‘I didn’t know what hit me’: Opponents recall Roman Reigns’ playing days at Georgia Tech
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Harry Lyles Jr., ESPN Staff Writer
ON SEPT. 3, 2005, quarterback Brandon Cox was making his first start for the Auburn Tigers, who were coming off an undefeated season in which they finished No. 2 in the AP poll.
“It’s still a game I have nightmares about,” he said.
With running back Kenny Irons out, Auburn was short-handed in the ground game, meaning Cox would take on a greater role. And the Tigers’ opponent that day, Georgia Tech, had a defense built to make an inexperienced quarterback’s life difficult.
It was led by senior defensive tackle Joe Anoa’i, who would go on to have a first-team All-ACC season for the Yellow Jackets.
“We wound up throwing the ball a lot more than we planned to,” Cox said. “And I was hit a lot, most of the time by Joe.”
One play in particular summed up Cox’s misery. Midway through the fourth quarter, Anoa’i beat Auburn center Joe Cope with a spin move and hit Cox’s elbow as he threw. The pass was intercepted, and as Cox turned to run toward the defender, Anoa’i was standing right there and flattened him.
“I didn’t know what hit me,” Cox said.
Today, Cox has two young sons. While they have become big Auburn fans and know their dad once was the Tigers’ quarterback, he hasn’t shown them the hit that Anoa’i delivered, but said he expects to one day.
“I’ll be like, ‘Yeah, your dad was about beheaded by Roman Reigns back in 2005.'”
JOE ANOA’I HAS found new ways to inflict punishment on his opponents, such as the Superman punch and his signature spear. Under the name Roman Reigns, he is the WWE Universal champion and will headline the main event at WrestleMania 40 this weekend.
The roots of Reigns’ success as a professional wrestler were apparent to those who coached and played with and against him at Georgia Tech, Cox in particular.
“After starting for three years, looking back, that was probably one of the hardest-hitting games I was a part of,” he said. “There were a lot of times that I was peeling myself off the ground.”
Wrestling is in Leati Joseph Anoa’i’s blood. His father, Sika, and his uncle Afa were the Wild Samoans, one of the top tag teams of the 1980s. He is cousins with WWE Hall of Famer Rikishi. Reigns and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson share a Samoan heritage and consider themselves cousins, even if not by blood.
Given his lineage, it’s not shocking Anoa’i, as Roman Reigns, has become, in wrestling storylines, the Tribal Chief, Head of the Table and leader of The Bloodline, and has held the championship belt for more than three years.
But before wrestling captured his full attention, Anoa’i got bit by the football bug — and he remembers the specific moment it happened.
When he was 7, growing up in Pensacola, Florida, he went to his best friend Henry’s house to play. He knocked on the door, Henry’s mom let him in, and told him her son would be downstairs in a minute.
Anoa’i looked over to the island in the kitchen, and a football helmet sitting on the counter caught his eye. It was green with silver wings on it.
“It looked like a Philadelphia Eagles helmet,” he said. “We were the Myrtle Grove Eagles.
“It was like a movie where it had a halo shining behind it,” Anoa’i recalled, as if seeing it again for the first time. “I was like, ‘Oh, what’s that?’
“And Henry saw me staring, he goes, ‘Hey, I’m playing football this year. Let’s go outside.’ He put it on and just ran right into the house. He’s like, ‘See? I’m all right!’ And that’s how I knew. It wasn’t even about football. It’s just, ‘I gotta get one of these helmets. I’m not even sure what this football thing is all about. But this helmet is the coolest thing ever.'”
AFTER A SUCCESSFUL high school football career, Anoa’i was looking for a place to play college ball. He had interest from some Conference USA schools and potentially some other bigger programs, but the search essentially ended when he visited Georgia Tech.
“Once I went to Tech, I just knew that that’s what it was, man,” he said. “The city of Atlanta just offered so much. It was the city I was looking for, the experience I was looking for.
“There was something about Tech and the legacy of it, being a part of something. A lot of these other schools, one of their sales pitches were, ‘You’re gonna create history here because the program’s not that old.’ But there was just something about being at Tech and you know, being a part of something that’s been around for a century long. … There’s just something about joining that fraternity that just made it an easy close on me.”
When Anoa’i speaks of Atlanta, the second “T” goes silent, just like the locals say it, and he has a variety of local spots he can still rattle off the top of his head.
He and his boys had their go-to bar, Moondogs, in Buckhead. Other favorites were OK Cafe, Willy’s, Rocky Mountain Pizza and Silver Skillet.
And Fellini’s Pizza. “My wife ran track at Tech,” he said, “and that was our first date on Valentine’s Day.
“Even places as mainstream as Waffle House. You go in Waffle House in Atlanta, and at 2:30, 3 a.m.? There’s always a story.”
Of course, Anoa’i and his friends created their own stories during college. With his connections, Anoa’i would take teammates to wrestling events when the WWE came to Atlanta.
