Five breakout freshman who could make an instant impact this college football season

In the past two years, two of the best players in college football were true freshmen, as Jeremiah Smith helped lead the Ohio State Buckeyes to a national championship during the 2024 season as a freshman, while Miami Hurricanes wide receiver Malachi Toney helped lead Miami to the title game as a true freshman.

Increasingly, players are arriving at the college level ready to make an immediate impact, and that’s not expected to change this season, as there are a few freshmen who could be ready to contribute immediately. Here are five that should be on your radar this season.

Luke Wafle is the top edge rusher in the 2026 class, a 6-foot-5, 260-pounder who earned his fifth star late in recruiting. He posted 23 sacks and 37 tackles for loss as a senior and won Navy All-American Bowl MVP honors.

USC finished 58th against the run and managed only 31 sacks last season, making Wafle a necessity for a defense that lacked pass rushers and talent on the defensive line. He’s expected to rotate in immediately and could become a starter or a regular contributor quickly.

In fact, Wafle contributed immediately for USC, earning snaps in the season-opening win over San Jose State, where he recorded two total tackles and a quarterback hurry.

The Michigan Wolverines return Jordan Marshall as their starting running back, but it’s not going to be easy to keep Savion Hiter off the field.

Hiter is the consensus No. 1 running back in the 2026 class, arriving at Michigan as a 6-foot, 210-pound athlete with a rare combination of strength and speed.

While Marshall will be the starter, there will be plenty of carries to go around in that Michigan offense, and Hiter will get meaningful carries from day one. The Wolverines love running the football, and early fall camp buzz has been overwhelmingly positive, so expect him to get the ball early and often this season.

Five-star quarterback Jared Curtis flipped his commitment from Georgia to Vanderbilt late in the cycle, becoming the program’s highest-rated recruit ever. The 6-foot-3, 225-pound quarterback threw for 9,674 yards and 128 touchdowns in high school while rushing for another 49 scores.

While Curtis lost the starting job to second-year quarterback Blaze Berlowitz, he still has a lot of hype heading into this season and remains the heavy favorite to take over as the starter by the end of the year.

If and when Curtis gets on the field for the Commodores, he’ll have some big shoes to fill following the departure of Diego Pavia, but he’s bringing some day-one star power that the team has never seen before.

Five-star quarterback Faizon Brandon won Tennessee’s starting job as a true freshman, becoming the first true freshman to do so since 2004. The 6-foot-4, 225-pound quarterback from North Carolina was the No. 3 overall quarterback in the 2026 recruiting class and was his state’s Mr. Football, posting a 35-1 record as a starter with 82 career touchdown passes.

While it’s never easy for a true freshman stepping into a starting role, Brandon has about as good a scenario as you could ask for as Tennessee returns the bulk of its offensive line and has 800-yard receivers in Mike Matthews and Braylon Staley, and a strong running back room.

Starting as a true freshman in the SEC is a tall task, but he’s got all the tools and a strong, veteran team around him.

It might not be the flashiest position, but Jackson Cantwell is at the top of this list for a reason.

A 6-foot-8, 325-pound superstar, Cantwell became the first offensive lineman ever to win Gatorade National Football Player of the Year as he finished his high school career with an astounding 459 pancake blocks over four high school seasons. He also did not allow a sack as a senior.

While Cantwell has not yet been officially announced as a starter, Miami lost four starters on the offensive line, clearing the path for Cantwell to start immediately at left tackle, and it sounds like that’s a very real possibility.

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