Joel Klatt is extremely bullish on Clemson ahead of the upcoming campaign, as he has expressed over the course of the offseason.
Klatt, Fox Sports’ lead college football analyst, reiterated how high he is on the Tigers while ranking his top 10 players in college football entering the 2025 season.
Clemson landed three players inside Klatt’s top 10, with senior quarterback Cade Klubnik checking in at No. 3, followed by junior defensive end T.J. Parker at No. 8 and junior defensive tackle Peter Woods at No. 10.
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.
The former five-star prospect from Texas 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.
Klubnik’s performance last season guided the Tigers back to the College Football Playoff for the first time since 2020, and he put on an impressive performance against Texas in the CFP first-round game. Though the Tigers lost in Austin, 38-24, Klubnik carved up the Longhorns’ defense like nobody else did last season, throwing for 336 yards — the most by an opposing player against Texas last season — and three touchdowns.
“I think Cade Klubnik is going to be the best quarterback in the country,” Klatt said. “I think he’s going to have a great chance to win the Heisman Trophy. He grew last year in major ways, and now he will be a third-year starter for the third year in the same system. So, now he’s gonna have a third year with Garrett Riley, the offensive coordinator. I know that they’ve got questions at running back. I understand that. But they’ve recruited well, they’ve got a top-five running back in the country [Gideon Davidson] coming in. But he’s got Garrett Riley, quality wide receivers, and I believe four offensive linemen back.
“Yeah, man, like Klubnik should be excellent. I thought he was really good against Texas, even in the loss in the playoffs, on the road. Tough to do, go play on the road. This idea that he was the reason they struggled, I just disagree with. He finished with 36 passing touchdowns and seven rushing touchdowns. Just threw six interceptions, so he takes care of the football. He’s athletic. Maybe not [Arch] Manning, but athletic. Maybe not [Trevor] Lawrence, but athletic. And he’s got great players in front of him. Quality wide receivers. Good dynamic, young, albeit, running back, and he’s gonna have a great defense. I’m telling you guys – Clemson is legit, and they will be great. I will be very surprised if they’re not, at a minimum, in the national semifinal.”
As for Parker, he followed up a freshman All-American selection in 2023 with an outstanding sophomore season in 2024, when he blossomed into one of the country’s most dangerous pass rushers and earned second-team All-ACC honors after tallying 64 tackles, 19.5 tackles for loss, 11 sacks and six forced fumbles.
Last season, Parker was the only player in the nation to rank in the top 10 nationally in forced fumbles (tied for second), tackles for loss (fifth) and sacks (ninth). He set the Clemson record for forced fumbles in a single season while also finishing tied for second in the nation and tied for the national lead among power conference players in forced fumbles.
Parker’s tackles for loss and sacks totals were both the most by a Clemson player since Clelin Ferrell’s 19.5 tackles for loss and 11.5 sacks in 2018, while Parker’s 11 sacks rank ninth in a season in Clemson history.
Clemson defensive coordinator Tom Allen recently compared Parker to fellow edge rusher Abdul Carter, who thrived under Allen’s tutelage at Penn State a year ago before going on to be selected by the New York Giants with the No. 3 overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft.
“Here’s another reason why I’m so high on Clemson – I’ve got another Clemson Tiger right here, and it’s on the defensive side. On the edge, T.J. Parker,” Klatt said. “This guy can play now, and again, watch out for this Clemson defense. I think the Clemson defense could be the best defense in the country. There was another one, I think it was Avieon Terrell, that I was toying with putting in the top 10. He’s a corner. That would’ve been three of the top 10 players in the sport on the same unit for Clemson. I didn’t ultimately put Terrell there, but I’ve got Parker and Woods.
“And Parker, this is a guy that I think can change a game. He can be dominant. He was a freshman All-American two years ago. Followed that up with a season where he had 19.5 tackles for loss, 11 sacks and six forced fumbles. Part of why I don’t think you heard a lot of these names, in particular from Clemson last year, is that they struggled in the middle of the year. And then they made the late run, got themselves into the playoff and then had a really good playoff. [Parker] is a complete game-wrecker. He’s got the size and combination of athleticism to be a dominant player on the edge. He’s 6-3, he’s 265 pounds, and with their new defensive coordinator, Tom Allen, I think that Woods and T.J. Parker – and Parker more in particular – can have a big year. Think of what Tom Allen meant for – and I know all these guys come out of Penn State – but last year, you look at what they were able to do at Penn State rushing the passer, Abdul Carter. You can have a T.J. Parker have that type of pop with a Tom Allen defense, and I think that he might, so he checks in at No. 8.”
Woods, meanwhile, split time between defensive tackle and defensive end as a sophomore last season, when he recorded 32 tackles (8.5 for loss), 3.0 sacks and a forced fumble in 391 defensive snaps over 11 games (10 starts).
After coming to Clemson as ESPN’s No. 4 overall prospect for the 2023 recruiting class, Woods earned freshman All-American honors in 2023, when the former five-star prospect posted 27 tackles (2.5 for loss) and a forced fumble in 307 snaps over 12 games (two starts), to go along with 10 quarterback pressures, the most of any Clemson defensive tackle.
Before enrolling at Clemson in January 2023, Woods led Thompson High School (Alabaster, Ala.) to four straight 7A State Championships (2019-22) and finished his high school career with 260 tackles, 72 tackles for loss and 29.5 sacks.
“Clemson’s gonna be insane,” Klatt said while discussing Woods. “I love the idea of Clemson kind of running through the ACC and getting back to the mountaintop. I don’t know if they’re gonna win the national championship, but man, I am really toying around right now… like, I think Clemson could play for the national championship. I think Dabo could have the last laugh in all of this like ‘how are you doing this, the game has passed you by,’ so on and so forth.
“Part of that is that they’re really good on defense. Part of that is that they’re great in the middle on their defense up front with Peter Woods. So, I’m a big believer – and I know that this is old school – but I’m a big believer in front to back, inside out. That’s how you construct a great defense – front to back, inside out. … To be fundamentally good and correct and right, in particular in the college level, you’ve got to be good right down the middle, and that starts with your defensive tackles. I think that’s the biggest reason why Michigan and Ohio State, and then even Georgia before them, were so dominant in college football and won national championships, is that they were great at the defensive line. Peter Woods is that.”
“I think he’s the best defensive tackle in the country,” Klatt continued. “He’s excellent. Again, I’m big on Clemson this year. He played on the edge, as well as the interior, so you know he’s got that athleticism to bend. He can be dominant up front in the middle of the defense. He’s 6-3, he’s 315 pounds. He can stuff the run. He disrupts the timing of the offense by getting to the quarterback, both interior and on the exterior. Big fan. Peter Woods, you’re gonna be hearing his name, and I think you’re going to hear his name quite high in next year’s NFL Draft.”
You can see Klatt’s top 10 players going into the 2025 season and hear his commentary on each of those players in the video below:
- Ohio State WR Jeremiah Smith
- Ohio State S Caleb Downs
- Clemson QB Cade Klubnik
- Texas QB Arch Manning
- Alabama WR Ryan Williams
- Notre Dame RB Jeremiyah Love
- Texas LB Anthony Hill Jr.
- Clemson DE T.J. Parker
- Alabama OT Kadyn Proctor
- Clemson DT Peter Woods