2025 CBS Sports preseason college football awards: Jeremiah Smith, James Franklin headline honorees

The 2025 college football season represents one of the most wide open in the past decades. However, if preseason accolades are to be believed, the power in college football is slowly shifting. All three honorees to earn preseason CBS Sports superlatives hail from the Big Ten. 

Reigning national champion Ohio State boasts the best player in college football in wide receiver Jeremiah Smith, who earned an honor last year as Freshman of the Year. Penn State coach James Franklin is also coming off a breakout season after leading the Nittany Lions to the national semifinals. 

However, perhaps the most interesting school to break their way into the mix is Michigan. The Wolverines have been reluctant to throw big money around in recruiting, but No. 1 overall recruit Bryce Underwood convinced them to open the coffers. Thanks to his commitment, Michigan jumped from eight wins to the preseason AP top 15. 

CBS Sports Preseason All-America team: College football’s best and brightest entering the 2025 season

CBS Sports Staff

Last season, Ohio State and Georgia gobbled up all three honorees with Player of the Year Carson Beck, Coach of the Year Ryan Day and Freshman of the Year Smith. The Buckeyes went on to win the national championship, wihile the Bulldogs earned a No. 2-seed. With that said, here are the CBS Sports Preseason Player of the Year, Coach of the Year and Freshman of the Year heading into the 2025 season. 

Player of the Year: Jeremiah Smith, WR, Ohio State

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The reigning freshman of the year takes over as the undisputed player of the year after putting together a freshman season for the ages. Smith ranked as the top wide receiver recruit in college football history and immediately translated it to a sensational campaign with 76 catches for 1,315 yards and 15 touchdowns. 

However, the College Football Playoff was truly the moment that Smith announced himself to the world. In his first two games, Smith posted 13 catches for 290 yards and four touchdowns in decimations of Tennessee and Oregon. Texas’s stacked secondary managed to slow him, but he broke off a game-sealing 56-yard reception against Notre Dame to key a 34-23 win in the national championship game. 

Smith now heads into the year as the face of college football with a chance to rewrite college football’s record books. His freshman campaign was the fourth-best season ever by an Ohio State receiver and his 15 touchdowns trailed only Terry Glenn in 1995. While he will only play three years of college football before entering the NFL, reaching the all-time record books is well within reach if he can maintain this level of production. 

Coach of the Year: James Franklin, Penn State

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Last season, Ryan Day was our preseason coach of the year as he faced his defining moment with a championship-caliber roster. This year, Penn State’s James Franklin steps to the plate as the most interesting — and important — coach in college football. 

Like Ohio State and Michigan before him, Franklin managed to convince key pieces of his 2024 squad to turn down the NFL and return for another season. Quarterback Drew Allar, running backs Nick Singleton and Kaytron Allen, and defensive lineman Dani Dennis-Sutton all would have been early draft picks. The development of the interior offensive line and addition of receivers Kyron Hudson and Trebor Pena make this one of the most talented rosters in Penn State history. 

Now, Penn State heads into the year at No. 2 with its top preseason ranking since they were ranked No. 1 in 1997. Franklin is 125-57 as a head coach. The last step for him to take to cement himself among the greatest in the game is to win a national championship. 

Freshman of the Year: Bryce Underwood, QB, Michigan

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Michigan made one of the biggest recruiting splashes of the NIL era after flipping Underwood from LSU with a deal that’s rumored to push eight figures. But when the No. 1 player in the country with a perfect 100 rating from 247Sports grows up only 30 minutes from campus and fills a tremendous position of need, taking a swing is well worth it. 

Underwood is a freak of nature. Listed at 6-foot-4 and 228 pounds, he boasts size, strength and skill that’s earned him comparisons to Vince Young and Cam Newton. He started all four years at Belleville High School in Michigan, leading them to three state title games and consecutive championships while throwing for 11,488 yards and 179 touchdowns. 

One year after winning the national championship, Michigan posted the most pitiful passing offense in the country. There’s no guarantee that Underwood will start the year as QB1 at Michigan — he’s locked in a battle with Fresno State transfer Mikey Keene and ECU transfer Jake Garcia — but early reviews out of camp have been positive. And even if he doesn’t take the first snap, he will almost certainly be in the lineup when the Wolverines close the year against Ohio State. 

Michigan is ranked No. 14 in the preseason AP Top 25. If the Wolverines get back to playoff contention, it will be on the capable arm and legs of Underwood. 

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