Joe Gaston, who met Anoa’i when both were on their recruiting visits to Georgia Tech and later became his roommate, said, “We were backstage hanging out with The Rock and a couple other of those big-name guys. I think they knew Joe just based on his family.
“Those guys, it’s funny because they have their personalities they have to maintain as part of their gig, and then you see them backstage and they’re just regular guys that are doing what they love to do.”
During at least one of those outings, Anoa’i and his teammates got to meet The Undertaker. Former Georgia Tech running back Tashard Choice, who grew up a big wrestling fan, passed.
“This dude Undertaker caused me so many nightmares,” Choice said. “And the first thing Joe said to me, ‘He’s cool as hell, bro. One of the coolest dudes you’ll ever meet.’ I’m sitting there going, ‘Damn, Joe! You know The Undertaker!?’ Because I grew up, that dude scared the hell out of me. To hear Joe talk about dudes that I watched my whole life, and talk to him about who they really are as people, I’m like dawg, that’s cold.”
BUT AT THAT point in his life, Anoa’i’s main focus was football, and it was something he excelled at.
Defensive coordinator Jon Tenuta’s units at Georgia Tech in the early and mid-2000s were known for their toughness, and Anoa’i was exactly the kind of player Tenuta would lean on.
“Jon Tenuta’s that guy,” former Georgia Tech quarterback Reggie Ball said. “And he loved Joe. Joe was one of his guys, and he didn’t hide that, either.”
“He was very fundamentally sound, but he was also very athletic,” Tenuta said of Anoa’i. “He had great feet and he could really shoot his hands.”
Beyond his impact during games, Anoa’i took practice as seriously as anyone.
“Every day at practice you noticed him because he was flipping blocks or he was knocking somebody over,” Tenuta said. “He’s always running to the ball. He was a high-motor guy, that’s just how he was. … He just liked playing football.”
Choice describes Anoa’i’s game in two words: “Physical. Violent.”
“That is who he is,” Choice said. “Joe loved contact because he had to. He played all the way to the fourth quarter. He was a dude you could count on.”
Chan Gailey, Tech’s head coach at the time, recalled, “He was strong as an ox, and he was quicker than you thought he was.”
Anoa’i was an Iron Jacket, an honor given to the strongest players on the team. He was also awarded the team’s Lifter of the Year in 2006, alongside fellow team captain and future Pro Football Hall of Fame wide receiver Calvin Johnson.
“The criteria we had for those awards was you had to be a leader, but you also had to make the people around you better,” then-Georgia Tech strength coach Eric Ciano said. “And Joe obviously always did that.”
Philip Wheeler, who played linebacker for the Yellow Jackets and spent nine years in the NFL, said, “I would be in awe watching him, like, ‘Oh yeah, we’re gonna be good. … I’m good, I’m playing behind Joe.'”
Giff Smith, Georgia Tech’s defensive line coach at the time, remembers the moment he knew Anoa’i would be a great player. Brad Honeycutt, an offensive lineman for the Yellow Jackets, got the better of Anoa’i one day in practice early in his career.
“[Honeycutt] kind of punked Joe in a one-on-one,” Smith said. “I kind of laid into [Anoa’i]. That was when I knew he was gonna be special, because of the look in his eyes. If he could have legally kicked the s— out of me at that point, he would have. And that was the response I was looking forward to. And then he took off after that.
“He had a little fire,” Smith added, “[that would] make you reevaluate your decision for a split second when you’re challenging him.”
Anoa’i’s drive and fire helped him become a three-year starter and first-team All-ACC player and team captain by his senior season in 2006, when Tech went 9-5 overall and 7-1 in conference play.
“Every time we won games, Joe was a part of it,” Choice said. “He was always inspiring, he was somebody when the going got tough, he was always encouraging others.”
“When he talked, everybody listened because he wasn’t a super vocal leader,” fullback Mike Cox said. “But he definitely had a presence. Wherever he went, you knew where he was. It was kind of ominous, or just intimidation. He just oozed confidence.”
And if it came down to telling a teammate what he needed to hear, he’d do that, too.
“That’s what I loved about him,” Choice said. “He was always cool no matter what the situation was, but you knew if he was pissed at someone. He’d tell you, but he didn’t tell you in any way to demean you. He said it straight up, matter of fact.”
After Georgia Tech suffered a close, frustrating loss to Georgia at the end of the 2006 regular season, the Yellow Jackets played Wake Forest in the ACC championship game.
They couldn’t get anything going offensively — they would lose 9-6 — and Anoa’i let Ball know he felt he needed to do more.
“He was pissed,” Ball said. “He wasn’t shy about letting it be known, like, ‘Hey bro, you got to make plays. You need to make it happen. You need to make it work.’ And at the time, you want to do everything that coaches tell you to do. You don’t want to go off script.”
That’s not how Anoa’i saw it.
“We got a Calvin Johnson on our team,” Anoa’i said. “You know what I mean? Screw what they’re calling, I’m just throwing it up. There’s just no excuse. We got T. Choice in the backfield. So let’s just get the job done.
