Rivals Rankings Week: Final 2025 Rivals250 released

The final Rivals250 for the 2025 class has now been released and Rivals national recruiting director Adam Gorney offers his thoughts on each position group.

At the beginning of this recruiting cycle, we were not in love with this quarterback class but over the last couple years and as these players emerged and developed, we’ve now come to really like this group. It could be extra special down the line.

There were six quarterbacks taken in the first round of the 2024 NFL Draft and my prediction is that there will be six coming out of this group as well.

Alabama signee Keelon Russell takes over the No. 1 spot in the Rivals250 and this was hotly debated among him, Ohio State’s Tavien St. Clair (the previous top player) and Michigan’s Bryce Underwood.

When it came down to decision time, we felt Russell had an incredible senior season and he was awesome at the Under Armour Game. He provides a dynamic quality that is so rare. If he’s a carbon copy of Jayden Daniels, then he deserves the No. 1 spot.

If Underwood did an all-star event or any events over the summer (Elite 11 or Rivals Five-Star) and wowed, then we would’ve been more inclined to move him up but Russell, St. Clair and Underwood are the first three off the board and that’s a pretty solid list.

This was a position group that vexed us throughout the entire cycle and we’re still not super confident about where things stand with the running back group. To be totally upfront, there was not one running back – other than five-star LSU all-purpose back Harlem Berry – who clearly showed they should be the No. 1 running back in this class.

Based on historical NFL Draft trends, we should have had one five-star running back (remember, Berry is listed as an all-purpose back), but we didn’t find one despite looking at everyone over and over.

We settled on Ole Miss’ Shekai Mills-Knight as the top dog because of his size, coach Lane Kiffin’s use of the position and how he looked all week at the Navy All-American Bowl. There was also an argument to move Alabama’s Akylin Dear up to No. 1 but he finished third in the group.

Oregon signee Dakorien Moore is the best receiver in this class – and then we can have a discussion about other five-star prospects and four-stars who could move up the rankings. But Moore has proven for years including with great showings at the all-star games that he is elite and should be a huge addition to the Ducks’ offense.

Texas flip-flopped five-stars as Kaliq Lockett moved up after looking great at the Navy All-American Bowl and Jaime Ffrench moved down after being sort of anonymous through his senior year and at the same all-star game. Florida’s Vernell Brown III won’t blow you away physically but he’ll blow by you and be a deep threat for the Gators as he had nearly 100 catches this season.

I wish Ole Miss signee Caleb Cunningham would have shown up to one national event during his entire high school career but it didn’t happen. He looks phenomenal on film but he’s also playing rural Mississippi competition and that could be deceiving. We decided against a five-star ranking there.

The ones we really might regret not pulling the five-star trigger on are Georgia’s CJ Wiley and Missouri’s Donovan Olugbode, who isn’t the fastest receiver in the world but should put up big numbers because he never drops anything.

This is an excellent tight end class and we felt compelled to name one of them as a five-star because the top of the group is so talented. We landed on Georgia signee Elyiss Williams, even though he dodged every national event over the years. He still has such unique size and he moves so well that he’s going to be a big target for the Bulldogs.

But a valuable argument was also made for Tennessee signee DaSaahn Brame (we were concerned that the Vols don’t throw to tight ends much although they might not have had one as talented as Brame) and Kansas State’s Linkon Cure but we decided to keep them as four-stars. Arizona State’s Aaron Ia has phenomenal size and could have a breakout career in coach Kenny Dillingham’s offense.

Although we decided against it, a conversation was had about flipping the top offensive tackles and putting Oklahoma’s Michael Fasusi in the top spot, especially after he showed up at the Under Armour Game and absolutely dominated. We stuck with Tennessee’s David Sanders Jr. as he’s super special as well. But this will be one to watch in the coming years to see if we got it right.

Alabama’s Michael Carroll stayed third and remained at offensive tackle, although it will be interesting to see if he moves inside in Tuscaloosa. Notre Dame’s Will Black kept his fifth star and has all the physical tools to be elite in South Bend but there was an adjustment period from Connecticut private school ball to the Navy All-American Bowl. That was expected but in terms of looks, Black has it all.

