It's an odd season for big names in college football. There are some known commodities, of course -- Travis Hunter, Carson Beck, Ollie Gordon II, for example -- but there are relatively few established superstars. Just two of the top 10 in last year's Heisman Trophy voting return for 2024. Just four of the 25 players to earn consensus All-America status last year are back this season. Last year's national champs, Michigan, sent 13 players to the NFL draft. There's simply a vacuum of stardom waiting to be filled.
That makes the job of ranking the 100 best players particularly difficult.