“I guess I said, ‘Let’s just make this work,’ because that’s what we’ve been doing. All this work. And I’m not trying to leave here empty-handed. And unfortunately, it happened.”
Ball took the criticism in stride because of Anoa’i’s credibility as a player and fellow co-captain.
“I know it’s not coming from a spiteful place or a place of demoralizing or trying to tear anybody down,” he said. “It’s coming from a place of somebody who wants to win and somebody who wants the best for their team.”
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THE 2005 AUBURN Tigers couldn’t forget Joe Anoa’i even if they tried.
“Brandon Cox? Auburn? Oh, hell yeah,” Ball said. “[Joe] was whooping their ass.”
Cope, the Auburn center, recalled the scouting report on Anoa’i being more thorough than usual.
“He was the guy on their defensive line that year that we had circled and said, ‘To win this game, we’re gonna need to really do a good job blocking him,'” Cope said. “Our offensive line coach was telling us that his father was a former wrestler, and that he came from a wrestling background. It was more of, he’s not going to do things by the book that we’re used to. He doesn’t play like a traditional defensive tackle. He’s a playmaker, he’s got that athletic ability to do some wild stuff on the field.”
That became clear to Cope from the first play of the game, which let him know what the Tigers were in for.
“He was a shade to my right side, and we ran a zone to that side. We snapped the ball and all of a sudden [Anoa’i] was by me,” Cope said. “And I was like, ‘Whoa, what just happened here?’ Just super quick, and made a tackle in the backfield. It haunts me to this day.”
The source of Cox’s nightmares came a bit later.
“Nowadays they would have crucified me for what I did to Brandon Cox,” Anoa’i said. “And I apologize, I was caught up in the moment. It’s like one of those things where you’re just in it. You’re in a fight and you’re like, ‘I don’t know how I got into this thing.'”
With about eight minutes left in the fourth quarter and Georgia Tech leading 20-14, Anoa’i again beat Cope, this time with a spin move, pressuring Cox into throwing the ball. Anoa’i hit Cox as he let go of the pass, which was intercepted by KaMichael Hall.
As Cox turned to pursue Hall, Anoa’i delivered a blow that’s always near the top of any highlight reel made of his football career.
Giff Smith summed it up as well as anyone.
“I remember thinking that I was glad I didn’t play quarterback,” he said. “He knocked the ever-living s— out of that guy. Good gracious.”
Gaston added, “It was one of those hits that you hear it in the crowd, that ‘Ahhh!'”
“I was just blindsided by Joe,” Cox said. “I’m on the ground and all of a sudden he jumps on top of me and he has his forearm up underneath my chin. And just laying on top of me.
“I still remember that vividly, thinking in my head, ‘So this is what college football is like?’ A kind of welcome-to-the-game type of hit.”
Georgia Tech won the game 23-14, forcing six Auburn turnovers, including four Cox interceptions. Anoa’i finished with just one solo tackle, but Cox said that doesn’t reflect his impact.
“There were a lot of hits on me that didn’t go down as sacks or tackles in the final book,” he said.
In fact, Cox said he was hit so many times after the whistle that Auburn submitted game film to the ACC, whose officials worked the game, and got a handwritten apology from the league, which acknowledged there were multiple late hits that should have been called penalties.
Anoa’i has an explanation for it all.
“Let me just preface this,” he began. “By the time he’s on the ground, it was dirty what I was doing. It was a little dirty, but the hit was actually legal.
“He goes to throw the ball, I hit his arm, it deflects, we intercept it. Brandon turns to run. He’s now a defender, correct? He’s moving toward the angle, you can watch the film, he does it. And I’m in a perfect position.
“I kind of gather myself, and I just shoot my hands into him like he’s an offensive lineman. For anybody who doesn’t play football, they’ll look at this and be like, ‘That’s ridiculous.’ But if you play defensive line, that’s exactly how you shoot your hands and that’s what I did to him, but he’s just not an offensive lineman.
“But then that momentum took me down with him, and I landed kind of with my forearm on his throat. And I struggled getting off of him. So that was kind of where people would think, ‘Oh, that’s a little dirty,’ but I was trying to get off him. But he was sweaty and slippery, so I kept slipping. So that little bit at the end was probably a bit excessive.
“The play was a great play, in my opinion. It was a turnover, so that speaks for itself.”
GEORGIA TECH OPENED the 2006 season on an even bigger stage. “College GameDay” was in midtown Atlanta, where the Yellow Jackets were hosting No. 2 Notre Dame and Heisman hopeful Brady Quinn at Bobby Dodd Stadium.
“I think that was [Anoa’i’s] coming-out party for everybody around the country,” Ball said. “And I think scouts around the country really started to take note of who [No.] 96 was.”
“I moved Joe up and down the line that game just to screw with their offensive line because he could handle it,” Tenuta said. “He was a very smart football player, and he understood what he had to do to make us successful.”
As with Cox, there is one play from that game that people ask Quinn about. It’s one that — when you learn Joe Anoa’i became Roman Reigns — makes all the sense in the world.
