In an episode of David Pollack’s See Ball Get Ball show, he was joined by CBS Sports analyst Josh Pate to talk about his post-spring college football rankings.

Pate put Clemson at No. 1 in his post-spring top 20, and Pollack certainly doesn’t disagree with having the Tigers at the top of the list.

Pollack, the ex-ESPN analyst and former Georgia/NFL linebacker, said he’s “all in” on Clemson heading into the 2025 season.

Pollack explained why that is, saying he believes Clemson’s current roster is a lot like the ones that Dabo Swinney had when he led the Tigers to national titles in 2016 and 2018.

“I’m all in on Clemson,” Pollack said. “I’m all in because I see the same things in this roster that I saw with Dabo’s championship teams – the trio of wide receivers, the quarterback position being solidified. I don’t see an offensive line that’s a bunch of hammers. That’s not who they were then, either. But they’re going to survive elsewhere. The defensive linemen that are going to be a couple first-round picks, a corner that’s going to be drafted, a scheme I think that will fit them better with [defensive coordinator Tom] Allen coming in, that I think is going to be great.”

Pollack then asked Pate how “all in” he is on the Tigers himself entering the 2025 campaign.

“I can’t imagine there’s anything that makes me turn the volume down on them,” Pate said. “There’s not really a lot of unknown. The entire premise of them being as high as they are right now is because we’ve got a lot of dependability. You’ve got an offensive coordinator, a quarterback combo that we’ve seen a couple years together now. … All three levels of their defense, they’ve got NFL guys. But that’s what you come to expect at Clemson. They never had dominant offensive line play. So, if they’ve got plus at that position right now, that’s good enough, and they’ve got Matt Luke running that position room, by the way. So, there’s a proven commodity there.

“But you mentioned the key – when Clemson was winning, when they were going toe-to-toe back five or six years ago with the big boys, they had some of the best wide receiver rooms in the country. And since then, the talent level in that room just fell off – no difference makers. And for the first time, I would say since that 2019 season maybe even, they’ve got several guys in that room that can change a game, and I’m not asking who their quarterback’s going to throw the ball to.”

Pate mentioned that star quarterback Cade Klubnik “needs to have a big year” for Clemson, but he’s a proven commodity at this point following his breakout junior season in 2024 and strong performance against Texas in the College Football Playoff to end last season.

“I know him, I’ve seen him,” Pate said. “He came on really strong. I thought he played his best game in the playoff game against Texas. They lost, but I thought he played his best ball in that game, so that’s the lasting image in my mind of him. But there are guys in the [wide receiver] room they can trust. Those guys came on last year. They’re not true freshmen, they came on last year.”

Pollack added that the running back position is one question mark Clemson must figure out.

“I think they do gotta find their running back,” he said. “It’s going to be interesting there because last year they couldn’t run the football. [Phil] Mafah was dinged up, and they didn’t look great. So, that’s something to look for.”

You can check out more of the See Ball Get Ball episode with Pollack and Pate below:

–Photo courtesy of Abigail Dollins / Argus Leader via Imagn Content Services, LLC