A crisp breeze. The smell of hot dogs on the grill. Endless school fight songs.
College football is back, and the 2025 season promises to be another exciting one full of intriguing storylines. In the second year of the 12-team playoff format, will Ohio State repeat as champion? Can Oregon finally break through? Where is the dark horse nobody sees coming?
While early-season college football may present more questions than answers, hundreds of college football players put their faith in Jesus Christ, who is a sure foundation. Here is a list of 15 of those players (in no particular order) to watch this fall.
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Cade Klubnik, Clemson quarterback
Klubnik enters his fourth season under center for the Tigers and the third in which he’s been the unquestioned starter, a rarity in today’s college football landscape. He’s improved in each of those seasons under the tutelage of head coach Dabo Swinney, and this year his name is being mentioned as a possible Heisman Trophy winner while his team is expected to contend for a national championship. “I’ve been given this platform and I don’t want to put it to waste,” Klubnik said of his football fame on a 2023 episode the Sports Spectrum Podcast. “I haven’t really done much to get to where I am now. It’s all just because of the Lord. So because of where I am, no matter what platform I’m using, I want to be able to use it to speak about God.”
Tim Keenan III, Alabama defensive tackle
If teams want to run the ball against the Crimson Tide in 2025, they will have to go through 6-foot-2, 320-pound Tim Keenan to do it. The senior from Birmingham was one of Alabama’s player representatives at SEC Media Days, which speaks to his leadership as a senior and his importance to the Tide’s defense. Second-year head coach Kalen DeBoer even said Keenan was a spiritual leader who embodies what it means to be a student-athlete. “God is my why,” Keenan said at SEC Media Days via On SI. “I’m always advocating for Him. He’s the reason I’m in this position. I wouldn’t be here without Him. … God’s shown me that it’s possible and it’s definitely a blessing.”
Kyron Hudson, Penn State wide receiver
Hudson is in his first year with Penn State after three seasons at USC in which he snagged 57 receptions for 655 yards and five touchdowns. The 2024 campaign was by far his most productive, and now in Happy Valley, Hudson is a likely starter for a team that’s ranked No. 2 in the nation heading into the season. It’s the highest preseason ranking for the Nittany Lions since they were ranked No. 1 in 1997. On a recent episode of Sports Spectrum’s “What’s Up” podcast, Hudson was asked about his decision to transfer. “I just always had faith in my Lord and Savior,” he said. “And I think that’s just going back to when I was a little kid and just giving Him all the glory, and just understanding that the plan He has for me is His plan and nothing’s better.”
Sawyer Robertson, Baylor quarterback
Robertson enters his fifth season of college football, and his third with the Bears, but it’s the first in which he is his team’s unquestioned starting quarterback. After a loss in Week 2 last year, he got an opportunity to start in Week 3 and took full advantage. Baylor posted the program’s first eight-win season since 2021 as Robertson tossed 28 touchdowns (against only eight interceptions) and 3,071 passing yards. Hopes are high on the field for Robertson and the Bears in 2025, but he plays football for an even greater purpose. “I don’t play football for popularity or anything like that,” he said on the “What’s Up” podcast in February. “I play football because it’s a platform for me to spread that positivity and be a light for other people and just be a witness for Jesus Christ.”
Aiden Fisher, Indiana linebacker
Fisher emerged as one of the best linebackers in all of college football last fall, his first in Bloomington, as he amassed 118 combined tackles (six for a loss) and 1.5 sacks. His performance earned him not only first-team All-Big Ten honors but made him a first-team All-American, and it helped his team win a program-record 11 games (Indiana’s first-ever 10-win season) and make the College Football Playoff for the first time. Fisher hopes for a repeat performance on the field this fall, even as his true hope is in Jesus. “I always feel kind of a sense of peace in times where most people wouldn’t,” he said on the Sports Spectrum Podcast earlier this month. “I think where I really took a big step in my faith was leaving [James Madison] and coming here to Indiana. … That’s when I really took the step to get to know God more, get to know the Scripture.”
Eli Stowers, Vanderbilt tight end
Stowers is expected to be one of the best tight ends in all of college football this fall after a breakout 2024 campaign in his first season with the Commodores. He caught five touchdowns and posted three games with more than 100 receiving yards a year ago, earning first-team All-SEC honors and helping Vandy to its first winning season since 2013. Another impressive year in 2025 may even make him a first-round pick in the 2026 NFL Draft, but he doesn’t spend much time thinking about what he could be. “I can’t put my worth in something that can be taken away,” he said on the Sports Spectrum Podcast in June. “God sent His Son down to live the perfect life that we couldn’t live and to die on the cross and defeat death when He was raised from the dead. And that’s what I should be modeling my whole life around. That’s what I should do everything for — to get that Gospel out to whoever needs to hear it.”
Garrett Nussmeier, LSU quarterback
The 2025 season will be Nussmeier’s fifth in Baton Rouge, and his second as the team’s regular starter. After a 2024 campaign in which he tossed 29 touchdowns and accumulated 4,052 passing yards, and with his team ranked No. 9 to start the season, his name is being mentioned as a possible Heisman Trophy winner. The Louisiana native chose to stay with the Tigers instead of entering the transfer portal after getting beat out as starter by 2023 Heisman winner Jayden Daniels. “God brought me to LSU for a reason,” Nussmeier said at SEC Media Days in 2024. “I did not feel like it was my time to just pack up and leave. I felt like it was my duty to just keep my head down and trust in His timing and just work. I know God’s timing is always right.”
