Top 25 true freshmen of the century: From Trevor Lawrence to Adrian Peterson, the best debuts since 2000

True freshmen have always played an outsized role in the direction of college football seasons.

College football certainly isn’t college basketball, where one-and-done players (a la Cooper Flagg) often emerge as the defining player of a season, at least since the NBA changed its eligibility rules in 2005.

But it is a sport in which first-year freshmen — the freakiest of the athletic freaks — have almost always found a way to make a huge impact. What would the 2024 college football season would have been without Jeremiah Smith (more on him later) or the 2016 season without Jalen Hurts (more on him as well)?

True freshmen like Herschel Walker and his 150 yards and two touchdowns in the 1980 national title game are responsible for some of the most notable individual seasons in the sport’s history.

With college football set to enter the 26th season of the 21st century, it’s a great time to look back at the first 25 years and highlight the best of the best true freshman seasons. Some were 247Sports True Freshmen of the Year. Others, from the early 2000s, were transcendent stars that helped define the early years of the BCS.

25. LaRon Landry, S, LSU (2003)

Landry started 10 games as a true freshman for one of the most dominant defenses in recent college football memory. The Tigers allowed only 11 points per game that season and just once saw an opponent (Arkansas) clear the 20-point barrier. Landry posted 80 tackles, 3.5 tackles for loss, three sacks and two interceptions that season on the way to a national championship. 

24. Myles Jack, LB/RB, UCLA (2013)

Jack started 13 games his true freshman year for a 10-3 team. Twelve were at linebacker. The other? At running back. Jack finished with 76 tackles, seven tackles for loss and a pair of interceptions. Due to a rash of injuries at running back, Jack was called into emergency duty late in the season. He made his running back debut against Arizona with 120 yards on just six carries. He then ran for a UCLA freshman record four touchdowns in a win over Washington. Jack finished the 2013 season as both the Pac-12 Freshman Offensive and Defensive Player of the Year.

23. Nick Chubb, RB, Georgia (2014)

Chubb didn’t make his first start until midway through the 2014 season. But he made the most of his time on the field, rushing for 1,547 yards and an SEC-best 14 touchdowns on an eye-popping 7.1 yards per carry. Chubb, who emerged as Georgia’s top back in the absence of Todd Gurley — first for a suspension, later due to a season-ending knee injury from the former Heisman frontrunner — earned his first start against Missouri in Week 7 and went on to clear the 100-yard barrier in the Tigers’ final eight games. That run included a 266-yard bowl game effort against Louisville.

Chubb gets a slight nod over Gurley on this list despite Gurley’s incredible 2012 debut.

22. Eric Berry, S, Tennessee (2007)

Berry could not have made a bigger statement in his SEC debut against defending national champion Florida. He picked off Tim Tebow midway through the third quarter, returning the pass for a 96-yard touchdown that cut the Gators’ lead to 28-20. Florida would eventually run away with the win. But Berry never stopped making plays as a true freshman, totaling 86 tackles, two tackles for loss and five interceptions for a Tennessee team that reached the SEC Championship Game.

Berry would become one of the best defensive backs in college football history and later made the NFL’s 2010s all-decade team.

21. Roosevelt Nix, DT, Kent State (2010)

The 2010 MAC Defensive Player of the Year, Nix was a 250-pound wrecking ball in the middle of the Golden Flashes defense. He finished his debut season with 20 tackles for loss and 10 sacks, leading the MAC in both categories despite playing defensive tackle. Nix would later star on the only double-digit win team in Kent State history (11 wins in 2011) and would later emerge as a Pro Bowl NFL fullback.

20. Ahmad Brooks, LB, Virginia (2003)

One of the highest-rated recruits in Virginia history, Brooks lived up to that billing immediately as arguably the most impactful player on a top 25 scoring defense. Brooks finished his debut season with a team-high 117 tackles along with 10 tackles for loss, four sacks and six passes defended. He’d go on to become a first-team All-American and NFL Pro Bowler.

Howell helped begin Mack Brown’s second stint in Chapel Hill with a bang. He threw for 3,641 yards and an ACC-best 38 touchdowns against just seven interceptions, helping the Tar Heels improve by five wins compared to a 2-9 effort during the 2018 campaign under Larry Fedora. The only true freshman quarterback with a better statistical debut than Howell is the No. 1 player on this list.

18. Cam Robinson, LT, Alabama (2014)

There’s no more difficult position to play right away in college football than offensive tackle. That’s especially true in the SEC for a College Football Playoff team. But that’s what Robinson did for the Tide in 2014, emerging as a Day 1 starter and surrendering just two sacks all season while recording a 73.8 PFF grade.

Alabama won the SEC that season and earned the No. 1 seed in the initial playoff.  

