Carolinas ACC football programs' expectations for 2025

ACC

Clemson (10-4, 7-1 ACC in 2024) is the prohibitive favorite to repeat as confrerence football champion in 2025.

The Carolinas’ ACC schools have big hopes for 2025.

Clemson (10-4 in 2024, 7-1 ACC)

The Tigers go into the season as the favorite to win the conference title. Clemson won the 2024 title game on a walk-off field goal by Hough High alumnus Nolan Hauser. The Tigers’ run in the College Football Playoff, however, was cut short with a 38-24 loss to Texas. 

Clemson coach Dabo Swinney said the goal is still the same this season as it is every season. He feels the Tigers are capable of winning championships, but it is going to take hard work, and he feels his team is ready for the challenge.

“It's been a good off-season,” Swinney said. “The guys have put the work in. We've been around a lot of good teams, and this team has the ingredients to be a really good team, but we've got to go do the work. We can't talk about it or predict our way into it. Y'all can't predict our way into it. We've got to go do it and do the work.”

Duke (9-4 in 2024, 5-3 ACC)

The Blue Devils come in under second year head coach Manny Diaz after an impressive showing in year one. Duke brought in nine transfers to help construct the 2025 roster, and one transfer in particular will need to have an immediate impact.

Former Tulane quarterback Darian Mensah joined the Blue Devils during the offseason. Mensah, 6-3 and 200 pounds was Duke’s highest-ranked transfer. In 2024 at Tulane, Mensah threw for 2,723 yards and 22 touchdowns to just six interceptions. 

“It's been my dream to play Power [Four] football since I was a little kid,” he said. “That was something that I wanted to do for sure. It's definitely not easy getting to know a new team when you had an old team just before and then moving to a new place that you're not familiar with. I'm excited for the challenges because I know that's where I'm going to elevate my game and my teammates as well.”

North Carolina State (6-7 in 2024, 3-5 ACC)

The Wolfpack had a lackluster 2024 by their standards. While they did beat rival North Carolina, the Wolfpack lost a handful of one-possession games that could have gone either way. 

Coach David Doeren said that offensively, his team returns a lot on that side, especially at the skill positions. Defensively, the Wolfpack lost a good bit to graduation and transfers. However, he feels NCSU did a solid job adding players in the offseason.

“We have the same aspirations that we've had, and that's to win every game that we play and to put ourselves in a position to be in the conversation at the end of the year,” Doeren said. “We look forward to the opportunity starting Monday with these guys to show that we're ready to do that.”

North Carolina (6-7 in 2024, 3-5 ACC)

The Tar Heels have been the talk of the college football world during the offseason, in large part due to the change at head coach with six-time Super Bowl winner Bill Belichick replacing Mack Brown. 

“Appreciate everybody coming out today,” he said. “It's really exciting for me to be here … [everyone has] been very supportive, has given us a great opportunity at a school that's already a great school with a great brand. … The support's been overwhelmingly tremendous. Not only supportive but engaged and very excited. We want to match that excitement and put that on the field.”

UNC has 70 new players. One returnee is Jordan Shipp, a receiver and Providence Day graduate who drew parallels between Belichick and his high school coach Chad Grier. 

“A lot of the conversations that I've had with coach Grier in high school are kind of similar to what coach Belichick brings,” Shipp said. “He wants you to be tough, smart, dependable, and coach Grier echoed that same thing when we were in high school, and I feel like that's why we were so good at such a high-level high school program because of the way he carried himself and the things that he poured into us.”

Wake Forest (4-8 in 2024, 2-6 ACC)

After a season far from what the Demon Deacons hoped for, they hired a new coach in Jake Dickert who came over from Washington State. He now has the challenge of getting his team united after bringing in 43 new players. 

“It's been 217 days since I've been hired in late December,” Dickert said, “and from the very first moment, we hit the ground running. We built a tremendous staff. We brought in 43 new players, eight from the high school ranks and 35 from the transfer portal. Our transfer portal guys bring in 17,000-plus career snaps of experience to our football team. Quickly, we created a vision. We established a standard, and we laid a foundation for what Wake Forest football is going to be like now and into the future.”



 

 

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