The 2024 season isn’t even over yet, but I’ve already taken my talents to the 2025 Underdog Best Ball season. There’s no reason for Underdog not to offer CFB for a second year in a row after such a successful 2024 season! What I wanted to do here was anticipate and predict what I think the first two rounds of drafts will look like when they open up. This isn’t how I’d draft the first two rounds, rather, how I think the ADP chips will fall amongst the entire community.
Things I looked at when building this include but are not limited to the following:
-Previous year’s production
-Name/team recognition
-Position
-Potential growth year over year
Round 1
1. LaNorris Sellers, South Carolina, QB
Are we surprised? Sellers is a big name here at Campus2Canton, and people have gotten to see what kind of potential and upside he brings to the table with his skill set under Shane Beamer. While his season-long average of 22.5 fantasy points per game is nothing to write home about, especially considering who I think will go 1.02, his second half-of-the-year performance stands out.
In his first six games, he averaged just 15.25 fantasy points. In his final six games, that number shot up to 29.66! The big difference between the two halves was his passing ability, throwing for over 235 yards in five of six games, whereas he did this just once in his first six contests. Not surprisingly, he threw for eight more passing touchdowns in the second half of the season.
Considering the second half production, growth in his second year as a starter, and his value in all facets of the offense, he’s who I have going 1.01 come 2025 season.
2. John Mateer, Oklahoma, QB
No one was better than John Mateer in 2024 regarding fantasy points per game. He averaged 35.2 per game, so why is he not my 1.01? Well, he won’t be playing a heavy Mountain West schedule; instead, he will be facing a treacherous SEC schedule. He played great from a fantasy perspective against Washington and Texas Tech last year, but what he will see in 2025 will be much different and more consistently. The Sooners face off against Michigan, Auburn, Texas, South Carolina, Ole Miss, Tennessee, and Alabama. They also face a few others, like Missouri and LSU, who could see improvement on defense.
Mateer has shown the ability to produce and gets his offensive coordinator alongside him at Oklahoma, but for 1.01, I think people will take the consistent situation of Sellers over Mateer and his introduction into the SEC.
3. Jeremiah Smith, Ohio State, WR
As a true freshman, Jeremiah Smith was incredible! The guy showed up for 100+ yards against Tennessee and Oregon in the playoff and had touchdowns in each of his first seven games to start the 2024 season. The name and school recognition will pop huge for Smith and his ADP on Underdog, and I can’t say I necessarily disagree. Emeka Egbuka is gone (great), while Carnell Tate should be returning. Smith is the clear WR1 in an offense that has to replace Will Howard at quarterback but should do just fine in that department, considering their NIL pockets. The community would love a running back first over a receiver, but there are no big names to overtake Smith.
4. Arch Manning, Texas, QB
Another quarterback! We saw what the value of a high-end quarterback can do for your teams this past season, and people will not ignore that in 2025. Manning has the most name recognition in the sport, and people have been itching for him to start since he stepped foot on campus. He has shown rushing ability, and when Ewers was hurt in 2024, he had a few huge games (40 fantasy points against UTSA and 33 against Mississippi State). Manning has shown us enough to warrant a high pick, and it certainly doesn’t help that Texas should have Sark back as head coach alongside what will surely be a talented skill group.
And did I say he was a Manning?
5. Makhi Hughes, Oregon, RB
Finding that first running back off the board was tough. I landed on Hughes for a few really good reasons. First, Oregon! The Ducks lose talent at receiver and will be replacing their quarterback, so it wouldn’t be far-fetched to say that Hughes was the best skill player they have, at least from a pure college football perspective. Secondly, Jordan James was a top 2-3 round pick in 2024, proving that the community values this position in the Oregon offense. Finally, running for 1,000+ yards in back-to-back seasons with 24 combined touchdowns doesn’t hurt. People will not have to spend a lot of time to see how good of a player Hughes is from a CFF lens.