17. Maurice Clarett, RB, Ohio State (2002)

One of the most famous true freshmen in college football history, Clarett starred for the Buckeyes’ 2002 national title team. He ran for 1,237 yards and 16 touchdowns that season on 5.6 yards per carry across 11 games. He ended that season in the sweetest way possible: A 5-yard touchdown run in double-OT against Miami to win the national championship.

That would prove to be the last carry of Clarett’s college football career. Ohio State suspended him before the 2003 season for receiving thousands in improper benefits — how crazy is that sentence in 2025? Then Clarett hired an agent and attempted to challenge the NFL rule that requires players to wait until three years after high school to enter the NFL Draft. He failed and was eventually drafted in the third round of the 2005 NFL Draft.

16. Samaje Perine, RB, Oklahoma (2014)

Nobody in FBS history has ever run for more yards in a single game than Samaje Perine, and he did it as a true freshman! During a rainy afternoon in Norman against a 3-7 Kansas team, Perine ran 34 times 427 yards and five touchdowns. Those 427 yards remain a NCAA record. Perine had runs of 49, 33, 34, 66 and 42 yards in a 44-7 win.

He finished the season with a Big 12-best 1,713 yards and 21 touchdowns on 6.5 yards per carry. His 74 missed forced tackles were the second-most in the FBS, and he ranked eighth nationally in yards after contact.

15. Derek Barnett, DL, Tennessee (2014)

An immediate starter and superstar for Tennessee, Derek Barnett just put up numbers as a true freshman. He had an incredible 72 tackles as a 6-foot-3, 265-pound defensive end to go along with 21 tackles for loss (first in the SEC) and 10 sacks.

Barnett came on particularly strong in SEC play, posting 18 TFLs in eight conference games. He had a three-sack performance against then-No. 3 Ole Miss and posted three sacks again two weeks later against Kentucky.

14. Kendall Fuller, CB, Virginia Tech (2013)

The best true freshman cornerback of the 21st century prior to Stingley’s emergence, Fuller was dominant with 58 tackles, three tackles for loss and six interceptions, which tied for seventh nationally. Remarkably, Fuller played next to another true freshman (Brandon Facyson), who played nearly as well, reeling in five interceptions. The Hokies finished the year eighth in passing yards allowed per game and held opposing passers to a 48.2 completion percentage, which was fourth nationally.

13. Rondale Moore, WR, Purdue (2018)

Moore did everything for Purdue as a true freshman with 114 catches to go along with 1,258 yards and 12 touchdowns. He ran for 213 yards and two touchdowns. He also returned more kicks (33) than all but three players in the country that season.

Moore ended the year as the first consensus true freshman All-American in Big Ten history. He also won the Paul Hornung Award, which goes to college football’s most versatile player.

Oh yeah, there’s also his 12-catch, 170-yard, two-touchdown performance in a history-making 49-20 upset over then-No. 6 Ohio State.

12. Phillip Rivers, QB, NC State (2000)

It wasn’t common to throw for 3,000 yards in 2000. Only 10 FBS quarterbacks did so that year. One of them was Rivers, a freshman sensation for the Wolfpack. Rivers started from the jump, throwing 57 (!!!) passes in his debut, a double-overtime win over Arkansas State. Rivers finished that season with 3,054 yards and 25 touchdowns against 10 interceptions, helping NC State jump from six to eight wins and post a top 25 scoring offense.

11. Jalen Hurts, QB, Alabama (2016)

Hurts took over as Alabama’s starter for Blake Barnett in Alabama’s season opener against USC. He ended the year as the SEC’s Offensive Player of the Year with 2,780 yards passing, 23 touchdowns and nine interceptions. He also, in some ways, was the SEC’s most imposing ball carrier with 954 yards and 13 touchdowns on five yards per touch.

He came up huge when it mattered, too. He led Alabama on a six-play, 68-yard touchdown drive with two minutes remaining to take the lead against Clemson in the 2016 national championship game. Unfortunately for the Tide, his drive is largely lost to history because of Clemson’s game-winning touchdown as time expired. You know the play; Deshaun Watson to Hunter Renfrow.

10. Mike Williams, WR, USC (2002)

It’s not often a Heisman winner has a freshman as his go-to receiver. But it took no time at all for Williams to establish himself as Carson Palmer’s top target. Williams posted 81 catches for 1,265 yards and a Pac-10 best 14 touchdowns as a freshman, setting Pac-10 and USC freshman records for yards and touchdowns. Williams was so good in college that he played two years, sat out a season — after being ruled ineligible for the 2004 NFL Draft — and still went No. 10 overall the following year.