“On that play, like most good quarterbacks, [Quinn] just shifted over a bit,” Anoa’i recalled. “I went to bat the ball and one of his guys just checked my hip. And as my momentum took me, it just kind of did like a wrestling crossbody where you land on him, so it kind of was a perfect wrestling move.”
Despite a flying Anoa’i landing on top of him, Quinn said, “I don’t remember the hit or anything like that at all. I kind of pop right back up.
“The funny thing about the clip is people will show me that all the time who are avid wrestling fans. And I’m like, I wish I could tell you it hurt. But maybe that was the beginning of fake wrestling because it really didn’t hurt, it really didn’t feel real.”
That comment brought a big smile to Anoa’i’s face. “It’s funny that he had his little, smart dig,” he said. “Because it’s simple, we can put Brady Quinn in the wrestling ring, and I’ll boom his ass real quick.”
Anoa’i added, “The fact that we’re 18 to 22 [years old], we’re all like Superman at that point. I’m not surprised that he didn’t feel anything.”
All joking aside, Anoa’i acknowledges that two of the most replayed highlights of his career undoubtedly would be penalties today.
“I support the rules and where the game is now. But that’s just the way we played it back then,” he said. “I was not a dirty player by any means. I wasn’t one of those crazy, emotional intense players, but I was intense. When it’s taken out of context, it doesn’t sound right.
“But when you’re in the middle of what we’re doing out there, you’re kind of ready for war. You take it to that mental level of, ‘Man, I’ll do whatever we got to do to win,’ — obviously without doing stupid stuff. But we were taught whistle to whistle. … And that’s what was expected.
“[Smith] and Tenuta were the best coaches I ever played for, and we reflected that. When you’re in film study with Tenuta, he’s going to call you out,” Anoa’i said. “It’s his ring. He’s cutting the best promos of all time. He would sit there and put you on the spot, just embarrassing people. I didn’t want to be embarrassed.”
Anoa’i said his coaches’ approach gave him extra motivation to study the playbook and tape even more.
“They took it very seriously, what we were doing, and I think we all did, and that’s why we were a top-10 defense, is because we all played from whistle to …” Anoa’i paused. “Slightly after the whistle, just in case I didn’t hear that whistle.”
PRETTY MUCH EVERYBODY who played with or against him thought Anoa’i was going to be an NFL player.
AJ Smith, who played offensive line for the Yellow Jackets, said, “Joe was such a great football player. It was always, ‘Joe’s gonna play in the league. Joe’s gonna be an NFL guy.’ I don’t think it ever crossed our minds that he was gonna be where he is in WWE today.
“But at the same point in time, nobody’s surprised because Joe’s committed to his craft, and the work ethic that he put in to be an elite player in college football, he’s put in that same work ethic to be top of his craft in WWE.”
Anoa’i did get a chance in the NFL, but it was fleeting. While getting his physical at Minnesota Vikings rookie minicamp, he learned that he had chronic myeloid leukemia.
Gaston, who remained close with Anoa’i after their playing days, said, “He dove in headfirst and said, ‘I can’t change the fact, let’s just do everything we can do to try to beat this, and understand it first, and then just attack it.'”
The Vikings released him, and when he got into remission, he signed with the Jacksonville Jaguars with a couple of weeks left of camp in 2007, although he wasn’t in game shape due to his recovery.
After being cut on the final day of camp with Jacksonville, he signed with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats of the Canadian Football League in 2008. He rolled an ankle in practice, and once he was cleared to play, he was cut again.
The challenges of chasing his football dream began to weigh on Anoa’i, who was struggling financially with a 1-year-old now in his life and rent to pay.
“It was more stressful than anything,” he said. “So I just knew it was time to let it go.”
After football, Anoa’i said he was working in a warehouse for his sister, assembling office furniture, building cubicles, loading trucks — “just doing blue-collar work, labor.”
“While I was doing that, I lost my football weight,” he said. “I was kind of starting to peel some of that excessive weight off. I could start to see the guy that went into Tech, the high school version of me.”
Meanwhile, his cousins, current WWE wrestlers Jimmy and Jey Uso, were starting their journeys in independent wrestling while also working at the warehouse.
“It started kind of plugging me back into wrestling because I loved it when I was a kid,” he said. “I loved it until football just took over.”
Eventually, his cousins left the warehouse job.
“I was by myself,” he said. “That was the most depressing part. There was no more camaraderie there. We weren’t having a good time at work. It was just me quietly building office furniture. Terrible.”
One day, while Anoa’i was building office chairs, his dad walked in. Laughing, his father asked, “Oh, you’re just gonna be a chair builder your whole life?”
Trying to be slick, Anoa’i responded, “Well, you never taught me how to wrestle.”
He thought his father was going to leave it there and go to lunch. Instead, he asked, “Well, do you want to learn?”
The former Wild Samoan and future Roman Reigns had a couple of training sessions. After his father made a couple of calls, Reigns said he was “thrown into the deep end” in the WWE developmental program in Tampa, Florida, where he had a tryout.
“And now I’m here,” he said.
