This offseason, the cost of retaining top talent in college football increased significantly. Power 4 programs determined to compete at the highest level in 2025 are planning to spend $15 million or more on their football rosters in the first year of the post-House settlement revenue-sharing era.
If you wanted to keep your best players out of the portal or the NFL draft, you had to pony up. Ohio State did what was necessary to get back Jack Sawyer, Emeka Egbuka, TreVeyon Henderson and several more senior leaders for another year. Together, they won a national championship last season.
Now that the winter portal and draft deadlines have passed, let's take a look at key players for each Way-Too-Early Top 25 team who were important to retain for 2025.
1. Ohio State Buckeyes
2024 record: 14-2, 7-2 Big Ten
Key player retained: Carnell Tate, WR
Tate was worth a lot of money to teams with receiver needs and would've commanded a serious bidding war if he'd put his name in the transfer portal after the Buckeyes' national championship victory. But the rising star is staying in Columbus and eager to prove he can be one of the best wideouts in the country.