9. Ed Oliver, DT, Houston (2016)

If you’re looking for a game to explain Oliver’s 2016 impact, look no further than a 36-10 win over No. 5 Louisville and eventual Heisman winner Lamar Jackson. Oliver finished that game with three tackles for loss, two sacks, two pass breakups and a forced fumble. His head coach, Tom Herman, compared him to an alien postgame.

Oliver ended his true freshman season with 66 tackles, 23 tackles for loss (second nationally) and five sacks. He also added nine passes defended for good measure. Remember, he’s a DT!

8. Jonathan Taylor, RB, Wisconsin (2017)

Adrian Peterson had 11 100-yard rushing games as a true freshman. Taylor is the only player to come close to that record since, recording 10 of them during a true freshman campaign that saw him sixth in the Heisman voting. Taylor ran for 1,977 yards and 13 touchdowns on 6.6 yards per carry, helping to lift the Badgers to a 12-0 regular season and to the cusp of a Big Ten championship in a six-point loss to Ohio State. Wisconsin doesn’t get to that point without Taylor.

7. Tommie Harris, DT, Oklahoma (2001)

Reigning national champion Oklahoma had the most feared defense in college football entering 2001, and Harris pushed into the starting lineup right away. He’d finish his debut season with 32 tackles, 17 tackles for loss and a pair of sacks, helping the Sooners to finish in the top five of yards per play (3rd), scoring defense (4th) and rushing yards allowed per carry (5th). Oklahoma wouldn’t repeat but it finished the season at 11-2.

6. Brock Bowers, TE, Georgia (2021)

Perhaps the best measure of dominance for a freshman in each season is how that player ranked among his peers. Brock Bowers stepped onto the field in 2021 and immediately emerged as the Power Four’s top tight end.

He led all Power Four tight ends with a 92.1 PFF grade during a season in which he caught 56 passes for 882 yards and 13 touchdowns (sixth nationally). Bowers emerged as Stetson Bennett’s go-to target during a national championship run, including touchdowns catches in Georgia’s final five games. Bowers was the only Bulldog that year to record 500 yards receiving.

5. Derek Stingley Jr., CB, LSU (2019)

Stingley entered LSU with generational prospect hype. He was, at the time, the highest-rated cornerback in Top247 history. He lived up to that billing, emerging as arguably college football’s top cornerback. Stingley led all FBS cornerbacks in 2019 with a 91.7 PFF coverage grade, holding opposing passers to a 37% completion rate. He finished the season with 38 tackles, six interceptions (third nationally) and 21 passes defended (second nationally).

It doesn’t hurt Stingley’s case for top-five billing that LSU won the 2019 national championship. Stingley allowed only a single reception on six targets that night against Clemson and Trevor Lawrence. 

You don’t set the FBS’ all-time tackling record in three years without getting off to a fast start, and Kuechly did just that in 2009 with 158 tackles, 13 tackles for loss and a pick-6. Not a bad for a three-star recruit who picked the Eagles over his hometown Cincinnati.

Kuechly would go on to get even better with seasons of 183 (2010) and an NCAA single-season record 191 tackles (2011). But his true freshman season of 158 is still the 22nd-best single-season effort of all time.

3. Adrian Peterson, RB, Oklahoma (2004)

Nobody’s ever started their career quite like Adrian Peterson. Nine regular season games, a record-setting nine straight 100-yard efforts. He ran for 225 yards on No. 5 Texas and then cleared the 200-yard barrier again a few weeks later in a 38-35 win over No. 20 Oklahoma State.

Peterson finished his debut season with 1,925 yards and 15 touchdowns on an eye-popping 339 carries. He helped the Sooners to a 12-0 regular season record and an appearance in the national championship game against USC.  

2. Jeremiah Smith, WR, Ohio State (2024)

You could argue Jeremiah Smith, perhaps sans Travis Hunter and Ashton Jeanty, was already the best player in college football at the end of his true freshman campaign. He dominated from the jump with a 76-catch, 1,315-yard (third nationally) and 15-touchdown (second nationally) debut season that ended in a national championship.

1. Trevor Lawrence, QB, Clemson (2018)

One of only two true freshman starting quarterbacks to lead their team to a national championship — Oklahoma’s Jamelle Holieway being the other in 1985 — Lawrence immediately lived up to the recruiting hype. He threw for 3,280 yards and led the ACC with both 30 touchdowns (against just four interceptions) and 8.3 yards per attempt. Lawrence is the only FBS true freshman since 2000 to throw for 3,000-plus yards, 30-plus touchdowns and fewer than five interceptions in his debut season.

Did I mention how Lawrence finished his freshman season? He threw for a combined 674 yards, six touchdowns and zero interceptions in CFP wins over Notre Dame and Alabama.