Reigns said if football had worked out, he doesn’t think he ever would have gotten into wrestling.
“I wanted to have an impact on young men,” he said. “I wanted to be the way Emmitt Smith and Michael Jordan and Joe Montana and the stars of when I was a child, the way they made me feel. I wanted to make other young athletes feel that way.
“But no matter what, it was either you’re going to be a wrestler, or you’re going to be a football player.
“A superstar of some sort.”
While optimism runs high at most every college football program this time of year, even the rosiest picture has some lurking shadows.
That is true even for the 25 teams in our post-spring Power Rankings. No matter how deep the rosters seem, everyone has some question marks or potential weak spots.
Our college football reporters take a look at the biggest areas of concern for each of the top teams, the potential Achilles’ heel that could keep them from reaching their goals for the season.
Area of concern: Wide receiver
The Nittany Lions addressed the wide receiver spot in the portal with Syracuse’s Trebor Pena and others, but until they actually elevate their production, questions will linger. Penn State has had only one wide receiver rank among the top 10 in the Big Ten in receiving in the past three seasons (Tyler Warren played tight end). Both Warren and top receiver Harrison Wallace III are gone, and Penn State needs its portal haul — Pena, a second-team All-ACC wideout in 2024, as well as Devonte Ross (Troy) and Kyron Hudson (USC) — to give quarterback Drew Allar enough capable targets this fall. Although Allar’s big-game struggles are also concerning, he hasn’t had a great group of receivers at his disposal during his Penn State career. — Adam Rittenberg
Area of concern: Running back
The position group that has been discussed more than any other since the spring at Clemson is running back — the only position on offense that loses the bulk of its production with Phil Mafah off to the NFL. But the Tigers have plenty of depth at running back, and that should help ease any concerns as they move into fall camp. Particularly because running back traditionally has been an area where Clemson has excelled, even when other groups on offense took a step back. (Clemson has had a 1,000-yard rusher 11 of the past 16 years, and that does not include 2023, when Mafah and Will Shipley split the carries nearly evenly and combined for more than 1,700 yards.) It is easy to see true freshman Gideon Davidson as a breakout player, considering the success Clemson has had with true freshman backs since Dabo Swinney arrived. Clemson also has receiver Adam Randall taking reps at running back to help round out the depth in a room that also features Keith Adams Jr. and David Eziomume. Jay Haynes continues to rehab a knee injury. — Andrea Adelson
Area of concern: Offensive line
The Longhorns lost four starters on the O-line to the NFL draft and are breaking in a new quarterback, although Arch Manning made two starts last season, as well as several key receivers with the losses of Matthew Golden, Isaiah Bond and tight end Gunnar Helm. They lost tackle Kelvin Banks Jr., the 2025 No. 9 draft pick, but Trevor Goosby got some key playing time last year at the position when Banks was injured. The Longhorns also lost 56-game starter Jake Majors at center and face Ohio State in Week 1, posing a quick learning curve for an almost completely new offensive line group. — Dave Wilson
Area of concern: Pass rush
The Bulldogs lost six veteran contributors on their front seven on defense, none more important than edge rushers Jalon Walker, Mykel Williams and Chaz Chambliss. Walker and Williams were first-round picks in the NFL draft, and Chambliss was an unheralded contributor over four seasons. They combined for 18 sacks and 28.5 tackles for loss in 2024. Making matters worse, Damon Wilson, a projected replacement on the edge, transferred to Missouri. Georgia feels good about Gabe Harris Jr., and it added Army transfer Elo Modozie, who had 6.5 sacks for the Black Knights last season. — Mark Schlabach
Area of concern: Quarterback
Quarterback Will Howard was everything the Buckeyes could have hoped for last year in his lone season at Ohio State. He was spectacular during the College Football Playoff, posting a QBR of 97.2 over four games during the Buckeyes’ march to the national championship. With Howard now in the NFL, the Buckeyes will be turning to either former five-star freshman Julian Sayin or Lincoln Kienholz this season, pending who wins the job during camp. Throwing to all-world wideout Jeremiah Smith will bolster whomever the starting quarterback winds up being. But even with Smith and All-American safety Caleb Downs anchoring each side of the ball, it’s difficult envisioning the Buckeyes truly contending again unless Ohio State gets good-to-great quarterback play like it did last season. — Jake Trotter
Area of concern: Offensive line
I don’t know that LSU has to necessarily worry about the offensive line because of moves made this offseason, but it has to be something to keep an eye on just because of the magnitude of the losses. The Tigers had one of the best tackle duos in all of college football last season in Will Campbell and Emery Jones, who were first- and third-round NFL draft picks. They lost four starters across the line in total. DJ Chester and Tyree Adams are back in different spots, while Brian Kelly added Braelin Moore from Virginia Tech. — Harry Lyles Jr.
