Fall camp begins Tuesday for most college football teams across the country, which means players are back on the practice field and the final run-up to the 2025 season is officially underway.
This is a time of year when coaches and fans learn a lot about their teams. It’s the first change to observe some freshmen and transfers in pads. It’s also the moment when depth chart battles really begin to take shape.
Ahead of fall camp, these are several players who need a strong preseason showing for a variety of reasons, including several household names. Whether they are high-profile transfers trying to make an immediate impact, or program stalwarts looking for a breakout season, each of these players have something to prove as the 2025 college football season rapidly approaches.
Beck is one of the highest, if not the highest, paid players in college football with a NIL deal of over $3 million a year. He’s the player Miami banked its 2025 hopes upon. He also really didn’t throw much in the spring while recovering from UCL surgery. That means fall camp is the first time, at least in organized team activities, that Beck will take command. That’s a challenge given one of the tasks in front of him is developing rhythm and timing with an unproven group of Hurricane wide receivers.
The stakes are high for both Beck and Miami (the Hurricanes have the second-best odds to win the ACC, per DraftKings Sportsbook). Beck needs to be way more like the 2023 version of himself — one that drew first-round hype — than the 2024 version, which struggled with turnovers. That’s the only way he’s going to work himself back into NFL Draft consideration. Miami needs Beck to be that 2023 version of himself as well if it wants to avoid a major drop off from the offense Cam Ward led a season ago.
Fall camp will be our first peek into whether Beck is fully recovered and can carry the load Miami will ask him to in a pass-happy offense.
Saying it’s now or never for Keeley feels extreme entering his third season. But the top-rated edge rusher from the 2023 class is in desperate need of a strong camp to establish himself as a rotational piece. Keeley’s been a non-factor for the Tide his first two seasons with only 24 career snaps.
Keeley will play a new position in 2025, moving from outside linebacker to strongside defensive end. He won’t start at that spot, however. That role belongs to star Alabama edge LT Overton. But he should at least emerge as part of the rotation for an Alabama front that lacks proven pass rushing production. If he can’t … Keeley begins to track toward the bust label every five-star recruit hopes to avoid.
Harold Perkins, LB, LSU
Another year, another new position. A breakout superstar on the edge as a true freshman, Perkins has bounced around between edge, inside linebacker and SAM linebacker. He’ll play another position as a senior, STAR, a hybrid linebacker and safety, as LSU looks to make him more comfortable (he struggled to carry weight as an inside linebacker) and get the most out of his versatility and athletic ability.
Beyond the position change, there’s added intrigue with Perkins in fall camp as he returns from an ACL injury that cost him much of the 2024 season. How Perkins returns from injury and adjusts to life at STAR will determine a lot about the ceiling of LSU’s defense in 2025. We’re not too far removed from freshman year Perkins being one of the best overall defenders in college football. The Tigers desperately need him to regain that form as they hope to improve from 89th nationally in yards allowed per play.
All eyes are on wide receiver in Happy Valley, but there’s a very intriguing right tackle competition on deck for the Nittany Lions. Back in the 2021 class Rucci ranked as the No. 17 overall player in the country. He played sparingly for Wisconsin for three seasons before transferring to Penn State last offseason. Rucci emerged as a contributor last season, making six starts and playing 600-plus snaps. But those starts only occurred after PSU’s campaign-opening right tackle, Anthony Donkoh, suffered a season-ending injury. Donkoh’s return — along with the fact both Rucci and Donkoh missed spring practice with injuries — sets up a very intriguing position battle in fall camp. Perhaps the Nittany Lions shuffle things around and both find starting spots on the o-line; Donkoh has experience at guard. But, if they don’t … Rucci could be competing for his football future ahead of his fifth and final college football season.
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Benson was a spring practice star for Alabama in 2023 but never lived up to that hype with just 162 yards that season. Then he entered the portal and moved on to Florida State, where he had solid (25 catches, 311 yards) production. Then Benson entered the portal again, ending up in Eugene, where he’s hopeful the third time is the charm.
Benson needs to have a strong fall camp to establish himself as a starter and go-to target for whomever emerges as QB1 for the Ducks (likely Dante Moore). Oregon needs Benson, a four-star transfer receiver, to step up in fall camp after the season-ending offseason injury to superstar wide receiver Evan Stewart. The Ducks lack a go-to option without Stewart. Benson could be that guy, or at least a vertical field stretcher who can win some one-on-one opportunities with his sheer athleticism. But fall camp is when the hype around the former No. 1 JUCO prospect needs to translate. If not, the Ducks have plenty of other younger receivers who are a threat to pass him on the depth chart.