Las Vegas Bishop Gorman’s Douglas Utu leads the way as the lone five-star offensive guard now as LSU signee Solomon Thomas lost his. An argument could be made that Gorman teammate Alai Kalaniuvalu is also a five-star but we kept him third on the list.

At center – no surprise – Gorman teammate SJ Alofaituli, a Miami signee, leads the way and NC State’s Isaac Sowells earned his fourth star after an impressive performance at the Navy All-American Bowl.

Early on, I didn’t think defensive end was a particularly strong position in the 2025 class but we finished with six five-stars in the group so perhaps we’re taking some chances here or maybe players emerged over the last year.

At weakside defensive end, leading the way are Missouri’s Javion Hilson, Auburn’s Jared Smith and Michigan’s Nathaniel Marshall (who had been committed to Auburn as well). Miami’s Hayden Lowe is an interesting prospect as well and might be too low at seventh as he continues to develop physically.

At strongside defensive end, there was a heavy debate about whether Georgia’s Isaiah Gibson or USC’s Jakheem Stewart should be in the top spot and some believed Stewart, who only played around a dozen high school football games in his career, should even stay as a five-star. His potential is so high, though, he stayed there and Texas’ Lance Jackson, who looks like a million bucks, was added to the list. Iowa’s Iose Epenesa moved up after an impressive showing at the Navy All-American Bowl but not enough for a five-star.

Georgia’s Elijah Griffin was so dominant at the Under Armour Game that he was getting some No. 1 overall discussion but the quarterback class is just too strong. Texas’ Justus Terry is a little bit of a wild card in this class (crazy finish to his recruitment and no-showed a bunch of big events) and then Clemson’s Amare Adams moved to five-star as well. He had his moments in San Antonio and could be the next big-time DL for Dabo Swinney.

Ohio State’s Jarquez Carter is going to test off the charts at the NFL Combine so I thought he deserved an even higher ranking.

After some big movement at the position, Ohio State’s Riley Pettijohn is the lone five-star linebacker in this class and if we’re going to ride with anybody it’s going to be him.

At outside linebacker, Michigan’s Nathaniel Owusu-Boateng moved down to four-star as we have recurring injury concerns there and we needed to find a new No. 1. Georgia’s Zayden Walker was the choice but Notre Dame’s Madden Faraimo, Clemson’s Logan Anderson and LSU’s Jaiden Braker all could make an argument.

The top of this cornerback group concerns me for mainly one reason: These tall 6-foot-3 cornerbacks are super impressive with tremendous length but at the same time, NFL teams have not drafted a ton of these guys in the first round. So are we falling in love with the size and not staying true to draft trends?

Either way, it’s almost impossible to not take shots on Ohio State’s Devin Sanchez and Alabama’s Dijon Lee Jr. as both have been incredibly special so far. Fellow Crimson Tide signee Chuck McDonald was great at the Navy All-American Bowl and Miami’s Bryce Fitzgerald moved up, too. Texas’ Kade Phillips has the length and bounce to be special down the road, too.

At safety, both Oregon signee Trey McNutt and Florida’s Hylton Stubbs were quiet through the week in San Antonio but their resumes speak for themselves. I still think Georgia Tech’s Tae Harris should have been given more five-star consideration especially since he’ll blow everybody away at the combine in the 40-yard dash.

During his signing day press conference, LSU coach Brian Kelly said that DJ Pickett was the best cornerback in the class and it sure sounds like he’s going to be used a lot in the Tigers’ defense. We’ll see if a 6-foot-4 prospect can stay at corner, if he moves to safety and he has starred at receiver, too, so we kept Pickett at athlete because he can do so many things.

The same could be said about why we moved Texas’ Jonah Williams to athlete. He wants to play safety over the long term but really the only elite NFL comp would be Kyle Hamilton. A move to linebacker is certainly not a knock on him, it’s just that Williams is big for the safety spot. I actually have compared him with Ohio State’s Sonny Styles, who was also in between positions in high school and is now a 6-foot-4, 235-pound linebacker. Only time will tell on this one but we think Williams is a five-star talent.

Oregon’s Na’eem Offord is the third five-star athlete as we moved him from cornerback. Over the long haul, Offord might be too big to play cornerback, could move to nickel, might be a safety and has talked some offense as well. Moving him to athlete is no criticism, it’s just that he could move to numerous positions as we kept him a five-star.