Area of concern: Tight end
Since 2011, the Fighting Irish have had a whopping 10 tight ends selected in the NFL draft, including last season’s leading receiver, Mitchell Evans, who had 43 catches for 421 yards with three touchdowns. While the Irish feel they’ve upgraded their wide receiver group with the additions of Virginia transfer Malachi Fields and Wisconsin’s Will Pauling, tight end remains a bit of a question mark heading into preseason camp. Senior Eli Raridon has the size (6-foot-7) and hands to excel at the position, but he was plagued by injuries during his first couple of college seasons, after tearing an ACL as a freshman. He had 11 catches for 90 yards with two touchdowns in 2024. The status of another tight end, Cooper Flanagan, who tore his left Achilles tendon in the Sugar Bowl, is in question. — Mark Schlabach
Area of concern: Defensive line
It’s hard to say whether this is an area of concern just yet, but there are question marks with Oregon’s defensive line as the Ducks lost both Derrick Harmon and Jordan Burch from last year (as well as Jamaree Caldwell). Defensive end is a strength with Matayo Uiagalelei holding down the edge, but the rest of the line will require some newcomers to step up, such as USC transfer Bear Alexander and rising lineman Aydin Breland, who could be in line for a breakout season. A’mauri Washington, one of the few returning players, will likely be a fixture of the new-look line as well. — Paolo Uggetti
Area of concern: Pass rush
Alabama finished 13th in the SEC last season in quarterback sacks, and while sacks aren’t the end-all when it comes to rushing the passer, the Crimson Tide need to be more consistent in getting to the opposing quarterback. There’s not a pure edge pass rusher in the mold of Will Anderson Jr. or Dallas Turner on this roster, meaning Alabama will need to get more pressure from its interior linemen and perhaps a breakout season from redshirt sophomore outside linebacker Qua Russaw. — Chris Low
Area of concern: Quarterback
When the season ended, quarterback figured to be an obvious strength for BYU considering Jake Retzlaff was set to return. But with him expected to transfer as of late June, the Cougars are left without an established starter. McCae Hillstead showed flashes at Utah State in 2023, Treyson Bourguet started eight games in two years for Western Michigan and true freshman Bear Bachmeier was a big-time recruit who enrolled briefly at Stanford earlier this offseason before leaving for Provo. The expectation is that all three will have a chance to earn the starting job in fall camp, without a clear-cut front-runner. — Kyle Bonagura
Area of concern: Offensive explosiveness
The Illini had a good and efficient offense in 2024, but they weren’t particularly explosive, tying for 64th nationally in plays of 10 yards or longer and tying for 66th in plays of 20 yards or longer. Although quarterback Luke Altmyer and a veteran offensive line return, Illinois needs to replace its top two receivers in Pat Bryant and Zakhari Franklin, who are off to the NFL, and leading rusher Josh McCray, who transferred to Georgia. Offensive coordinator Barry Lunney thinks Collin Dixon, who averaged 14.7 yards per catch in limited work last fall, and incoming freshman Brayden Trimble can spark the offense. “Overall, we’re going to have a little bit more vertical speed in what we’re doing to stretch the defense than what we did,” Lunney told me. “That’s no slight on Zakhari or Pat at all. Those were just kind of bigger, stronger guys.” — Rittenberg
Area of concern: Pass rush
ASU’s late-season surge, from a decent team to one capable of coming within one play of the CFP semifinals, took place primarily thanks to players who are returning in 2025. Obviously losing star running back Cam Skattebo hurts, but the Sun Devils have some of the best overall returning production numbers in the country. We don’t know that they have a pass rush, though. It was an issue last season — ASU ranked just 110th in sacks per dropback — and while both of their sacks leaders (Clayton Smith and Elijah O’Neal) return, that duo combined for just 8.5 sacks between them. Kenny Dillingham evidently thought he had the answers in house, as he didn’t add a single edge rusher in the transfer portal, but while the secondary is sound and experienced, giving QBs too much time to find receivers can bring down even the most seasoned defense. — Bill Connelly
Area of concern: Defensive front
What was perhaps South Carolina’s biggest strength last season could be its biggest concern going into 2025. Gone up front are stalwarts Kyle Kennard, Bam Martin-Scott, Demetrius Knight and TJ Sanders, among others. That left a lot of holes to fill, and the Gamecocks largely addressed them by hitting the portal hard. Rising star Dylan Stewart will be the flashiest player and Bryan Thomas is the lone established senior, with transfers Gabriel Brownlow-Dindy, Davonte Miles and Justin Okoronkwo filling a big void. But perhaps the biggest name to know is sophomore Fred “JayR” Johnson, a rangy linebacker with lauded leadership skills who South Carolina hopes will blossom into the centerpiece of the defense after playing a small role as a freshman in 2024. — David Hale
Area of concern: Wide receiver
With receivers Jaylin Noel and Jayden Higgins both off to the NFL — having been drafted by the Houston Texans in back-to-back rounds — receiver is a good place to start. Noel and Higgins combined for nearly 2,400 receiving yards last season and that type of production will need to be replaced by more than just two players. But even with those holes to fill, the lack of a pass rush last season remains a glaring question mark. If the Cyclones can’t improve upon their conference-worst sack total, it’s hard to see how they can make a run at the Big 12 title, especially given the unknowns at receiver. — Bonagura
Area of concern: Defensive line
One of the most underappreciated keys to SMU’s playoff run last season was the veteran talent up front on defense. Elijah Roberts, Jared Harrison-Hunte and Jahfari Harvey all came from Miami and had multiple years as a starter under their belts in 2024. There won’t be nearly so much experience this year. Add in the departures of Ahmad Walker and Kobe Wilson at linebacker, and there’s a vacuum waiting to be filled in terms of leadership. SMU does return safety Isaiah Nwokobia, who was an All-ACC performer last season, and there’s buzz surrounding East Carolina transfer Zakye Barker at linebacker, but establishing some key voices — and performers — on the D-line remains a question. — Hale
Area of concern: Defense
Does the defensive makeover actually work? The Red Raiders’ D can’t get much worse than what it was in 2024, and that’s not hyperbole. Texas Tech finished 126th in total defense in 2024. The secondary was 132nd in passing yards per game. Shiel Wood takes over as defensive coordinator, and there have been tons of portal additions to this side of the ball. Players such as Stanford linebacker David Bailey and Georgia Tech end Romello Height stand out, along with five transfer defensive backs. There’s really only one way for this group to go, and it’s up. — Lyles Jr.
