Dabo Swinney did it again. Even in a down year last season, Swinney found a way to lead Clemson to the ACC title, and now with a Heisman Trophy candidate back at quarterback, his Tigers are the prohibitive favorite to claim the top spot again.
After making trips to the College Football Playoff, Cade Klubnik and Kevin Jennings are the cream of the quarterback crop in the ACC, but two reclamation projects who found new homes in the transfer portal could challenge Clemson and SMU for the most prolific passing offenses in the conference.
Miller Moss at Louisville and Carson Beck at Miami give the conference major intrigue with talented passers looking for a fresh start in QB-friendly systems. Carrying lofty individual expectations, both QBs arrive at programs that view themselves as ACC Title contenders in 2025.
Led by Kyle McCord, Cam Ward, and Tyler Shough’s departures for the NFL, seven of the league’s top 10 leaders in passing yards from a year ago are gone. So, who will put up the biggest numbers this season, and will anyone challenge Klubnik for the top spot?
Predicting the ACC passing leaders for the 2025 season
Cade Klubnik was underwhelming in his first year with offensive coordinator Garrett Riley in 2023, and last season got off to a disastrous start against Georgia. Then, Klubnik found his footing and proceeded to torch most of the ACC, pushing the ball downfield and using his mobility to create outside the structure of the offense, things he didn’t do early in his career.
The big test came for the new-and-improved Klubnik in the first round of the College Football Playoff, and he responded with a comprehensive performance. The junior threw for 336 yards and three touchdowns, single-handedly keeping the Tigers in the game without any semblance of a run game. He begins 2025 with another SEC test against LSU, and it could be the start of a Heisman-caliber season.
Kevin Jennings was the breakout star of the 2024 ACC season, then it all came crashing down in the CFP against Penn State. Jennings looked uncomfortable from the first snap, tossing three interceptions in the first half, two of which were returned for touchdowns.
Despite that disaster-class at Happy Valley, Jennings is one of the most talented QBs in the country, so with Rhett Lashlee calling plays and tight end RJ Maryland back healthy, the veteran should put up big numbers, even against a considerably more difficult schedule.
Miller Moss decided to leave one QB whisperer for another, transferring to Louisville after he was benched by Lincoln Riley at USC last season. The Cardinals could lean heavily on the run game with one of the most dynamic stables of backs in the country, but Jeff Brohm has proven that he will always construct an effective passing attack and one that is well-suited to the skillset of his quarterback.
For Moss, that means a lot of quick passes, especially over the middle of the field. So, if Caullin Lacy is back to full health after missing much of last season, he could rack up YAC yards and add to Moss’s final passing yardage total. Before he was benched, Moss put up over 2,500 yards against Big Ten defenses.
Carson Beck is two years removed from a near 4,000-yard season at Georgia, but his tumultuous 2024 campaign revealed just how important Brock Bowers and Ladd McConkey were to his success in Athens. Without them, Beck became turnover-prone, indecisive, and his persistent accuracy issues led to inconsistent play.
While it felt like a struggle, Beck still put up 3,485 passing yards last season before suffering a season-ending elbow injury in the SEC Championship game. This season, I’m expecting Miami to take some of the playmaking load off the veteran QB and, in turn, to get a better but less prolific version of him.
Maalik Murphy played well for Duke last season, nearly eclipsing 3,000 yards and leading the Blue Devils to nine wins in Year 1 of the Manny Diaz era. But Duke takes its football seriously now, so good isn’t good enough. Diaz’s program spent big in the transfer portal to land Mensah, the Tulane transfer who was hyper-efficient in his redshirt freshman campaign.
Mensah’s big arm and mobility will help to level up offensive coordinator Jonathan Brewer’s system in 2025 and (bold prediction alert) lead the Blue Devils to their third nine-win season in the last four years.
Chandler Morris is a true college football journeyman. The 24-year-old couldn’t cut it as the starter at TCU, but he thrived at North Texas in 2024, lighting up the AAC to the tune of 3,774 yards and 31 touchdowns. Now, he’s making the step back up to the Power Four for his final year of eligibility.
Kyle McCord threw for 4,776 yards in this offense, so while the Notre Dame transfer isn’t a shoo-in to win the starting job for Fran Brown’s Syracuse Orange, if he does play the full season in the pass-happy offense, he could put up big numbers. The only problem is that last season’s leading pass-catcher, Trebor Pena, is at Penn State, while Jackson Meeks and Oronde Gadsden II are both in the NFL.
Tommy Castellanos had a lot to say about Alabama this offseason, leading up to the Seminoles' Week 1 matchup in Tallahassee, and that may have been a mistake. Castellanos is a talented runner and a much better fit with Gus Mahlzahn at FSU than he was with Bill O’Brien at Boston College. Just don’t expect big passing numbers from this offense.