ESPN analyst Greg McElroy is certainly high on Clemson heading into next season.

On his Always College Football show, McElroy laid out his expectations for Clemson on both sides of the ball and gave an optimistic “way-too-early outlook” for the Tigers in 2025.

McElroy called Clemson “one of my favorite teams of the offseason with what they bring back,” including a 2025 Heisman Trophy candidate at quarterback in Cade Klubnik.

“They bring back eight starters on an offense that was in the top 11 last year,” McElroy said. “They went for over 451 yards a game and nearly 35 points a game. Cade Klubnik is the straw that stirs the drink. He got much better as the season went along last year. I was very impressed with his ability to drive the ball down the field. That was something that was missing from two years ago. But you look at the progress that has been made on his downfield accuracy and their willingness to take chances downfield, and that was a huge point of growth for them and I would anticipate that growth continuing into this upcoming season.

“They also made it a point in utilizing his legs. Last year he rushed for nearly 500 yards. He also had seven touchdowns. He had a couple of really big runs to break games open from time to time, like he had against NC State and like he had against Pitt to win the game on a quarterback draw in the final two minutes of the game.”

McElroy also weighed in on the wealth of weapons that Clemson has at the wide receiver position, which is no longer a question mark for the Tigers entering 2025.

“A position of concern the last few years, relatively speaking, for Clemson has been the wide receiver spot,” he said. “They’ve had youth, they’ve had inconsistency, but now they are deep and they are talented at the wide receiver spot. Antonio Williams is a first-team All-ACC player. The guy went for nearly a thousand yards last year. He’s also really capable, you can hand it to him, he also isn’t a bad thrower. He went 2-for-2 for 62 yards and a touchdown throw last year.

“But he’s not the only guy that’s going to be out there. T.J. Moore and Bryant Wesco are outstanding. Williams will kind of live in the slot. But T.J. Moore – big, physical, strong wide receiver — coupled with Bryant Wesco, who’s got tremendous speed and burst, that can get behind the defense. And then to make the rich get even richer, you’ve got Tyler Brown, who was a freshman All-American a couple years ago. So, they’re really good at the wide receiver spot. They’ve also got a couple freshmen that might factor in as well at that spot, and the offensive line returns mostly intact.”

From a defensive standpoint, McElroy says “pretty much everything you could possibly want from Clemson, you have back on the defensive side.”

“As far as the defense, one thing that was a problem last year is they just didn’t have a ridiculous amount of depth along the defensive line, particularly at defensive end,” he said. “Now, T.J. Parker on one side, Peter Woods on the other — they’re both professionals, they’re both great. T.J. Parker in particular, he’s one of the best players in the country at defensive end. He’s got 19.5 tackles for loss last year. Really good. Flashes of dominance from Parker at times. Woods, I’m probably not the biggest fan of him playing defensive end. I’d love for him to be able to slide inside.

“And for the first time, Clemson really went out and tried to land a dynamic edge presence, and they did so in the transfer portal. They go out and get Purdue transfer Will Heldt at defensive end. He had 16 quarterback pressures last year, and him and T.J. Parker, now you have a dynamic pass rushing duo that can hold down the edges, which should free up Peter Woods to slide back inside in obvious passing situations. They still have depth along the defensive line. Stephiylan Green is in a really good spot. You also get a sixth year from DeMonte Capehart.”

Calling the shots for Clemson’s defense will be new coordinator Tom Allen, and McElroy is a big fan of Dabo Swinney’s move to bring in Allen from Penn State as Wes Goodwin’s replacement.

“I also love the addition of Tom Allen, the defensive coordinator,” McElroy said. “I think Wes Goodwin, who was the DC last year, probably got unfair amount of criticism. But when you can take a guy like Tom Allen, with that much credibility, with that much success calling plays defensively, and you can add him to your staff, that’s got to fire up Clemson fans all over the country.”

Clemson (10-4, 8-1 ACC in 2024) is coming off its seventh all-time College Football Playoff berth and its first playoff appearance since the 2020 season, after making the inaugural 12-team CFP as the No. 12 seed this past season.

Although Clemson’s 2025 schedule brings some challenges that the Tigers will have to navigate, McElroy forecasted their chances of returning to the playoff next season as “highly likely.”

“I love their chances of having a big year this year,” he said. “They start the season in what should be an impressive game against LSU. That’ll be in Week 1, but that’ll be in Death Valley – the South Carolina version of Death Valley, so that’ll be in Clemson, South Carolina. They go to North Carolina, I like their chances there. They’re at Louisville. That’s on a Friday night, so that should be an interesting game, before finishing up at the end of the year at South Carolina.

“So while I think their schedule is tricky – at Louisville, at South Carolina, at UNC – every single game on their schedule is winnable, which is why the playoff forecast for Clemson is ‘highly likely’ heading into this year.”