Area of concern: Defense
Despite the fact that talented defensive end Mikail Kamara is returning, the transfer-heavy unit that allowed the fewest rushing yards per game in the Big Ten last season lost some key contributors. Gone to the NFL are CJ West and James Carpenter, and while Indiana did not hesitate to dip into the transfer portal to reload with players such as Hosea Wheeler (Western Kentucky), Stephen Daley (Kent State), Dominique Ratcliff (Texas State) and Kellan Wyatt (Maryland), one of the Hoosiers’ strongest position groups last year has a lot to prove and live up to in 2025. — Uggetti
Area of concern: Stopping big plays
K-State’s offense was delightfully explosive last season, but the defense often gave up as many big plays as the offense created. The Wildcats blitzed a lot and harassed QBs well, but they ranked 110th in Total QBR allowed and 107th in completions of 10 or more yards allowed. That’s a concern considering the defense lost both leading pass rusher Brendan Mott and four of last year’s five starters in the secondary. Defensive coordinator Joe Klanderman might have to fiddle with the risk-reward balance to get the most out of this defense and help the Wildcats contend in the ultracompetitive Big 12. — Connelly
Area of concern: Wide receiver
One of the reasons Florida is expected to improve in 2025 is because of the talent that quarterback DJ Lagway brings. But the Gators’ top receivers from last season, Elijhah Badger and Chimere Dike, left for the NFL. Eugene Wilson III is back, but also coming off season-ending hip surgery. It will be up to Vernell Brown III, Dallas Wilson, Naeshaun Montgomery and J. Michael Sturdivant (UCLA transfer) to help establish themselves. — Lyles Jr.
Area of concern: Wide receiver
The Wolverines ranked 129th last season with just 1,678 passing yards. Quarterback play was part of the issue, as Michigan cycled through three quarterbacks (Davis Warren, Jack Tuttle and Alex Orji) in its first season after losing national champion JJ McCarthy. But Michigan’s receivers collectively didn’t make enough plays, as no wideout caught more than 27 passes or totaled more than 248 yards. The onus will be even greater on Michigan’s receivers with tight end Colston Loveland — the Wolverines’ only reliable target last year — now playing for the Chicago Bears. Instant impact from transfers Anthony Simpson (UMass) and Donaven McCulley (Indiana), combined with internal improvement from the likes of Fredrick Moore and Semaj Morgan, will be paramount if Michigan is going to threaten opposing defensive backfields in 2025. — Trotter
Area of concern: Linebacker
The Hurricanes did another fantastic job shoring up positions across the roster in the transfer portal, especially considering how much turnover they had from last season. But if there is one position that still has some questions, it is linebacker, mainly because depth may become an issue as the season wears on. Miami returns three key veterans in Wesley Bissainthe, Jaylin Alderman and Popo Aguirre, and signed NC State transfer Kamal Bonner and Rutgers transfer Mo Toure. Miami often looked slow and out of position at linebacker last season, but the new scheme from defensive coordinator Corey Hetherman should help. The player to keep an eye on here is Toure, whom Hetherman coached while he was at Rutgers. Toure is coming off a knee injury (his second torn ACL in three years), but his potential to fit into this defense, considering his past with Hetherman, is huge. — Adelson
Area of concern: Defensive end
For the past three years, Louisville was able to rely on a genuine star off the edge in Ashton Gillotte, who racked up 21.5 sacks from 2022-24. Gillotte is off to the NFL now, a third-round pick by the Chiefs. That leaves a major void at defensive end. Louisville has a couple of transfers — Wesley Bailey from Rutgers and Clev Lubin from Coastal Carolina — hoping to fill the void, but the strength of the D-line will certainly be on the interior, where the Cards have much more established depth. As Louisville works to remedy issues defending the pass, finding someone — or, ideally, a few guys — who can get after the QB will be one of the most critical jobs for the defense as it prepares for 2025. — Hale
Area of concern: Wide receiver
Just like last season, a big question for the Aggies’ potential is how their wide receiver room will shake out. The Aggies lost Noah Thomas, a bright spot in an otherwise spotty position for A&M and new offensive coordinator Collin Klein, to Georgia after Thomas caught 39 passes for 574 yards and eight touchdowns last year. No other player caught more than two TDs or eclipsed 400 yards on the season as the Aggies fought through a QB change from Conner Weigman to Marcel Reed. This year, the Aggies are looking toward NC State transfer KC Concepcion (71 catches, 839 yards, 10 TDs in 2023, 53-460-6 last year), Mississippi State transfer Mario Craver (17-368-3 as a freshman), as well as returners Ashton Bethel-Roman, 6-2, 220-pound freshman four-star recruit Jerome Myles and dynamic 2024 five-star recruit Terry Bussey, who played something of an all-purpose role last year. As this group goes, so will Reed and the offense. — Wilson