6. Darius Taylor, Minnesota, RB
Last year, we saw Darius Taylor go off the board extremely early; for the most part, he was a fantasy asset for us all. Taylor dealt with some injuries that slowed him down, but when he was on the field, he flashed upside and gave us a good floor. Taylor produced over 30 fantasy points twice, which is as many times as he produced single-digit fantasy points.
This format is tough for him because he is so good in the passing game (54 receptions), but he is still a big producer thanks to his all-around usage. He broke 20+ touches in eight games last year and that’s with him being eased in at the beginning of the season. The community is going to love his all-around fantasy profile come next season.
7. Jeremiyah Love, Notre Dame, RB
Love is definitely one of the guys I think will be overdrafted, at least to start the draft season, thanks to his production in the CFP, but also because of Notre Dame. The fandom is strong there. Add this type of recognition with over 7 YPC and 17 touchdowns at the time of writing this (15 games), and you have a great player with great production, getting the ND boost into the first round.
Thanks to a stiffer schedule, we’ll see higher usage for Love in 2025 compared to 2024. They face Miami and Texas A&M to start the season while also facing Pitt, Boise State, USC, and Syracuse. While these games aren’t likely to all be top-25 matchups, I think this schedule gives Notre Dame players more games where they’re required to play the fourth quarter than we saw this past year.
8. Ryan Williams, Alabama, WR
After a string of running backs, we get our second receiver, another true sophomore who was mightily impressive last season. Williams was on par with Smith throughout most of the 2024 season and only took a step back once Jalen Milroe got in his funk.
The quarterback position is a question mark for the Crimson Tide next season, and they do have a deep room with Isaiah Horton transferring in, but Kalen Deboer has shown to produce high-end receivers in his offense. This offense can shoot through the roof if they can land or develop a pocket passer. Williams is probably overdrafted here, but the name/school recognition, plus talent, will land him here. It also helps that there are limited surefire flex players at the top of drafts.
9. Garrett Nussmeier, LSU, QB
Nussmeier is the first non-running quarterback to be taken, but with good reason. The guy will continue to chuck it 40+ times per game as he did in 2024, and this year, his receiver group is extremely deep. Chris Hilton Jr. was unstoppable when healthy, Barion Brown transferred in from Kentucky, Aaron Anderson already has a strong connection with Nuss, and finally, Nic Anderson transferred in from Oklahoma. Nussmeier will have a super deep group to throw to with no running back that has proven himself (yet). This offense will live in the passing game, and everyone knows it.
10. Desmond Reid, Pitt, RB
If Reid was a few inches taller or played at a big-name program, would he be the first running back off the board? In his first season at Pitt (11 games), he ran for 962 yards, caught 52 passes, and found the end zone nine times. Just like Darius Taylor, he’s used everywhere in the offense. The production is there, the weaker ACC schedule is known, and he showed that any kind of quarterback play will result in high production. The more I talk about him, the more I like him as the first running back off the board.
11. Cade Klubnik, Clemson, QB
I’m wrapping up the first round with back-to-back quarterbacks, starting with Klubnik. He has a super strong receiver group to throw to, no proven running back to take away all of the close touchdowns, and a pretty soft schedule in 2025.
It also helps that Klubnik took a giant step forward in 2024, putting up 28.5 fantasy points per game, 11 more points than he put up in 2023. His rushing production feels safe, thanks to just a 3.9 YPC and seven touchdowns on 119 attempts. I don’t see egregious rates that make me think regression is hitting. Because of all this, there’s no reason for the community not to covet him as a top 5-8 quarterback in the P4.
12. Avery Johnson, Kansas State, QB
A first-rounder from 2024, there’s no reason for the community not to consider him a top quarterback in 2025. It was shaky to start, but he had a very strong second half of the season, which should qualm any fears that he’s just not good.
Like Sellers, he saw great improvement in the passing game from his first few games. He threw for 220+ yards in seven of his last nine games. It’s nothing groundbreaking, but like with Sellers, he’s used a good bit in the run game. Johnson scored seven times on the ground with DJ Giddens alongside him. Does he see more touchdown opportunities with the small Dylan Edwards at running back this upcoming season?