BYU QB room
Jake Retzlaff’s exit from the BYU program — stemming from an honor code violation suspension — creates one of the few (if not the only) legitimately wide open Power Four quarterback battle of fall camp.
The job figures to come down to McCae Hillstead and Treyson Bourguet, a pair of transfers who were initially jostling to be Retzlaff’s backup. Both have starting experience. Hillstead started for Utah State as a true freshman in 2023, while Bourguet has started multiple games for Western Michigan in his career. There’s also Stanford transfer Bear Bachmeier to consider, but he’s a bit behind the other two given he didn’t participate in spring practice. There’s a ton of pressure on the entire room to perform in fall camp and take a suddenly open job. Not to mention, BYU is coming off its best season of the 21st century. The Cougars need one of them to emerge as a difference maker and help continue that momentum.
Augustave led Colorado in rushing a season ago with 384 yards, but his task could be much different in 2025 with the Gamecocks. South Carolina entered the spring thinking star Utah State running back transfer Rahsul Faison would take over as RB1. But Faison’s status is caught up in NCAA eligibility limbo. Thus, the Gamecocks were forced to go to the portal this summer and add Augustave. If Faison isn’t eligible to play this season, the Gamecocks’ running back room figures to be a combination of sixth-year senior Oscar Adaway, who ran for 295 yards last season, and Augustave.
Adaway is a proven presence, though one who was only mildly effective in 2024 while averaging 3.8 yards per carry — he averaged almost a full yard fewer (3.69 vs. 2.75) after contact than starter Raheim Sanders. Augustave is a bigger back at 6-foot-2, 210 pounds who could conceivably take on a larger down-to-down role, especially when you consider he averaged 3.4 yards after contact last year despite playing behind a horrid run blocking unit with Colorado. But he’s also arriving post-spring and will be behind with his comfort in the offense. Either way, the Gamecocks need someone to emerge as a difference maker at running back. There’s a lot of belief in LaNorris Sellers around Columbia, but the wide receiver room there was already a big question mark. The running game, which also involves Sellers, needs to be a strength.
On paper, Niblack is exactly what the Aggies need to give their tight end room a jolt. Texas A&M lacked a true pass catching threat at the position a season ago (nobody on the roster cleared the 300-yard barrier), which didn’t help what was generally an underwhelming passing attack. This led to an offseason overhaul at tight end with three transfer additions along with top 50 freshman Kiotti Armstrong. Niblack is arguably the most intriguing of those veterans. A dangerous — at least on paper — pass catcher at 6-foot-4, 240 pounds, Niblack caught 20 passes for 327 yards and four touchdowns for Alabama in 2023. He then transferred to Texas, where he was expected to make a big impact. Instead, he fell out of the rotation by season’s end, finishing with just five catches for 33 yards.
The Aggies could use a strong year from Niblack given his pass game capabilities. But, he’ll need to show significant strides as a blocker in fall camp to carve out any sort of major role. Otherwise, he’s at risk of a second straight underwhelming season in the Lone Star State after such a promising start to his career in Tuscaloosa.
Underwood was always going to be the favorite to start for Michigan. The Wolverines have far too much invested from an NIL standpoint for him to sit. The early returns on Underwood have been immensely positive, and CBS Sports’ Matt Zenitz pegged him as the “clear favorite” to be QB1 for the Wolverines in their opener.
But that doesn’t mean he doesn’t have plenty to prove in fall camp. The biggest potential hurdle to his starting path is likely Fresno State transfer Mikey Keene, who missed most of the spring with an upper body injury. Keene is familiar with Wolverines OC Chip Lindsey, having played for him at UCF in 2022. He also brings an experience — 8,245 career passing yards — Underwood lacks.
Underwood will need to beat out Keene and continue to show the necessary maturity and comfort in the offense to be a Week 1 starter for the Wolverines. I’d bet on that happening.
Texas needs someone to emerge as a difference maker at DT after several losses to the NFL and many to the portal. And while Purdue transfer Cole Brevard and Maryland transfer Maraad Watson feel like safter bets to contribute for Texas next year, arguably the most talented transfer DT the Longhorns brought in is Shaw.
A former five-star recruit who never emerged as a full-time starter in three years at North Carolina, Shaw is the type of talent who could change the complexion of Texas’ defensive line. The Longhorns made a bet that change in circumstance and environment could give Shaw a jolt ahead of his senior season. Entering fall camp, it’s up to Shaw to show he’s capable of more consistent play. If he can reach his ceiling, much like Alfred Collins did a season ago after bouts of uneven production for most of his career, the Longhorns added someone with the ability to change the defense’s ceiling.
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