CLEMSON — The spring is a season for college football dreams.
Clemson will hit the practice field next week with a clean slate. The Tigers have reasons for outsized optimism in 2025, namely a third-year quarterback in Cade Klubnik, a maturing set of receiving options and another stacked defensive line.
As the Tigers’ confidence builds, it’s likely Clemson’s opponents will feel similarly positive vibes. LSU heads into former Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly’s fourth season, while North Carolina is led by multiple Super Bowl champion Bill Belichick.
SMU is coming off of an ACC title game appearance, and Florida State — despite a dreadful 2024 — won a conference title just two years ago.
A quarterback who just rampaged through Death Valley three months ago, South Carolina’s LaNorris Sellers, hasn’t departed the scene.
Now that football calendar has truly turned to 2025, let’s take a look what awaits the Tigers. It’s a mix of teams that could believe themselves contenders, though spring hopefuls can ultimately be revealed as pretenders come fall.
LSU
Contender: Kelly returns Garrett Nussmeier, who threw for over 4,000 yards last season, and leading receiver Aaron Anderson, plus Kentucky wideout Barion Brown and Florida State edge Patrick Payton in a large transfer class.
LSU is talented enough to down Clemson, which hasn’t fared well in openers of late. Not just back-to-back losses to Georgia, but also a loss at Duke in 2023.
Pretender:Â Clemson hasn’t played one of those openers in (its own) Death Valley since a walloping of Georgia Tech in 2019.
Not to mention LSU has to replace All-SEC offensive linemen Will Campbell and Emery Jones. Sometimes transfers mask key losses. Sometimes it’s a collection of ill-fitting pieces that sinks quickly (i.e. 2024 Florida State).
Maybe it’s Kelly who doesn’t quite fit in Baton Rouge, falling back slightly to 9-4 in 2024 after 10-win seasons in his first two years.
