Clemson football is No. 1 in ESPN returning production ranking

Antonio Williams and the Clemson offense bring back the most production in college football.

Brandon Rink · Assoc. Editor / Staff Writer · Monday, February 24 2025

No team in college football returns more production than Clemson football.

That's according to an ESPN outlook on the 2025 returners, where Clemson is No. 1 in offensive production back (86%) and also Top 10 on defense (No. 7; 75%).

"Over the past three years, we've seen 23 of 398 total FBS teams (5.8%) returning at least 78% of their production in a given season. For a 136-team FBS, that's equivalent to about 7.9 teams per year. But right now only two teams clear that bar: Clemson and Arizona State," ESPN's Bill Connelly writes. "If we lower the bar all the way to 70%, that ropes in six more teams for 2025: Illinois, Kennesaw State, Rutgers, Texas A&M, Texas Tech and Vanderbilt. Over the past three years, teams at 70% returning production or higher have improved 70% of the time, which says good things for five or six of the eight teams above. Those that improved did so by an average of 7.1 points, and considering Clemson and ASU made the CFP in 2024 and Illinois and Texas A&M both ranked 31st or better in SP+, a touchdown's worth of improvement from any of these teams would be significant for their playoff hopes."

Only Clemson, Arizona State and Illinois, which all won 10+ games last season, rank in the Top 10 in production back on offense and defense.

"The only current members of the 80% club, Dabo Swinney's Tigers are awfully tantalizing at the moment," Connelly said. "The defense returns 13 of 18 players with 200-plus snaps and adds a star pass rusher in Purdue's Will Heldt. The offense, meanwhile, returns eight starters, including quarterback Cade Klubnik and a delightful trio of receivers in senior Antonio Williams and sophomores Bryant Wesco Jr. and CFP star T.J. Moore. (They should also get a full-strength Tyler Brown back; the 2023 freshman All-American was injured for much of 2024.) After ranking sixth or better in SP+ for six straight seasons from 2015 to 2020, Clemson has averaged a ranking of only 18.5 since. This should be its highest-upside team in five years."

Clemson faces two teams that are tabbed as most likely to regress in 2025, with SMU and South Carolina.

"No one in the country wants another shot at the CFP more than SMU quarterback Kevin Jennings, who suffered the worst game of his life against Penn State in the first round in December. If he can lead the Mustangs back to the promised land in 2025, he'll do so without his leading rusher and five of his top six receiving targets and with two new starting linemen. Even more worrisome: A rock-solid defensive front six lost all six starters plus the top three backups at tackle. Few have worked the transfer portal better than Rhett Lashlee, but a lot of last year's difference-makers are gone," Connelly said. "It's not hard to end up with similar thoughts about South Carolina, though perhaps to a lesser degree, as about Ohio State: Sure, the Gamecocks will have holes to fill, but they're going to have quarterback LaNorris Sellers and defensive end Dylan Stewart, who were two of 2024's best freshmen, and that will fill quite a bit, right? Maybe. But there's still a lot to replace, namely three offensive line starters and nearly every member of the front six not named Stewart. Only six of 15 defenders with 200-plus snaps are back, and while Shane Beamer is liberal with his portal usage, he'll need quite a few hits to replicate 2024's No. 13 finish in defensive SP+. (He'll need a bit more consistency from Sellers too.)"

ESPN returning production and notable Clemson opponents

Clemson No. 1 overall (81%) | 86% offense (1) | 75% defense (7)
Troy No. 19 (66%) | 64% (43) | 68% (19)
Georgia Tech No. 26 (64%) | 64% (45) | 65% (27)
BC No. 32 (63%) | 62% (53) | 64% (29)
LSU No. 38 (62%) | 65% (41) | 59% (51)
Florida State No. 47 (61%) | 62% (52) | 59% (49)
Duke No. 59 (58%) | 60% (60) | 56% (60)
Louisville No. 60 (58%) | 58% (64) | 57% (54)
South Carolina No. 71 (56%) | 65% (40) | 46% (99)
SMU No. 78 (53%) | 56% (73) | 51% (83)
North Carolina No. 81 (53%) | 52% (81) | 54% (70)