Rivals Rankings Week: Roundtable on the 2025 rankings

The final rankings release for the 2025 class has wrapped up and there were plenty of controversial decisions that coaches, players and fans are discussing.

The national analyst team – Adam Friedman, John Garcia Jr., Adam Gorney, Greg Smith and Sam Spiegelman – sit down at the Rankings Roundtable and discuss.

Friedman: Zahir Mathis. I’ve been a big fan of Mathis throughout his career and was really encouraged by the physical development he showed prior to his senior season. The former Ohio State commit wasn’t able to show how effective he could be this season because of some nagging injuries but there were still flashes of brilliance. Overall, the inconsistencies and lack of steady development are concerning and put into question whether Mathis will ever be able to reach his incredibly high ceiling.

Garcia: Nathaniel Owusu-Boateng. The Michigan signee reached five-star status last offseason coming off of a banner junior season at IMG Academy to go along with true three-down flashing potential in the camp and combine circuit. Throw in true elite athleticism, and the evaluation was all but complete. But the NFL legacy would miss considerable time as a senior due to multiple injuries, skewing the full scope of the most important evaluation tool in the game — senior tape. When he saw the field he did make an impact, but it appeared a step below from what we saw in 2023. A second-round grade on Owusu-Boateng may still be warranted because of the sheer athleticism, but a nearly maxed-out frame and availability concerns could lead to more of a ‘boom or bust’ run over the next few years.

Gorney: Na’eem Offord. If we think Na’eem Offord is getting too big to play cornerback full-time in the Big Ten, does he move to safety and if that’s the case do we want three five-star safeties all in the same class? This is not an indictment on Offord’s abilities because he is highly talented and still one of the best players in the 2025 class but the Oregon signee might be a little bit of a tweener or a little unproven at a position not of extreme need in the first round of the NFL Draft if he moves to safety.

Smith: Zahir Mathis. When Mathis is engaged his ceiling as a pass rusher is pretty good. He turned heads during Under Armour practices in Orlando by being disruptive off the edge and also flashed during the game. He’s still got some physical development to do at the college level. We also don’t know where exactly he’ll be doing that development yet as we get closer to the second signing period.

Spiegelman: Jahkeem Stewart. Jahkeem Stewart is a physical specimen at 6-foot-5 and 285 pounds. The twitchy movements, explosive get-off, and rare physical traits are intriguing — enough that SEC coordinators have called him a “generational talent.” Stewart’s make-up and performances in camp settings are tremendous, but it’s difficult to ignore the lack of real football experience (12 varsity games) and not competing during his senior season. With that long of a gap between football-related competition, there is a sense that there is a steeper gap to climb for him than most five-star prospects. There are other recruits with equally as tantalizing skill sets and less baggage to roll the dice on here.

Friedman: Bryce Baker. Putting aside the Signing Day drama, Baker has shown consistent production regardless of the competition throughout his career and the physical tools he brings to the field should help head coach Bill Belichick get off to a good start in Chapel Hill. He has impressive athletic traits and the ability to read defenses, which could bring him early success at North Carolina. Baker will benefit from the pro system and structure Belichick is implementing and, by the time he finishes his college career, he could prove to be a first-round pick in the NFL Draft.

Garcia: Joshua Moore. Moore’s No. 145 national ranking would tab the Miami signee as a fifth-round projection come NFL Draft time down the line and compared to the immense ceiling and physical presence Moore brings to the table — it may be a little conservative. Sure, Moore never quite made the leap many expected him to after his breakout sophomore campaign, but he was still a prospect who has flashed an element of dominance in every setting. Built like Jeremiah Smith at better than 6-foot-3, 210 pounds, he lacks the consistency and polish the nation’s top college wideout possessed coming out of high school but if it all clicks within the high-powered Miami offense under Shannon Dawson we may look back at the final ranking as a major miss. Moore has as gifted a physical skill set as any wideout in the class, so any run towards his ceiling in the coming years will prove plenty of evaluators wrong.

Gorney: Jarquez Carter. Carter pumped out 27 bench press reps at 225 pounds at the Rivals Five-Star this past summer which would have tied him for sixth among defensive tackles at last year’s NFL Combine. That is an incredible stat so it’s almost a virtual guarantee that if he keeps developing at Ohio State that Carter will be a big-time eye-opener at the combine which could only boost his draft stack. Combine that with quick feet, great hands and so much more and Carter should definitely be higher. If he played in an all-star event he might be in the five-star discussion.

Smith: Mark Zackery. The Notre Dame defensive back commit is a terrific athlete that is smooth in coverage. He was a standout on the basketball team during high school as well despite being 5-foot-10. He’ll have to bulk up in college to hold up but he’s got elite ball skills and could make an impact as a slot corner in the Irish’s defense.

Spiegelman: Elijah Barnes. Barnes was one of the best middle linebackers in the country as a senior at Dallas (Texas) Skyline. Barnes’ tape reminds me a ton of current Longhorns MLB Anthony Hill — the downhill play style, the distinctiveness, and the ability to defend the run and patrol from sideline to sideline. Barnes was a major senior riser — and we feel great about his fit at Texas, especially since he enrolled as a mid-year graduate. He could have been ranked higher to reflect such a strong senior season.

Friedman: Bryce Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald is set to make an early impact at Miami thanks to his impressive physical traits and elite playmaking abilities in the secondary. The Florida native has a knack for getting his hands on the ball and his mere presence routinely impacts the quarterback’s throw. Fitzgerald has 4.4 speed and it’s easy to see when he breaks on passes. He’s able to high-point the ball with the best of them thanks to his above average wingspan. There is a good chance Fitzgerald becomes an important part of the Miami defense early in his career.

Garcia: Vernell Brown III. In quantifying the type of wide receivers that hear their name early come draft time, Brown feels like one of the safer bets in the class with his entire package. He is among the fastest and quickest wide receivers nationally, perhaps with the best run-after-catch game to boot, and he comes into the college game among the smartest as well. However, Brown is not as close to maxing out his frame from a physical perspective, meaning he still has considerable room to add to his strengths over the next few years at Florida. He is polished, will test through the roof on and off the field and there isn’t a setting in which Brown has yet to flash and/or dominate to date. Could he become Zay Flowers 2.0?

Gorney: Jahkeem Stewart. In the final rankings meeting, there was a surprising amount of discussion about moving Jahkeem Stewart to a four-star prospect. He didn’t play at all during his senior season because of transfer rules and then didn’t show up at an all-star event. But I still feel based on his performance at the Rivals Five-Star and elsewhere that Stewart still has a ton of potential that will be realized at USC and that he has all the talent in the world to become a future first-round draft pick.

Smith: Elijah Dotson. We moved Dotson way up in the rankings after I saw him play last August. The Michigan safety signee can do it all. He’s a very good athlete and has good technique in coverage. But he’s a willing tackler and enjoys lowering the boom on opponents. There was a lot of (justified) attention given to his teammate Bryce Underwood but Dotson was also a very important signee for the Wolverines.

Spiegelman: CJ Wiley. Wiley is No. 40 in the Rivals250 and one of a handful of wide receivers that were squarely in the conversation for a fifth star. The future Dawg was exceptional as a senior — playing WR on the perimeter for Milton (Ga.) High — making huge catches in huge moments, showing off his strong hands, ability to separate downfield, and speed at 6-foot-4 and 200 pounds. Few receivers in the country have the speed to get downfield like Wiley, the physical play style to be impactful after the catch and work in different parts of the field, and the polish to win 1-on-1. Wiley’s father played DE in the SEC, and those traits carried over to CJ’s game in a glaring way.