Now that the calendar has turned to August, it’s time for the 2025 college football season. Today’s preview tackles the SEC, as our expert has 8 bets on tap.
Head coach Mike Elko had a decent 1st year at College Station. He has done a solid job at changing the culture, and an 8-5 record last season was a step in the right direction. They turned things around after a tough opening loss to ND but a 1-4 finish to the season left a lot to be desired.
Marcel Reed’s progress is likely to coincide with the progress of the whole team this season. He finished near the bottom of the conference in QBR but did show some sprinkling of ability to be the man. That said, he will have one of the best backfields to rely on and hopefully take the pressure of him and the passing game.
That along with an offensive line that returns all starters, Reed should just need to play within himself. If the run game can be consistent and the defense play better under Elko who will be calling the defense, the Aggies could continue in the positive trajectory.
Shane Beamer had South Carolina firing on all cylinders at the end of last season. They rattled off 6 straight wins and finished 9-3 on the year. Beamer brought in Mike Shula to run an offense that is expected to make tremendous strides this season. He will have LaNorris Sellers under center to orchestrate his calls.
Jared Brown, Nyck Harbor, and Mazeo Bennett will be Sellers’s weapons on the outside. Questions remain in the backfield as no heir apparent to Rocket Sanders seems to be stepping up. That said, it could be the defense that once again lifts this South Carolina team to some wins.
They held opponents to around 18ppg last season. However, it will be tough to replace what they lost at the tackle and linebacker spots. Clayton White will need to find ways for this defense to remain stout and grow up quickly.
Brent Venables has not been able to get the Sooners operating in the way he had imagined since coming over from Clemson. They finished with their 2nd losing season in his last 3 years at the helm. However, this year, Venables will be back at his roots. He has taken over the defensive play-calling which should help the Sooners defense that was already doing well last year. He also brought in Ben Arbuckle from Washington State to run the offense.
Along with Arbuckle, the Sooners landed former Washington State QB John Mateer as well. While the duo had success last season, it will remain to be seen if they can have the same type of success against much stronger defenses in the SEC.
The offensive struggles from last year were in part due to injuries so with Deion Burks coming back, Mateer should have a favorite go-to target. Venables will also lean on his knowledge of defense and could have that side of the ball as one of the top in the conference.
Some are calling the Tigers a dark horse to make a run at the conference title and playoff berth. However, there are serious question marks at key positions that head coach Eli Drinkwitz needs to address and fix immediately. He was able to coax former PSU QB, Beau Pribula over and is going to tie himself to his boat for the season.
The backfield will be led by another new face in Ahmad Hardy who was strong last season for ULM, but this is not the Sun Belt. As far as weapons for Pribula, he will not have Luther Burden and Theo Wease who were the top ball catcher’s last season. Instead, he will look to Kevin Coleman who came over from Mississippi St.
While all these plugins and play players are on an offense that will likely struggle, the defense at least has some returners. There will be 7 of them to be exact and they added former Georgia defensive end, Damon Wilson to the mix. They will be relied on heavily, but will they bend of break under the pressure will remain to be seen.
After finishing 4 games under .500 just a year prior, Sam Pittman was able to turn things around a bit and got Arkansas to a 7-6 record last season. That task will not be as easy this season due to a tougher schedule and some key losses on both sides of the ball. Dual-threat QB, Taylen Green will need to be even better than last season to keep Arkansas on the right path.
Offensive coordinator, Bobby Petrino, will look to grow Green even more this year. He ran for 8 touchdowns to go with his 15 through the air last year just a year after transferring from Boise State. However, he lost almost all his pass catchers from last season.
It will remain to be seen how the transfers do in Petrino’s offense. He will have Braylen Russell back in the backfield to help ease the pressure. The defense could be an even larger question as they return just 3 starters. 2 of those 3 are Xavian Sorey and Stephen Dix who will anchor the linebackers. The rest is anyone’s guess.
More impressive than Arkansas’s turnaround was Vanderbilt’s. Clark Lea also finished 7-6 but was coming off a horrendous 2-10 previous season. Diego Pavia at QB was a big part of that turnaround. He will need to be even more impressive this season as he starts behind an offensive line that is starting 4 new players.
Sedrick Alexnader will be back to run the ball while Junior Sherrill and Eli Stowers will give Pavia a safety net over the top. They will not be much help if the new linemen cannot pass protect.
The defensive side saw the biggest improvements from year to year and the good news there is that seven starters will return. Time will tell if they can improve even more after holding teams to under 23.5ppg last season which was over 11ppg better than the previous season.
It is high time that coach Jeff Lebby gets his offense flowing like he did at his previous coaching stops. He completely re-tooled the roster last season, and the growing pains were felt significantly. They finished just 2-10 and were unable to get a conference win.
Lebby will have a fully healed Blake Shapen under center to start the season. He will need to be sharp due to a new offensive line, but a strong backfield will likely be able to take some pressure off him in the passing game. The larger concern is with the defense.
They were at the very bottom of the barrel last season and allowed nearly 40ppg. Lebby hit the transfer portal and there is hope that their new additions will help against the run and give them some semblance of a pass rush.
Mark Stoops is still running the show for the Wildcats. That is despite a 4-8 season last year and losing his assistant last month to rival Louisville. Things look very bleak for the Wildcats this year. The starters will likely be 80% new names, but could that be a terrible thing since the prior ones were so poor. We shall see.
Zach Calzada will start under center, and it will be his 4th team in his college career. He will not have many weapons, but the backfield has McGowan, Dowdell, and Wilcox all vying for carries.
The offense has never really been the strength but the bigger concern is how the defense slipped last season. They were near the bottom of the conference against the run and had trouble getting off the field every time. However, with 3 of 4 secondary starters back, Stoops could have something there this season.
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