Joel Klatt is very high on Clemson ahead of the 2025 campaign.
Klatt, FOX Sports’ lead college football analyst, sees the Tigers as a top-five team entering the upcoming season. He released his post-spring Top 25 this week and put Dabo Swinney’s team at No. 5 on the list.
“Here’s a team I really, really like – really like, in a conference that is not tough – Clemson,” Klatt said. “I think Dabo Swinney is gonna have a group that is capable of winning the national championship.”
Clemson rounds out Klatt’s top five that also features Penn State (No. 1), Texas (No. 2), Ohio State (No. 3) and Oregon (No. 4).
“Clemson is really good,” Klatt said. “Dabo’s done it before. Listen, for all the criticism that he’s gotten over the last couple of years, I’ll give it to him, man – he has stayed the course. He has been consistent. He is going to ride this Clemson culture into what I think is… they are re-emerging at the top end of college football. I think we saw that last year.”
Clemson (10-4, 7-1 ACC in 2024) is coming off its eighth ACC Championship in the last 10 seasons, as well as its first College Football Playoff appearance since the 2020 campaign and seventh all-time CFP berth.
Clemson earned a spot in the inaugural 12-team playoff thanks to its walk-off, 34-31 win over SMU in the ACC Championship Game, before falling to Texas, 38-24, in what was a competitive CFP first-round matchup in Austin between the 12th-seeded Tigers and fifth-seeded Longhorns.
“Even though they made the playoff, no one really was talking about them,” Klatt said of Clemson. “They beat SMU in that ACC Championship Game and you were kind of wondering, how is this gonna go against Texas? And they played really well. They played really well against Texas. They gave Texas everything they could handle, and that Texas team was a really good football team.”
The Tigers return plenty of talent on both sides of the ball for the 2025 season, including rising senior quarterback Cade Klubnik and his top three wideouts, as well as a loaded defensive line that features rising juniors Peter Woods and T.J. Parker.
“They get Cade Klubnik back. Third season as a starting quarterback. He took a big step forward last year with Garrett Riley as his offensive coordinator,” Klatt said. “They found something that has been missing in recent years, which is wide receiver play. Top three wide receivers are back with Antonio Williams being the No. 1. Two players who played really well as freshmen last year, Bryant Wesco and T.J. Moore, all back. Love that.”
“The defensive line has studs,” Klatt added. “Let’s think back to those teams that did win national championships – what did they have on the defensive side for Brent Venables, then-coordinator? Great players on the defensive line, and they’re going to have that again. Two potential first-round picks in Peter Woods and T.J. Parker. So, they’re loaded on defense. Talent on both lines of scrimmage, and that’s what you need.”
Klatt says “watch out for Clemson” in 2025.
“The schedule is, listen – first and last games should be their toughest opponents,” he said. “They’re going to have an opener against LSU at home, and then they’re going to have South Carolina on the road. They don’t play Miami this year. Their toughest game in the ACC is at Georgia Tech, at Louisville, and maybe home against SMU.
“Watch out for Clemson. I’m just telling you right now, Dabo Swinney is gonna have those boys back and they’re going to be playing at a high level.”
