2024 Way-Too-Early Top 25 Pre-Spring College Football Rankings: Shakeups in top 10

The chaos won’t stop. 

It’s nearly Valentine’s Day, and the coaching carousel keeps on spinning with Chip Kelly bolting UCLA for the offensive coordinator job at Ohio State on Friday. Both signing days are in the books, but various 30-day portal windows keep opening and closing, creating additional transfer player movement. 

Kelly’s departure from Westwood marks the ninth FBS head coach opening since the national championship game. Nick Saban’s retirement created a wave of movement, and the cycle keeps stopping and re-starting since. 

So following the flurry of coaching changes and roster turnover, On3’s Way-Too-Early-Top 25 for 2024 already needs an update less than six weeks into the year. 

Georgia holds steady at No. 1, but there’s lots of shakeup in the rest of the Top 10. Meanwhile, programs like Washington (which lost its head coach and has seen its roster gutted with NFL departures and transfers) and Iowa no longer ranked at all as other schools (see: NC State, Texas A&M) have had more impressive offseasons.

On3’s Pre-Spring Way-Too-Early Top 25 Rankings for 2024

1. Georgia

While there was major upheaval across the rest of the sport, the most consistent program in college football simply continued to get better. 

The Bulldogs already return Heisman Trophy contender Carson Beck at quarterback and the nation’s best coach in Kirby Smart. They’ve since added the nation’s top-ranked recruiting class, a slew of impact transfers (Trevor Etienne, London Humphreys, Colbie Young and Benjamin Yurosek) and plucked co-defensive coordinator Travaris Robinson from Alabama.

2. Ohio State

The Buckeyes have had a fascinating offseason, with Ryan Day pushing his chip into the pot for the 2024 season. No program has been more aggressive retaining their own roster (TreVeyon Henderson, Denzel Burke, JT Tuimoloau, Emeka Egbuka, Jack Sawyer and Tyleik Williams) talent and bringing in blue-chip players from the transfer portal (Caleb Downs, Quinshon Judkins, Will Howard).

Then over the weekend, Day replaced Bill O’Brien, who was the OC for less than a month, with UCLA head coach Chip Kelly. It’s a stunning move for a sitting Big Ten coach to take an OC job with a conference foe, but it’s an upgrade for Ohio State, as Kelly could do wonders with the two-headed tandem of Henderson and Judkins at tailback. 

3. Oregon

Dan Lanning was considered the go-to target to replace Nick Saban, yet Oregon’s third-year head coach opted to keep his roots in Eugene with a loaded squad entering the Big Ten in 2024. 

Dan Lanning tabbed Dillon Gabriel as his next quarterback, and grabbed some insurance, too, with former 5-star Dante Moore. Oregon also added former 5-star wideout Evan Stewart and Washington’s top corner in Jabaar Muhammad. Like Ohio State, the Ducks got a boost with the return of several veterans including DL Jordan Burch, LB Jeffery Bassa, OT Ajani Cornelius and WR Ted Johnson.

4. Texas

The Longhorns will make the transition to the SEC in 2024, and despite falling just short of the national title game this fall, Steve Sarkisian’s team should be one of the top contenders again next season.  Quarterback Quinn Ewers is back, and if the junior falters at all, 5-star sophomore Arch Manning is waiting in the wings. The Longhorns did lose a slew of talent to the NFL Draft (defensive linemen T’Vondre Sweat and Byron Murphy, playmakers JT Saunders, Xavier Worthy and AD Mitchell), but Sarkisian went shopping in the transfer portal, bringing in Alabama tight end Amari Niblack, Alabama wideout Isaiah Bond and Oregon State receiver/returner Silas Bolden. 

Texas also shored up its defense with the additions of UTSA pass rusher Trey Moore (14.0 sacks, No. 3 nationally), Clemson safety Andrew Mukuba and Arizona defensive lineman Tiaoalii Savea. 

5. Alabama

Since losing to Michigan in overtime of the College Football Playoff Semifinal, the Crimson Tide saw their Hall of Fame coach Nick Saban retire, hired Kalen DeBoer as the heir apparent, watched their roster get raided by the transfer portal and just saw OC Ryan Grubb bolt for the same job with the Seattle Seahawks. 

Still, the Tide return a Top 3 roster nationally, have dual-threat quarterback Jalen Milroe and have a pair of former blue-chip tailbacks Justice Haynes and Jamarion Miller. Alabama’s defense should be a salty unit once again, too. 

6. Ole Miss

Like Ohio State, the Rebels are going all-in for 2024. Ole Miss inked one of the nation’s best transfer portal hauls, as Lane Kiffin cleaned up once again recruiting nearly a brand new startling 11 on defense, headlined by Texas A&M 5-star transfer Walter Nolan and Florida pass rusher Princely Umanmielen. 

The Portal King also sniped two of Washington’s top offensive linemen, and the Rebels might have the top wideout triumvirate nationally in Tre Harris, Jordan Watkins, and South Carolina transfer Juice Wells.

7. Notre Dame

Marcus Freeman has the Irish poised for a Year 3 leap and contention for a playoff spot next fall. Notre Dame has plugged holes on the roster using the portal, adding the likes of Duke quarterback Riley Leonard, Clemson wideout Beaux Collins and impact defensive players like Arizona safety Jordan Clark and Northwestern corner Rod Heard.

Freeman also swiped Mike Denbrock away from LSU as his new OC — an upgrade from Gerald Parker in 2023.

8. Michigan

The 2023 national champs have seen a ton of turnover since winning the title, losing Jim Harbaugh and nearly half of the rest of the staff to the NFL, plus more than 10 NFL departures including quarterback JJ McCarthy. Sherrone Moore was promoted to head coach, and he recently made an audacious hire in Dink Martindale as his defensive coordinator. 

The Wolverines have survived a mass exodus of transfers, but it’s still a roster that ranks 128th nationally in returning production. Quarterback remains a major question mark entering the spring.

9. Penn State

The expanded playoff setup is meant for programs like Penn State, which has struggled to break through the crowded top of the now-defunct Big Ten East. The Nittany Lions have a pair of new coordinators in Andy Kotelnicki from Kansas State and ex-Indiana head coach Tom Allen, replacing Duke head coach Manny Diaz. 

Drew Allar returns for his second season as a starter, and while PSU’s defense is sending several standouts to the NFL, Abdul Carter is back to lead a likely Top 10 unit again next fall.

10. Missouri

Eli Drinkwitz’s program enters the offseason with optimism and momentum. 

Coming off an 11-2 season, the Tigers stand to bring back quarterback Brady Cook and electric wideouts Luther Burden III and Theo Wease, while Drinkwitz has quietly cleaned up in the transfer portal by landing former blue-chip OG Cayden Green and 1,000-yard tailback Marcus Carroll from Georgia State. The Tigers must replace defensive coordinator Blake Baker, who took the same position at LSU last week, but they also added and a host of potential defensive starters from the portal, too. 

The rest of the Way-Too-Early Top 25 for 2024:

11. LSU
12. Utah
13. Oklahoma
14. Kansas State
15. Tennessee
16. Florida State
17. Clemson
18.Miami
19. Oklahoma State
20. Kansas
21. Louisville
22. NC State
23. Texas A&M 
24. Arizona
25. SMU