Clemson checked in at No. 6 in the preseason Coaches Poll released Monday, and Joel Klatt is even higher on the Tigers heading into the 2025 campaign.

Klatt, Fox Sports’ lead college football analyst, unveiled his preseason top 25 for the upcoming season on Monday and put Clemson inside his top five at No. 4.

Klatt discussed where he ranked Clemson and reiterated how bullish he is on the Tigers going into this season.

“I’ve loved Clemson all offseason, folks, and you know this. … Every time we talk about Clemson, I’m like, ‘You know what, Clemson’s gonna be really good.’ And guess what, Clemson’s gonna be really, really good,” Klatt said.

Clemson is behind only Penn State, Texas and defending national champion Ohio State in Klatt’s preseason top 25. Oregon rounds out his top five after Clemson.

“[The Tigers] bring back 16 starters, including my best quarterback in the country, Cade Klubnik,” Klatt said. “They have three legit wide receivers on the outside – Antonio Williams, Bryant Wesco and T.J. Moore. They also have four starters back on the offensive line. They have huge talent on both sides of the ball. This is not going to be a team led by defense or led by offense. They’re going to be balanced. You have to have that to win at the top level.

“D-line, they’ve got T.J. Parker on the edge. Interior, they’ve got Peter Woods. He’s in there at tackle. They’ve got the Purdue transfer, Will Heldt. He’s in there, he’s a good player. Tom Allen is in as their defensive coordinator. He was the Indiana head coach, went to Penn State last year and was their coordinator, and now he’s going to be in at defensive coordinator for Clemson.”

Klatt also chimed in on Clemson’s 2025 schedule and said he believes the ACC’s Tigers will beat the SEC’s LSU Tigers in the marquee season opener at Clemson’s Memorial Stadium on Aug. 30 (7:30 p.m., ABC).

“Their schedule – their first and last games are going to be their toughest. Their opener is at home against LSU. I think that they win that game,” Klatt said of Clemson. “They’ve got to go on the road to South Carolina late in the year. I don’t know what South Carolina is gonna be like. I told you, South Carolina’s last seven are very difficult, so what is South Carolina, just from an injury standpoint, at that point?

“In the ACC, this team, the Tigers, do not play Miami. Their toughest game in the ACC is probably at Georgia Tech, maybe at Louisville, or the home game against SMU.”

LSU is the No. 8 team in Klatt’s preseason top 25, while he ranked South Carolina at No. 11.

After Clemson, Miami (No. 12) is the only other ACC team in Klatt’s ranking.

As for Clemson, Klatt expects big things from Dabo Swinney’s team in 2025.  

“This team absolutely is going to play for the ACC Championship,” he said. “They probably should win the ACC Championship, and I think that they’re probably going to have a top four-seed in the College Football Playoff.

“Watch out for Clemson, now. I think it’s going to be a fascinating year for Clemson and Dabo to maybe take a victory lap on all of college football. All of us pundits were out there like questioning whether Dabo Swinney knew what he was doing, and this might be the year where he’s just like, ‘Yes, I know what I’m doing.’”

You can see Klatt’s full preseason top 25 and hear his commentary on each team in the video below: