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Ranking Clemson's top opposition at QB in 2025
Wade Woodaz and the Tigers are scheduled to get another shot at South Carolina's LaNorris Sellers this November.

Ranking Clemson's top opposition at QB in 2025
Ryan Kantor - Contributor - 2 days ago

Quarterback is the most important position in sports and while there are a lot of other factors that go into projecting how good a team will be, the quality of their starting quarterback may be the most telling one.

Last season, the Tigers avoided the usual gamut of skilled ACC quarterbacks dodging Cam Ward, Kyle McCord, and Haynes King. The three best QBs they faced in the regular season were Carson Beck (UGA), Tyler Shough (Louisville), and LaNorris Sellers (South Carolina), and all three handed Clemson losses. That’s how important QB-play is! As we look to 2025, we see a much tougher schedule with quite a few talented quarterbacks. Of course, Clemson won’t be without some firepower of their own. Clemson QB Cade Klubnik is widely viewed as one of the top three to five quarterbacks in college football, so it is in that context that these seven opponents offer exciting QB matchups.

7. Thomas Castellanos (Florida State at Clemson, Nov. 8)

I debated Castellanos’ inclusion on this list because he lost the QB job at Boston College last year and only played in eight games. Nevertheless, the 5-foot-9 speedster is one of the most fun QBs to watch in the league. He terrorized Florida State in last year’s Week 1 upset that fully sent the Seminoles into their tailspin. He ran for 73 yards and a TD in that contest.

In 2023, Castellanos threw for 305 yards and ran for 95 against a Seminoles team that won the ACC. That season, he finished with 2,248 passing yards and an impressive 1,113 rushing yards with 13 rushing TDs. With Gus Malzahn now calling plays in Tallahassee, it is possible (probable?) we see him resume collecting big numbers like those. Of course, Florida State is hard to predict, and poor offensive line play could undermine him. He is the wildcard on this list, but couldn’t be left off.

6. Miller Moss (Clemson at Louisville, Nov. 14)

Miller Moss had a memorable performance in the 2023 season’s Holiday Bowl. Former Heisman-winner Caleb Williams had just finished another stellar year at USC and opted out of the bowl game. Moss got the start in his place and torched the opposing Louisville Cardinals for 372 yards and six passing touchdowns. It felt like the Trojans were in good hands as Williams headed to the NFL.

Fast-forward to 2024 and Moss wasn’t bad, throwing for 2,555 yards (64.4% completion) with 18 TDs and nine INTs, but the drop-off from Williams was still stark. Moss was eventually replaced as the starter by Jayden Maiava after a 3-INT game against Washington in November. Now it has come full circle as Moss transferred to Louisville.

Moss’s inclusion on this list is partially a kudos to Louisville head coach Jeff Brohm, who gets the most out of quarterbacks. Last year, he turned transfer-QB Tyler Shough into a second-round draft pick. It wouldn’t be shocking if he did something similar with Moss, who was once a highly-touted recruit. Of course, quarterback development is certainly a strength of Lincoln Riley at USC, where Moss just left, so we shall see if it all clicks in Louisville.

5. Haynes King (Clemson at Georgia Tech, Sept. 13)

Haynes King will return to Georgia Tech for a third season after three years at Texas A&M. He is in the last class that gets a COVID waiver, which, when paired with a normal redshirt, has given some players six years. The Yellow Jackets will benefit from having a veteran QB with as much skill and toughness as King.

After an underwhelming time at Texas A&M, he transferred to Georgia Tech and threw 27 touchdowns, but also 16 interceptions in 2023 while running for 737 yards. He was largely the reason Georgia Tech had life on offense.

Last year, he was limited by an upper body injury that limited his passing, but was willing to be a run-first QB. He carried the ball 20 times in a win over Miami (93 yards) and 24 times (110 yards) in an eight-overtime loss at Georgia. He finished with 2,114 passing yards, 14 passing TDs, 2 INTs, and 11 rushing touchdowns. With the gift of a sixth year, he could put it all together and have a special season for the Yellow Jackets.

4. Darian Mensah (Duke at Clemson, Nov. 1)

In this new world of college athletics, Duke is suddenly investing in football. After swiping Bryce Davis, a highly sought-after DE high school recruit from Clemson, they’ve taken Tulane’s star QB through the portal. Reportedly, they paid him handsomely in NIL funds.

Mensah had a highly efficient redshirt freshman year at Tulane last season. He led the American Athletic Conference (AAC) in yards per attempt at 9.49 and completion percentage at 65.9% (for reference, Klubnik was 63.4%). Mensah benefited from a strong run game that boasted Makhi Hughes, who collected 1,401 rushing yards. Hughes finished 8th nationally in rushing attempts and 10th nationally in rushing yards. Mensah was highly efficient when he was called upon, but can Duke lean on him more heavily than Tulane did? He will be facing tougher defenses in the ACC than in the AAC. In two games against Power 4 opponents last season, he had mixed results, torching K-State for 342 yards and getting mostly shut down by Oklahoma. There’s also some unknown about the WR corps at Duke after losing their top two receivers, Jordan Moore and Eli Pancol. They used the portal and brought in a 1,000-yard receiver from Harvard, Cooper Barkate, but it remains to be seen how that works out.

It wouldn’t be shocking if Mensah ended up being the best quarterback in the conference. He was only a redshirt freshman last year and could simply progress with more experience and coaching. At the same time, he leaves a spot with the Green Wave where he was well-situated to succeed. In the end, I think he will be a big upgrade at the position for the Blue Devils.

3. LaNorris Sellers (Clemson at South Carolina, Nov. 29)

LaNorris Sellers only had 299 pass attempts as he missed a game (vs. Akron) and the team generally went with a more run-centric approach. Of course, he was a huge part of that running game, toting the ball 166 times. He was second only to RB Rocket Sanders in carries and rushing yards with 674.

As a passer, he is still somewhat raw. He finished with just 18 TDs to seven INTs, but often made up for it by being an excellent runner. He also came through in a big way in wins over three ranked opponents last year. Sellers threw for 244 and ran for 106 against Texas A&M. He threw for 353 and ran for 45 against Missouri, and of course, despite Clemson holding him to 164 passing yards, he ran for 166 to beat the Tigers, including the game-winning TD on third-and-long.

2. Kevin Jennings (SMU at Clemson, Oct. 18)

Kevin Jennings’ final stat line reads: 3,245 passing yards with a 65.0% completion percentage and a 23-to-11 TD-to-INT ratio. He did this while not being the full-time starter in SMU’s first three games. Once he became the starter, they won nine straight before falling just short against Clemson in the ACC Championship. It is also worth noting he did this at SMU, a place where they haven’t tasted success like this since the 80s. It is extremely uncommon to join a Power 4 conference and go 8-0 in conference play and play for the championship. Jennings is a dynamic athlete who uses his legs to extend plays and find open receivers. He got off to a horrible start in the ACC Championship game against Clemson, but still managed to throw for 304 yards and 3 TDs.

SMU benefited from a soft ACC draw in their inaugural season, and that evens out this year as they play Clemson, Miami, and Louisville this season. Still, with Jennings at the helm it would be no surprise if they won one or more of those three contests and found themselves in the mix for another ACC Championship Game berth late in the season.

1. Garrett Nussmeier (LSU at Clemson, Aug. 30)

After redshirting and then waiting patiently behind Heisman-winning QB Jayden Daniels for two years, Nussmeier became the next in a line of elite LSU quarterbacks last season as he eclipsed 4,000 passing yards with 29 TDs and 12 INTs. ACC fans know how heavily Syracuse relied on QB Kyle McCord last season, and LSU wasn’t much different. Nussmeier was second only to Syracuse’s Kyle McCord in pass attempts with 525 attempts. Despite the heavy reliance, his efficiency remained strong with a 64.2 completion percentage.

Their passing attack should be dangerous once again as they’ve used the transfer portal to ensure Nussmeier has plenty of weapons at wide receiver. Incoming is Barrion Brown, the speedster who totaled 100 yards for Kentucky in the Gator Bowl against Clemson, and Nic Anderson, who was a freshman All-American at OU before getting hurt and redshirting last season. This matchup in (Clemson’s) Death Valley could be a battle of Heisman contenders at QB.

LSU has lost five straight season-openers, but in that same time Clemson is just 3-6 against SEC opponents. It all sets up for a high-stakes and high-flying season opener.

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