13 All-Americans await Mississippi State in grueling 2025 schedule

The Associated Press’s annual preseason All-America teams were announced yesterday and, unsurprisingly, Mississippi State didn’t have any players named.

But the Bulldogs will be seeing plenty of these preseason All-Americans during the upcoming season.

Mississippi State will cross paths with 13 All-Americans this season, including:

Texas A&M guard Ar’maj Reed-Adams
Florida center Jake Slaughter
Arizona State wide receiver Jordyn Tyson
Missouri guard Cayden Green
Texas edge rusher Colin Simmons
Texas linebacker Anthony Hill Jr.
Tennessee defensive back Jermod McCoy
Texas defensive back Michael Taafe
Georgia defensive tackle Christen Miller
Texas A&M linebacker Taurean York
Georgia safety KJ Bolden
Georgia kicker Peyton Woodring
Georgia punter Brett Thorson

The fact Mississippi State will face a baker’s dozen of All-Americans only reinforces how hard its schedule is in 2025. The Bulldogs’ have the sixth-hardest schedule in the nation and the five teams with harder schedules all reside in the SEC.

That certainly won’t be making coach Jeff Lebby’s job of improving on last year’s two-win season, but there is a lot of confidence in Starkville right now that will happen.

“We’re 100 percent better than last year,” safety Isaac Smith said after a practice last week. “We finished last in almost every category. The coaches have done a great job recruiting, and coach (Coleman) Hutzler has done an excellent job preparing the players. This camp has been crucial, and we’re starting to look really, really good.”

Time is running out though for preseason preparations. The Bulldogs will have just two practices this week (Tuesday and Wednesday) before holding a mock game run through (closed to the public, of course) at 11 a.m. Saturday. They’ll then be off Sunday and Monday marks the start of the first game week.

“There'll be a lot of scout work next week as we get ready for the first few opponents,” Lebby said. “That'll be important for our guys to have this great amount of growth and get ready to go while some of our guys' roles are going to be changing.”

We’ll find out those changes soon enough because in 11 days, Mississippi State will take to the field against Southern Miss.

2025 AP Preseason All-America Teams

Offense (first team):

Cade Klubnik, QB, Clemson
Jeremiyah Love, RB, Notre Dame
Nick Singleton, RB, Penn State
Spencer Fano, T, Utah
Kadyn Proctor, T, Alabama
Olaivavega Ioane, G, Penn State
Ar'maj Reed-Adams, G, Texas A&M
Jake Slaughter, C, Florida
Eli Stowers, TE, Vanderbilt
Jeremiah Smith, WR, Ohio State
Ryan Williams, WR, Alabama
Jordyn Tyson, WR, Arizona State
Desmond Reid, all-purpose, Pittsburgh

Offense (second team):

Garrett Nussmeier, QB, LSU
Makhi Hughes, RB, Oregon
Isaac Brown, RB, Louisville
Francis Mauigoa, T, Miami
Blake Miller, T, Clemson
Cayden Green, G, Missouri
Keylan Rutledge, G, Georgia Tech
Parker Brailsford, C, Alabama
Max Klare, TE, Ohio State
Antonio Williams, WR, Clemson
Elijah Sarratt, WR, Indiana
Cam Coleman, WR, Auburn
Kaytron Allen, all-purpose, Penn State

Defense (first team):

Dylan Stewart, edge rusher, South Carolina
Colin Simmons, edge rusher, Texas
Peter Woods, T, Clemson
Zane Durant, T, Penn State
Anthony Hill Jr., LB, Texas
Whit Weeks, LB, LSU
Kyle Louis, LB, Pittsburgh
Leonard Moore, CB, Notre Dame
Jermod McCoy, Tennessee
Caleb Downs, S, Ohio State
Dillon Thieneman, Oregon
Michael Taafe, DB, Texas

Defense (second team):

T.J. Parker, edge rusher, Clemson
Matayo Uiagalelei, edge rusher, Oregon
Tim Keenan III, T, Alabama
Christen Miller, T, Georgia
Taurean York, LB, Texas A&M
Harold Perkins Jr., LB, LSU
Aiden Fisher, LB, Indiana
Chandler Rivers, CB, Duke
D'Angelo Ponds, CB, Indiana
Koi Perich, S, Minnesota
KJ Bolden, S, Georgia
Jalen Kilgore, DB, South Carolina

Special teams:

Dominic Zvada, K, Michigan (first team)
Peyton Woodring, K, Georgia (second team)
Brett Thorson, P, Georgia (first team)
Ryan Eckley, P, Michigan State (second team)