Spring practices have begun all across college football. This is our early introduction to the 2025 season, and some of the next wave of dynamic players we need to know. This is also the time of the year when we begin formulating expectations, and narratives are created all across the country.

There are some major storylines that most fanbases are waiting to have answered. In a lot of ways, those answers are going to shape the 2025 season. Here are those narratives, and the impact each could have on the college football landscape. 

The Arch Manning hype

It has been several years since we have seen a quarterback recruit have as much hype as Manning. As a redshirt freshman this past season, he had some big moments in his limited time. The talent is very apparent, possessing great size, athleticism, and tremendous arm talent. Most people have just assumed that Manning is going to be a Heisman Trophy front runner this season taking over for Quinn Ewers.

What if, however, Manning isn’t as good as people think? Texas has recruited at a tremendous level under head coach Steve Sarkisian, but this is still an offense that is replacing a lot in one offseason. You are going to have to replace your left and right tackle, center, top three pass catchers, and second leading rusher. A lot will be expected from Manning to help soften those losses despite his inexperience.

“Hey Siri, is Arch Manning really worth all the hype?” pic.twitter.com/x7MOKN9qYw

— Ryan Roberts (@RiseNDraft) October 9, 2024

Notre Dame injury issues

People haven’t talked enough about how impressive of a job it was by head coach Marcus Freeman and the Notre Dame staff to win 14 games and advance to a National Championship even with all the injuries they had. It was a season of tough luck in that regard, having season ending injuries with All-American cornerback Benjamin Morrison, pass rushers Boubacar Traore and Jordan Botelho, defensive tackle Rylie Mills, and center Ashton Craig. Starting left tackle Charles Jagusah also missed a substantial chunk of the season, as did offensive guard Billy Schrauth and Howard Cross III.

Most people have chalked that injury bug up as a long season, and some bad luck. It is still a new strength and conditioning staff under Loren Landow, so people don’t quite know if this was just bad luck as of now. The biggest fear is that it wasn’t.

Ohio State is going to reload

The Buckeyes are coming off of a National Championship and have been a consistently elite program under head coach Ryan Day. A big part of that is the recruiting we have seen under this staff. They have consistently put together outstanding recruiting classes. That gives everyone optimism that they can reload.

This program has been tasked with replacing their starting quarterback, top two runners, top two wide receivers, four starting offensive linemen, your whole defensive line, most productive linebacker, and two starters from the secondary. That is a crazy amount in one offseason. It’s possible they do reload, but it’s pretty reasonable to believe they could take a step back.

Year Two under Kalen DeBoer

We learned a lot about the Alabama Crimson Tide program under head coach Kalen DeBoer in year one. This era of the program is just going to look different under DeBoer compared to Nick Saban. The team got off to a strong start, but fizzled mightily down the stretch of the season. A lack of identity felt like what held them back.

Alabama now heads into the 2025 season as a major wildcard for the first time in a very long time. It is conceivable to believe we see a year two jump under Coach DeBoer but that is no guarantee. There’s also the reality where the transitional period continues. Nobody really knows what to expect from the Crimson Tide, which is very interesting. 

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