13 of 22 players were consensus picks.
The 2025 All-American team, converting five iterations into one consensus roster originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
Accolades and awards season has arrived. Before we award the Heisman Trophy, the All-American team is one that will be debated and, in some cases, contested.
Five national media outlets, CBS Sports, USA Today, On3, The Athletic, and Pro Football Focus, created different All-American teams. Between the five there is a consensus All-American team can be created.
Each outlet put together a compelling roster. Of those five rosters, 13 players can hang their hat on being a consensus pick. The remaining roster spots are not necessarily contested; they just were not the consensus.
The consensus All American Team
On offense: Quarterback Fernando Mendoza (IND), running backs Jeremiyah Love (ND) and Ahmad Hardy (Mizzou), wide receivers Jeremiah Smith (OSU) and Makai Lemon (USC), tight end Eli Stowers (VANDY), offensive lineman Spencer Fano (UTAH), Emmanuel Pregnon (ORE), Logan Jones (IOWA), Olaivavega Ioane (Penn St), Carter Smith (IND)
On defense: Edge rushers David Bailey (Texas Tech) and Cashius Howell, interior defensive lineman Kayden McDonald (OSU) and A’Mauri Washington (ORE), linebackers Jacob Rodriguez (Texas Tech), Arvell Reese (OSU), and CJ Allen (GEORGIA), safeties Caleb Downs (OSU) and Louis Moore (ND), and cornerbacks Mansoor Delane (LSU) and Leonard Moore (ND).
In the case of Jeremiyah Love, Ahmad Hardy, Makai Lemon, Jeremiah Smith, Eli Stowers, David Bailey, Kayden McDonald, Cashius Howell, Jacob Rodriguez, Arvell Reese, CJ Allen, Leonard Moore and Mansoor Delane, all were consensus picks.
Quarterback, offensive line, the second interior defensive lineman, and safety were much less agreed upon. In some cases, these variances are understandable. In the case of quarterback, there were not five different answers. It was two answers divided five ways.
CBS and On3 had Diego Pavia as their pick at quarterback. However, USA Today, The Athletic and Pro Football Focus all had Fernando Mendoza as their pick. Considering the Heisman race, this is an important position. While the pick feels like a coin flip, Mendoza has the better Heisman odds and has his team in the No. 1 spot.
Offensive lines are always a bit of a mixed bag. Like quarterback, there really is no bad answer. At tackle it comes down to three names for two spots. Spencer Fano, Carter Smith and the odd man out, Miami’s Francis Mauigoa. At guard, there are more names, but the same scenario. Emmanuel Pregnon and Olaivavega Ioane win the starting spots, but also Beau Stevens (IOWA), Febechi Nwaiwu (OKLA), and Kade Pieper (IOWA) were considered.
Center is again a three-headed situation. Miami’s James Brockermeyer, Iowa’s Logan Jones, and Florida’s Jack Slaughter. Logan Jones was considerably more consistent, but Brockermeyer and Slaughter make significant cases for the lone center spot.
Interior defensive lineman not named Kayden McDonald was the strangest part of the evaluation. Five outlets, five different names. All five names are deserving of the accolade, but only one can hold the spot. Landon Robinson of Navy, Tyrique Tucker of Indiana, Lee Hunter of Texas Tech and AJ Holmes Jr of Texas Tech all were considered, but ultimately went to A’Mauri Washington from Oregon.
Safety, like quarterback only came down to two names. Two names that otherwise would be the consensus if not for The Athletic and PFF having one off choices. Caleb Downs and Louis Moore make up the safety roster spots for CBS, USA Today and On3. The Athletic had Downs and Dillon Thieneman (ORE), while PFF had Moore and Bishop Fitzgerald (USC).
Snubs and overlooked candidates
The term “snubs” might not apply here as the term suggests ‘didn’t make it but should have’. Obviously, many college football players with good production might wonder why they didn’t make it. That is to be expected. However, after searching for names not mentioned among the five, like Rueben Bain Jr of Miami or LJ Martin of BYU, there are reasons there are names ahead of them.
Drew Mestemaker, the North Texas quarterback has a legitimate complaint. Competition level being the prime reason against. Mestemaker was the only division 1 quarterback to put up over 4,000 yards. The next closes was 3,681 yards from Baylor’s Sawyer Robinson. You have to go all the way down to the No. 11 spot to find a Heisman hopeful or a playoff quarterback in Julian Sayin. Sayin was only a few yards ahead of the QB winner, Mendoza.
There were three running backs to outperform Jeremiyah Love in yards. Once yards and touchdowns are viewed together, Love is the clear RB1 with Ahmad Hardy being a pretty close second for the RB2 spot. However, right after that there are names that were very much in the conversation. Cam Cook of Jacksonville State led the nation in rushing with 16 touchdowns being nothing to sneeze at.
After Love, the aforementioned LJ Martin and his 1,305 yards to go with 12 touchdowns was also a factor. However, the biggest would-be snub at running back would have to be Kewan Lacy of Ole Miss. Lacy is one of only two backs to score 20 or more rushing touchdowns. His almost 1,300 yards on the ground separates him from Caleb Hawkins (N. Texas), the other back with 20+ touchdowns.
Despite having a comparatively down season (when compared to 2024) Jeremiah Smith absolutely still makes the cut. He and Makai Lemon are without a doubt WR1 and WR2. Danny Scudero (San Jose State), Skyler Bell (UConn) and Wyatt Young (N. Texas) all have more yards than Lemon or Smith, but the 13.6+ yards per reception and their 11 touchdowns separates them from the pack.
Miami’s Rueben Bain Jr was not the defensive end snub one might think with only 4.5 sacks registered in 2025. While Bain should expect to hear his name called early on day 1 of the NFL Draft, his sack numbers by season’s end were not close enough to challenge Bailey and Howell.
However, Western Michigan’s Nadame Tucker, does have a complaint to file. Despite the competition gap, Tucker led the nation in sacks, not Bailey. Tucker also leads all qualified candidates with four forced fumbles. Tucker also had more tackles than both Bailey and Howell.
At linebacker, there were two names ahead of everyone else. Jacob Rodgriguez and Arvell Reese. Along with CJ Allen, they form a consensus linebacker group. However, Colorado State’s Owen Long led the nation in tackles with 151. Which was 34 more tackles than the fan favorite Rodriguez.
Each name mentioned here is deserving of credit and accolades based on highly productive seasons. However, there are only so many spots per position. Each All-American team posted by CBS, USA Today, On3, The Athletic and PFF are good rosters and none had any player named who was not within range. The composite team takes all of those names mentioned at five different outlets and creates best fit result or as close to consensus as any outlet is bound to provide.
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