Is it national championship or bust for Clemson in 2025?

ESPN play-by-play commentator and former WCCP-FM personality Roy Philpott weighed in on that question when he joined fellow Clemson alums Kelly Gramlich and Eric Mac Lain on the Gramlich & Mac Lain show’s Summer Guest Series.

Philpott was asked, if he still happened to be a 105.5 The Roar host, what he would be saying about Clemson this summer ahead of the upcoming season.

Philpott brought up both sides of the ball, including new defensive coordinator Tom Allen, new linebackers coach Ben Boulware, star edge rusher T.J. Parker and true freshman running back Gideon Davidson, who generated plenty of buzz during spring ball.

“Middle of the summer, it doesn’t take much for me to try to overhype somebody. We’ll overcook the ham for a second,” Philpott said. “It is Tom Allen is the new defensive play-caller, and this guy’s bringing the Brent Venables energy back on that side of the ball. It is T.J. Parker reminding us of what Clelin Ferrell was all about. It is the return of the aggressive nature on defense for Clemson at the linebacker position, and Ben Boulware a part of this thing.

“And it’s all of a sudden you can throw and catch the football again, with consistency and big-play threats everywhere. And then I haven’t even gotten to Gideon Davidson — if I was doing a show in the middle of the summer, you people would be thinking, ‘He’s ready to win the Heisman Trophy in a year or two at running back.’ Those would be some of the things, right now before preseason camp, before we start getting to August.”

Philpott also alluded to some 2026 NFL mock drafts that predict several Clemson players to come off the board in the first round.

One example is a mock draft from ESPN’s Jordan Reid, which projected four Clemson players (quarterback Cade Klubnik, Parker and fellow defensive lineman Peter Woods, and cornerback Avieon Terrell) to be selected among the top 27 overall picks.

Reid’s mock draft has three of those Tigers (Klubnik, Woods, Parker) as top-10 picks, including two top-three picks (Klubnik, Woods), and the No. 1 overall pick (Klubnik).

“This kind of struck me as a surprise, some of the mock drafts that trickled out on ESPN. Like, there’s a legitimate conversation about four players next year in 2026 of going in the first round,” Philpott said. “OK, by default, you’re in the championship next. Like, you’re there, especially when you’ve got a quarterback that could go No. 1 overall.”

With all that said, Philpott doesn’t think it’s natty or bust for the Tigers this season, like it was for eventual national champion Ohio State last season.

“If you say national championship or bust… there was one team last year to me that you could’ve said it. It was Ohio State. I think Ryan Day would tell you that right now. I don’t think that’s where Clemson is,” Philpott said.

“I think if you get in the playoff, you win a game or two, and then you’re a stone’s throw from a national championship or the national championship game, that’s a hell of a year. That would be progress and a step forward and all of those things.”