Area of concern: Quarterback
Austin Simmons seems like a talented individual — we’re talking about someone who is athletically gifted enough to play baseball for Ole Miss as well. But anytime you are replacing one of the better quarterbacks in your conference, in this case Jaxson Dart, who was a first-round NFL draft pick, there has to be some level of concern. But from what we’ve seen out of Simmons, there’s promise. His drive against Georgia last season, where he led a 10-play, 75-yard touchdown drive to tie the game while Dart was injured, should give the Ole Miss faithful something to be excited about. — Lyles Jr.
Area of concern: Tight end
It’s been a struggle at tight end for the Sooners, and there’s again uncertainty around the position heading into the 2025 season. Granted, there was plenty of blame to go around for Oklahoma’s struggles on offense last season, but finding more consistency at tight end in both the receiving and blocking categories would be a big boost for an offense that has tons of new faces. There isn’t a definitive starter at tight end entering preseason camp. Transfers Will Huggins (Kansas and Pittsburg State) and Carson Kent (Kennesaw State) are expected to battle with converted linebacker Jaren Kanak for the job. — Low
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Adam Rittenberg
FRISCO, Texas — Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark is “doubling down” on the so-called 5+11 future College Football Playoff format, while acknowledging that it might benefit his league more in the future than currently.
The Big 12 and ACC have pushed the model, which would award automatic bids to the five highest-rated conference champions, plus 11 at-large bids determined by the CFP selection committee. The 5+11 model gained some support at the SEC’s spring meetings, while the Big Ten has focused more on a model that would award four automatic bids to Big Ten teams and to SEC teams, plus two apiece to the Big 12 and the ACC.
Yormark, his fellow commissioners and Notre Dame athletic director Pete Bevacqua must determine the CFP format for 2026 and beyond by Dec. 1.
The Big 12 had only one representative, champion Arizona State, in the inaugural 12-team CFP last year. Arizona State lost to Texas in two overtimes in a CFP quarterfinal matchup at the Peach Bowl.
“Five-11 is fair,” Yormark said Tuesday in his opening address at Big 12 media days at The Star. “We want to earn it on the field. It might not be the best solution today for the Big 12 … but long-term, knowing the progress we’re making, the investments we’re making, it’s the right format for us. And I’m doubling down today on 5+11.”
Yormark added that he expects ACC commissioner Jim Phillips to take the same position when that league holds its media days this month in Charlotte, North Carolina. The ACC sent two teams, champion Clemson and runner-up SMU, to the 12-team playoff last year. Yormark touted the Big 12 as the “deepest football conference in America” and said he believes the league will have multiple CFP entries this season.
“I have a lot of faith in the selection process,” Yormark said. “They are doing a full audit of the selection process to figure out how they can modernize and contemporize and how they use data and how certain metrics can be more heavily weighted.”
Yormark told ESPN that he’s “relatively confident” that the CFP will go to 16 teams in 2026 and laid out the next steps to making it happen.
“The first step is we got to figure out, with the selection process, we’re kind of doing a deep dive,” he said. “Where can we improve it? Where can we modernize it? Are we using the right metrics? Are things weighted appropriately or not? So we’re going through that conversation, and I think on the heels of that, we’ll move into the format because I think for the room people need to get confident, more confident, in that selection process. And assuming they do, which I’m confident they will, we’ll be able to then address the format that makes sense.”
In March, the CFP named a Big 12 athletic director, Baylor’s Mack Rhoades, as the chair of its selection committee. Yormark said that in addition to schedule strength, “new metrics” will be added to the selection process to ensure fairness to all conferences.
The Big 12 will have the Week 0 stage as Iowa State and Kansas State renew their rivalry in Dublin. Other key nonleague Big 12 matchups include Baylor-Auburn, Baylor-SMU and Iowa State-Iowa.
“I’m confident we’ll get to the right place,” Yormark said. “And ultimately, I’m confident we’ll go to 5+11.”
ESPN’s Pete Thamel contributed to this report.
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