Dominic Zvada, Michigan kicker
In his first season with the Wolverines last year, Zvada only missed one of his 22 field-goal attempts (and was a perfect 7-for-7 on attempts of 50 or more yards), which set a Michigan record for field-goal percentage. His 2024 performance earned him first-team All-Big Ten and first-team All-American honors, and he’s widely regarded as perhaps the best kicker in all of college football this fall. In a yet-to-be-released episode of Sports Spectrum’s “What’s Up” podcast, Zvada talked about God’s sustaining grace. “Ultimately, we’re gonna move on and we’re gonna have new things in our life, but something that will always stay the same is my faith.”
Caleb Downs, Ohio State safety
Downs became a national champion and unanimous All-American with the Buckeyes in 2024, and he’s back for more this fall. The junior is an anchor in the defensive backfield — both against the pass (two interceptions, six pass breakups) and the run (eight tackles for loss) — for an Ohio State team ranked No. 3 and with realistic aspirations of repeating as national champion. “There’s two things that are more important than me, more important than me playing football,” Downs said of his No. 2 jersey number, via the Access The Walk ministry. “My faith in Jesus Christ and my family. So those two things is what I wear on my chest every game and those are the two most important things in my life.”
Dylan Raiola, Nebraska quarterback
Raiola made a splash as a true freshman with the Cornhuskers in 2024, throwing for 2,819 yards and leading the storied program to its first winning season since 2016. Raiola is of Polynesian descent and the son of longtime Detroit Lions center Dominic Raiola, who also starred at Nebraska. With what should be an improved roster, a favorable schedule, and Dylan Raiola’s return, the Cornhuskers are dreaming big in 2025. Yet Raiola isn’t motivated by what other people say. “The reason why I play this game, first of all, is I play for God,” he said in 2022, via DawgNation.com. “My religion is first in everything I do. Without God, I wouldn’t be able to do anything I do now. He’s gifted me with talents and abilities. I think if I don’t use them in the correct way, that’s not honoring God. That’s my first and foremost ‘why.'”
Michael Taaffe, Texas defensive back
Taaffe began his tenure with the Longhorns as a walk-on in 2021, but his hard work and persistence paid off. By 2022 he was playing regularly, by 2023 he had a full scholarship, and following a 2024 season in which he recorded 78 combined tackles, two sacks and two interceptions, he was a second-team All-American selection. Expectations are even higher in 2025 — both for Taaffe (a preseason All-American) and for his team (preseason No. 1). Despite the praise coming his way, Taaffe knows it’s only because of God’s love and mercy that he’s anything at all. “God’s telling me, ‘Hey, no, I’m on top and you should serve Me,'” Taaffe said on “The Sam Acho Podcast” earlier this month. “… I’m just as broken as every single one of y’all. And my faith is the only reason that I have that approach.”
Chubba Purdy, Nevada quarterback
Purdy entered the transfer portal for the third time last December after appearing in seven games with the Wolf Pack that fall, but less than a week later changed his mind and announced that he’d be spending his final year of eligibility in Nevada. The 24-year-old sixth-year senior (and brother of NFL star Brock Purdy) is projected to be the team’s starter, where he will seek to help the program snap its streak of three consecutive 10-loss seasons. Purdy, who grew up in a Christian household, came to faith before the age of 10. “Ever since then, I’ve been a follower of Christ,” he said on the Sports Spectrum Podcast a year ago. “It hasn’t been easy. The older you get, it’s super tough with the things the world has to offer. But, it’s been a huge blessing.”
Luke Montgomery, Ohio State offensive lineman
Montgomery contributed to the Buckeyes’ national championship run last season as a rotational piece and occasional starter, and as a junior in 2025, he’s slated to be a full-time starter up front. The Ohio native and two-time OSU scholar-athlete will be tasked with helping keep the pocket clean for new QB Julian Sayin if the Buckeyes wish to repeat. But, he doesn’t see football as his ultimate calling. “Our job here is to grow the Kingdom of the Lord,” he said last year with Access The Walk. “What are we doing to reflect on that every day?”
Christian Gray, Notre Dame cornerback
The Fighting Irish advanced all the way to the national championship game a season ago but came up one win short of the program’s first title since 1988. Gray was a starting cornerback in that game and registered three tackles. In 2025, the junior will look to build on an impressive three-interception season a year ago. ESPN recently ranked him as the 41st-best player in college football, and Notre Dame will need him to be at his best to return to the title game. Yet even as his team relies on him for leadership in the defensive backfield, he relies on his Heavenly Father. “You gotta study (the Bible), you gotta read,” Gray said in an interview with Access The Walk in January. “You gotta do everything right in the name of the Lord so you could live by Him and be a bridge for others, so they can come close to Him.”
C.J. Fite, Arizona State defensive tackle
Fite was a force to be reckoned with on the defensive line for the Sun Devils in 2024, as the team won 11 games and advanced to the College Football Playoff for the first time in program history. Fite posted 30 combined tackles (four for a loss), two sacks and one fumble recovery during the memorable season, and the junior is poised for another big year this time around. Arizona State is as well due to the return of many key players from a year ago and the leadership (spiritual as well as on the football field) that Fite provides. His favorite Bible verse is Philippians 4:13. “Just to be able to sit there and just have that verse in my head, no matter what kind of game this is and how big this game is, you can do all things,” he said in December via Access The Walk. “No matter who you play against, you can do all things. So it just gives you confidence as you go through life.”
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