Fox Sports’ lead College football analyst, Joel Klatt, ranked his top 10 quarterbacks heading into the 2025 season.

Clemson’s Cade Klubnik landed at No. 1 on Klatt’s list.

“I’m a big believer in Clemson, mainly because I think Cade Klubnik is going to be the best quarterback in college football next year,” Klatt said. “I think Cade is tremendous. A year ago, there were real questions going into the season about Klubnik. Would he be able to lead Clemson? What were they going to be, in particular throwing on the outside? And now they get him back.”

Klatt put Klubnik ahead of Texas’ Arch Manning at No. 2.

Oklahoma’s John Mateer, Arizona State’s Sam Leavitt and Penn State’s Drew Allar round out Klatt’s top five.

LSU’s Garrett Nussmeier, Florida’s DJ Lagway, South Carolina’s LaNorris Sellers, Illinois’ Luke Altmyer and Miami’s Carson Beck comprise the rest of the top 10, in that order.

As a junior last season, Klubnik completed 63.4 percent of his passes for 3,639 yards and 36 touchdowns with six interceptions, while rushing for 463 yards and seven more scores on the ground.

Klubnik was one of two quarterbacks in the country to throw for more than 3,500 yards and run for 400 last season. Klubnik also finished second nationally in total touchdowns with 43. He was third nationally in touchdown passes with 36, and his six interceptions were second fewest among quarterbacks who threw 28 or more touchdown passes in 2024.

“I think that he’s fantastic,” Klatt said of Klubnik. “He showed why he was the No. 1 quarterback out of high school last year when he played so well. He pushes the ball down the field. He had the third-most completions in the country last year of throws that traveled at least 20 or more yards down the field. He’s athletic. He’s got good players around him, and he’s got Garrett Riley still in this offense where he’s now played for a number of years. This is the perfect storm for a guy whose team is on the rise. He’s played a ton of football. He’s experienced. He’s the prototype of the type of guy that’s going to succeed in college football moving forward, and he’s got a perfect storm around him.”

Klatt added that “it’s going to be really tough for me not to go into next season and say my Heisman pick before the year is not Cade Klubnik.”

“Cade Klubnik is the guy, at the quarterback position, the stars align. … You look at what’s around Klubnik, you look at his history, his experience — we should expect a great season out of Cade Klubnik,” Klatt said. “That’s why he is my No. 1 quarterback, going into the season, in college football.”  

As for Klubnik, Dabo Swinney and the Tigers overall, Klatt recently ranked Clemson at No. 5 in his post-spring Top 25, behind Penn State (No. 1), Texas (No. 2), Ohio State (No. 3) and Oregon (No. 4).

“This is a team that I think is absolutely a top-five team,” Klatt said of Clemson. “Dabo is making another run. I think he’s building for another run at Clemson. This is impressive what Dabo is doing. We don’t see teams win at a high level, generally, over different cycles of recruits. Generally speaking, coaches don’t win national championships over multiple cycles of recruits. …

“The mark of the true elite coach — the elite of the elite in the history of our sport — is winning national championships over multiple cycles of recruits. … I think Dabo and Clemson are building something that could threaten this year. And if you were to win this year, that would put Dabo on a totally different level – at least, how I look at the history of our sport and the history of the coaches within our sport. So, Cade Klubnik is a big reason why I think that could potentially happen.”

–Photo courtesy of Adam Cairns/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK