The 2025-26 College Football Playoff is finally here, and to help preview the first-round games and beyond, as FOX Sports’ college football experts, we compiled a list of our All-24 College Football Playoff Team.
Our criteria was simple: Who are the biggest impact players on offense and defense from each of the 12 CFP teams? The players listed here are not only 24 of the best in this year’s playoff, but they’re also the ones who could impact the game on either side of the ball, at any time, with the potential to change the entire bracket picture.
Heading into the weekend’s first-round games, we are as keen as our readers to learn which of the players highlighted create a storyline or moment fans will love or which players we might have overlooked that could be postseason stars.
[Best Teams in the College Football Playoff Era: Creating the Ultimate 12-team CFP]
So here is our FOX Sports All-24 College Football Playoff Team:
No. 12 James Madison’s CFP Impact Players
Offensive: QB Alonza Barnett
Defensive: LB Trent Hendrick
In what proved to be the best season the Dukes have ever had — making the CFP for the first time — Barrett and Hendricks are perhaps the Group of 5’s two best players. Barrett has accounted for more than 3,000 total yards and 38 touchdowns, while Hendrick posted 96 tackles, three sacks and a forced fumble through 13 games this season. JMU was playing FCS football four years ago. The Dukes will play in the CFP on Saturday because they have consistently recruited and developed players like Barrett and Hendrick. — RJ Young
[College Football Playoff Predictions: Why Oregon, Ole Miss Will Cruise Past First Round]
No. 11 Tulane’s CFP Impact Players
Offensive: QB Jake Retzlaff
Defensive: S Jack Tchienchou
(Michael DeMocker/Getty Images)
Retzlaff is Tulane’s leading passer and rusher this season with more than 2,800 yards through the air and more than 600 on the ground. His decision-making has been and will continue to prove pivotal for Tulane if the Green Wave is to upset Ole Miss on Saturday.
Tchienchou leads the team in tackles (77), including eight in the American title game against North Texas. He’ll play at all three levels of the defense and, importantly, played well against Ole Miss in the Green Wave’s first encounter with six total tackles. — RJ Young
No. 10 Miami’s CFP Impact Players
Offensive: WR Malachi Toney
Defensive: DL Rueben Bain
(Chris Bernacchi/Diamond Images via Getty Images)
Toney is the best freshman in this year’s CFP. He led the ACC with 970 receiving yards and seven touchdowns, and he is a nightmare matchup for any opposing secondary. Meanwhile, Bain is the heart of the Hurricanes’ defense, which was ranked tops in the ACC this year. He posted 37 tackles, 7.5 tackles for loss and 4.5 sacks as a junior and earned first-team All-America status. He’ll be a handful on the line of scrimmage for Texas A&M’s O-line in this first round. — Laken Litman
[College Football Playoff Predictions: Why Texas A&M Is Poised To Top Miami In First Round]
No. 9 Alabama’s CFP Impact Players
Offensive: QB Ty Simpson
Defensive: DB Brady Hubbard
(Todd Kirkland/Getty Images)
Simpson is the most important player on Alabama’s roster. And he is capable of creating the kind of run-of-form the Tide will need to win the national title. Early this season, Simpson led Alabama to four consecutive wins against ranked SEC foes, including the first road win against Georgia since October 2019.
Hubbard, a First Team All-American safety, picked off four passes, broke up six more and forced three fumbles in what is one of the best breakout seasons for a safety in 2025. — RJ Young
No. 8 Oklahoma’s CFP Impact Players
Offensive: QB John Mateer
Defensive: DL Taylor Wein
(Chad Hamilton/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Mateer performed like a Heisman winner through Oklahoma’s first three games of the season and then seemed to regress. He’s thrown just 12 touchdowns against 10 interceptions and accounted for just 161 total yards in Oklahoma’s win against Alabama earlier this season. If the Sooners are to go on a roll through the next month, Mateer will have to find his form from September when he threw for at least 270 yards in the Sooners’ first four games and accounted for 11 total touchdowns.
Wein has been the most consistent defender the Sooners have enjoyed in its front seven. His 43 tackles include 12 tackles for loss and six sacks. — RJ Young
No. 7 Texas A&M’s CFP Impact Players
Offensive: WR KC Concepcion
Defensive: DL Cashius Howell
(David Buono/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
If Texas A&M is going to beat Miami in the first round, these are two guys who need to have their best games of the season. Concepcion has been an impact player for the Aggies all year. The transfer wideout from NC State led the SEC with nine receiving touchdowns and tacked on 460 yards in punt returns. As for Howell, he’s at the center of Mike Elko’s havoc-wreaking defense and led the SEC with 11.5 sacks this season. — Laken Litman
No. 6 Ole Miss CFP Impact Players
Offensive: QB Trinidad Chambliss
Defensive: HC Pete Golding
(Justin Ford/Getty Images)
Let’s start with the unusual answer first. Yes, Pete Golding is technically Ole Miss’ new head coach following the soap opera-style departure of Lane Kiffin, who took the same job at LSU, but he remains the program’s de facto defensive coordinator — which was the role he held the last three seasons — and he’ll continue to call plays on that side of the ball during the postseason. So the question here is how effective can Golding be, given all of his added responsibilities as head coach in recent weeks? The Rebels enter the playoff ranked among the top 35 in both total defense (333.1 yards per game) and scoring defense (20.1 points per game), and they’ll likely need to exceed those levels to win a national championship. Can Golding adapt quickly enough to get them there? Only time will tell.
But the adaptation doesn’t stop there. Quarterback Trinidad Chambliss, a former Division II transfer from Ferris State, began the season as Ole Miss’ backup before Kiffin elevated him to the starting role in late September. He quickly morphed into one of the most explosive dual-threat players in the country and carried the Rebels to the first playoff appearance in school history, ultimately finishing eighth in the Heisman Trophy voting. The challenge facing Chambliss this weekend and beyond is to prove that he can succeed without Kiffin, who was the primary architect of Ole Miss’ offense alongside coordinator Charlie Weiss Jr. — Michael Cohen
No. 5 Oregon’s CFP Impact Players
Offensive: RB Jordon Davison
Defensive: S Dillon Thieneman
There are contrasting levels of experience here for two players who could prove pivotal to the Ducks’ national championship hopes. Davison, a true freshman, was the No. 172 overall prospect and No. 12 running back in the country coming out of powerhouse Mater Dei High School in Santa Ana, California. And while he doesn’t lead Oregon in rushing this season — that honor belongs to fellow tailback Noah Whittington, who’s rushed 112 times for 774 yards — Davison has more than twice as many rushing touchdowns (13) as anyone else on the roster because of his effectiveness around the goal line. No Oregon player has accounted for more first downs this season (38) than Davison, a 6-foot, 236-pound wrecking ball whose ability to move the chains and finish drives will be crucial in the coming weeks.
As for Thieneman, a junior, he’s maintained the sky-high level he put forth during two seasons at Purdue before entering the transfer portal last winter, ranking as the No. 11 overall prospect and No. 1 safety on the market. He’s proven a steadying presence for an Oregon defense that improved from 25th nationally in passing defense during the 2024 campaign (185.9 yards per game) to third in the country this season (144.3 yards per game). Thieneman was named a second-team All-American by the Associated Press earlier this week. — Michael Cohen
[College Football Playoff Predictions: First-Round Winners to The National Champion]
No. 4 Texas Tech’s CFP Impact Players
Offensive: RB Cameron Dickey
Defensive: Edge David Bailey
(Ron Jenkins/Getty Images)
Considering where the Texas Tech offense ranks entering the College Football Playoff — fifth nationally in yards per game (480.3) and second nationally in points per game (42.5) — it’s easy to forget that the player once projected to be the team’s starting running back, transfer Quinten Joyner from USC, tore his ACL during fall camp. And that’s because the Red Raiders’ new starter, sophomore Cameron Dickey, a former high school quarterback, has been so revelatory. Dickey has carried 198 times for 1,095 yards and 14 touchdowns, which is tied for 15th nationally. His 18 runs of 15-plus yards trails only four players from the power conference this season: Missouri’s Ahmad Hardy (24), Tennessee’s DeSean Bishop (19), Rutgers’ Antwan Raymond (19) and Ole Miss’ Kewan Lacy (19).
Bailey, meanwhile, was one of the most coveted edge rushers in the transfer portal given his body of work across three seasons at Stanford that included 22.5 tackles for loss, 14.5 sacks and seven forced fumbles. Texas Tech paid him handsomely — Bailey’s reported compensation package with the Red Raiders is worth more than $3 million this season — and it’s proven a wise expenditure. Bailey enters the playoff leading the country in pressures (76) and is tied for first in quarterback hits (20), according to Pro Football Focus. — Michael Cohen
No. 3 Georgia’s CFP Impact Players
Offensive: QB Gunner Stockton
Defensive: DB JaCorey Thomas
(Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images)
Georgia has been on a tear since its loss to Alabama in September, and these guys are part of the reason why. Stockton may have dropped out of the Heisman Trophy conversation earlier in the season, but he’s been one of the most efficient quarterbacks in the country, completing more than 70% of his passes for 2,691 yards with 23 touchdowns to just five interceptions. As for Thomas, he’s had the fifth-most tackles for Georgia this season and was a menace in the SEC championship game where he led the team with six tackles, one for loss, plus a sack. — Laken Litman
No. 2 Ohio State’s CFP Impact Players
Offensive: WR Jeremiah Smith
Defensive: DB Caleb Downs
(Zach Bolinger/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
It’s hard to pick just two impact players on a team this loaded, but you probably offend nobody by picking Smith and Downs here. Smith caught 80 passes for 1,086 yards and 11 touchdowns as a sophomore and is often double-teamed, while Downs is often threat No. 1 for opposing quarterbacks. Both will be instrumental in helping Ohio State try to defend their national title. — Laken Litman
No. 1 Indiana’s CFP Impact Players
Offensive: QB Fernando Mendoza
Defensive: S Louis Moore
(Michael Reaves/Getty Images)
It feels somewhat obvious to select Fernando Mendoza, the freshly crowned Heisman Trophy winner, as an impact player for Indiana given his glaring importance to what the Hoosiers have accomplished this season. But to some extent, that’s also the point. Where would the Hoosiers be without his 49-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Elijah Sarratt with 1:28 remaining on the road against Iowa? Where would they be without his eight-yard touchdown to Sarratt the following week in the fourth quarter against then-No. 3 Oregon? And what about his herculean throw to wideout Omar Cooper Jr. in the final seconds to preserve a victory at Penn State? Or his gutsy late-game heave to Charlie Becker in the Big Ten championship game that helped Indiana melt the clock? Time after time, Mendoza has answered the call in the most pressure-packed moments. And that’s what he’ll need to do in this year’s playoff for the Hoosiers to win it all.
On the other side of the ball, Moore has emerged as one of the best ball-hawking safeties in the country for a defense that is tied for sixth nationally in takeaways (25) and tied for seventh in interceptions (17). He began his career at Indiana before transferring to Ole Miss ahead of the 2024 season, the first under head coach Curt Cignetti. Then Moore rejoined the Hoosiers for the 2025 campaign and exploded for a career-high six interceptions that earned him first-team All-Big Ten honors. He notched one interception each against Iowa, then-No. 3 Oregon and then-No. 1 Ohio State to help preserve one-score victories. — Michael Cohen
RJ Young is a national college football writer and analyst for FOX Sports. Follow him @RJ_Young.
Michael Cohen covers college football and college basketball for FOX Sports. Follow him at @Michael_Cohen13.
Laken Litman covers college football, college basketball and soccer for FOX Sports. She is the author of “Strong Like a Woman,” published in spring 2022 to mark the 50th anniversary of Title IX. Follow her at @LakenLitman.
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