself, followed Kittley & Co. to WKU in 2021, then moved up to co-coordinator in 2022 when Kittley left for Texas Tech. He won't turn 30 until this September, but he spent the past two seasons sprucing up Washington State's offense, and now he's taking part in another grand transplant experiment: In its first season in the SEC, Oklahoma fielded its worst offense since the 1990s, and head coach Brent Venables has asked Arbuckle and former Cougs quarterback John Mateer to turn that around. Mateer threw for 3,139 yards and rushed for 1,032 more (not including sacks) in crimson and gray in 2024; now he'll don crimson and cream.

History suggests that an offensive coordinator change at a school with loads of recent offensive success can create an immediate course correction. Venables overhauled the receiving corps, adding Arkansas' Isaiah Sategna, a pair of tight ends and three smaller-school stars (led by Arkansas-Pine Bluff's JaVonnie Gibson, a spring standout). But he didn't add that much to an offensive line that was truly horrendous last season. If celebrated line coach Bill Bedenbaugh can't engineer improvement up front, nothing else will matter, but Mateer won't need the world's greatest protection to thrive. Considering OU fielded its best defense in more than a decade last season, a revived offense could drive a top-15 performance.

Penn State

Why the Nittany Lions are interesting: Nothing's ever truly now or never ... but this feels pretty now or never, doesn't it?

Penn State came within one gut-wrenching minute of a spot in last season's national title game. Drew Allar's ill-advised interception set Notre Dame up for a game-winning field goal and a runner-up finish to Ohio State, but James Franklin's Nittany Lions still finished 13-3. They've ranked either fifth or sixth in SP+ for three consecutive seasons, and they remain one of the most high-floor, upset-proof teams in the country: Since 2022, they're 33-1 as favorites of more than two points.

Of course, they're also 0-6 as underdogs in that span. Their floor is high, but their ceiling could stand to get a little higher. And if it doesn't do so in 2025, will it ever? Allar, star running backs Kaytron Allen and Nicholas Singleton, and ace pass rusher Dani Dennis-Sutton all elected to return to State College for their respective senior seasons, and despite what you have to figure was an impressive outlay of NIL cash, Franklin still had enough left over to lure Jim Knowles, maybe the best defensive coordinator in the sport, away from Ohio State as well. Potential top-two pick Abdul Carter is still gone, and lord knows the receiving corps isn't more proven without star tight end Tyler Warren than it was with him. But receiver transfers Devonte Ross (Troy) and Kyron Hudson (USC) have drawn all the requisite spring praise, and PSU sure seems to have more upside than ever at the moment.

With Ohio State in transition* and Michigan still unsure at quarterback, now's the time for the Nittany Lions to make a move, and Franklin has crafted his best, most experienced roster for the occasion. Let's see if Penn State can make the title jump.

(* The Buckeyes are still going to be awesome and will quite possibly be the No. 1 team in the preseason polls. But they will have two new coordinators and a new quarterback. They aren't infallible.)

UNLV

Why the Rebels are interesting: A new team, from top to bottom.

If history is any indication, UNLV will likely stumble in 2025. The Rebels lost the head coach responsible for two of their three winning seasons in the past 24 years (Purdue-bound Barry Odom*), and most of the players who had anything to do with that rise are gone, too. Their SP+ rating was 24.3 points higher than their 20-year average last season, which all but screams "REGRESSION FORTHCOMING."

Damned if they don't remain intriguing, however. In Dan Mullen, they hired a coach with 103 career wins, all in the SEC, and despite its general newness, Mullen's first UNLV roster will feature double-digit former blue-chippers and 20 power-conference transfers. There are fun options everywhere you look, from transfers like quarterback Anthony Colandrea (Virginia) and corners Aamaris Brown (USF) and Laterrance Welch (Arizona State) to holdovers like outside linebacker Marsel McDuffie. And Mullen, usually a pretty good politician, is saying all the right things about UNLV's facilities and potential. UNLV is acting like a power-conference program, and while debt could become a problem in the long term, this approach is going to be fascinating in the short term. The Rebels are in the right city for taking big gambles, anyway.

(* Honestly, I almost put Purdue on this list as well. Odom has almost completely flipped a terrible roster in a single offseason, and he did that masterfully at UNLV just two years ago.)

Utah

Why the Utes are interesting: After all the bad luck with injuries and close games, a high-upside team remains.

Andy Ludwig's first three full seasons as Utah's offensive coordinator were a revelation, with the Utes ranking 21st, then 14th and then 11th in offensive SP+ while going a combined 31-11. But with quarterback Cam Rising missing most of two seasons with injury and tons of other skill corps guys getting hurt as well, Utah slipped to 8-5 and 65th in offensive SP+ in 2023, then 5-7 and 96th last season. The defense was awesome both seasons, but a void at quarterback and close-game miscues (the Utes lost five one-score games) prompted a seven-game losing streak last fall. Out went Ludwig and Rising.

Morgan Scalley's defense has a bit of a conflicting outlook in 2025, with a number of juniors-to-be in position to thrive after seeing lots of playing time as sophomores but with six of last year's top eight linemen gone. But the Utes aren't on this list because of the defense. They're here because I love the moves Kyle Whittingham made to spruce up the offense. New Mexico had one of the more entertaining offensive turnarounds in the FBS last season, and Whittingham brought in three of the main reasons for that in coordinator Jason Beck, quarterback Devon Dampier and running back NaQuari Rogers. Beck is wonderfully creative, and Dampier threw for 2,768 yards and rushed for 1,187 more (not including sacks) under Beck's guidance last season. He's not the biggest guy in the world (5-foot-11, 204 pounds), but he's one of the best quarterbacks in the country in terms of scrambling and extending plays without taking sacks, and his designed-run capability should pair beautifully with the running back duo of Rogers and Washington State transfer Wayshawn Parker. Everyone is saying the right things this spring, and this offense is going to look completely different. If the defensive line holds up and Dampier can pass at least a little bit to a remodeled receiving corps, Utah could go from sub-.500 to Big 12 contention awfully quickly.

Washington State

Why the Cougars are interesting: Because they're the Jackrabbits now.

In this current version of college football, raiding is the highest form of flattery, and few programs got raided like South Dakota State did this offseason: The 2022-23 FCS national champs (and 2024 semifinalists) lost quarterback Mark Gronowski to Iowa and lost just about everyone else to Washington State. SDSU built a world-class culture under first John Stiegelmeier and then Jimmy Rogers, and when Wazzu lost head coach Jake Dickert to Wake Forest, it brought in the 38-year-old Rogers, who in turn brought 16 Jackrabbits (and counting) to Pullman.

Running backs Angel Johnson, Kirby Vorhees and Maxwell Woods combined to rush for 1,403 yards at 7.2 per carry at SDSU last year; they're all Cougs now. So are defensive backs Tucker Large, Caleb Francl, Matthew Durrance and Colby Humphrey, who combined for 215 tackles, 14 TFLs, 7 interceptions and 20 breakups. This sort of culture transplant has produced both immediate brilliance (Curt Cignetti's incredible Indiana turnaround in 2024) and the exact opposite (Jay Norvell went just 5-16 in his first two seasons at Colorado State after bringing double-digit transfers from Nevada). A good player culture is finicky and unpredictable, but if Pullman can become Brookings West in that regard, success will follow. South Dakota State was comparable to a top-third Mountain West program over the past few seasons, and Rogers was able to convince a few key Cougars like quarterback Zevi Eckhaus to stick around as well. We'll see if the lines hold up -- WSU got hit pretty hard by attrition on both sides -- but this is going to be an intriguing and high-upside experiment.