The Rivals250 for the 2025 class has been updated and now it’s time to break down each position. We conclude the defensive positions today by looking at four big storylines moving forward with the athlete rankings.

NEW POSITION RANKINGS: Athlete | Cornerback | Safety | Outside Linebacker | Inside Linebacker | Strongside Defensive End | Weakside Defensive End | Defensive Tackle | Offensive Tackle | Offensive Guard | Center | Wide Receiver | Tight End | Running Back | All-Purpose Back | Pro-Style QB | Dual-Threat QB

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RIVALS RANKINGS WEEK

Sunday: Who should be No. 1?

Monday: Five-Star Countdown | Meet the new five-stars

Tuesday: New Rivals250 unveiled | Gorney goes position-by-position | Biggest risers

Wednesday: New offensive position rankings released | QB rankings breakdown | RB rankings breakdown | WR/TE rankings breakdown | OL rankings breakdown

Thursday: New defensive position rankings released | DL rankings breakdown | LB rankings breakdown | DB rankings breakdown | ATH rankings breakdown

Friday: New state rankings released | Who is No. 1 in each state?

Saturday: Roundtable on the new Rivals250 rankings

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DJ Pickett was moved from safety to athlete in the February update earlier this year, already ranked a five-star prospect. He has since hovered around No. 9 and No. 10 in the Rivals250 rankings, the only athlete to receive a five-star rating. In this most recent update, Pickett once again found himself as the lone athlete with that distinction.

In fact, there was not another athlete in the top 100 of the Rivals250. This is not that big of a surprise though. Looking at the position over the past 10 cycles, there have been just three years where more than one athlete was given a five-star rating. Much of this is due to positions being mostly ironed out by signing day outside of the truly multi-positional players.

As the 2025 cycle goes on, there are prospects once ranked as athletes that either choose to focus on one position at the next level or they simply project better at a single position. This leads to moves into specific position rankings that better reflect their future, such as an athlete being moved to wide receiver. There are occasionally moves from specific positions to athlete later in the cycle, but much more takes place in getting brought out of the athlete position.

With that, the numbers are thinning out at the position. In the previous Rivals250 update, there were 17 prospects at athlete rated four-stars or better. In this week's update, there are now just 12 rated four-stars or better. This tells us there were a net loss of five, either because of positional changes or drops in the rankings. Some examples in this update are both Jontae Gilbert and Marcus Wimberly being moved to the safety position from athlete.

I would expect this trend to continue as some prospects will likely begin to fit the mold of one position better than another. With multiple major updates still ahead, keep an eye on which of the remaining 12 blue-chip prospects at the position remain or move away.

With athlete numbers thinning out at as the 2025 cycle continues, there are now just three athlete prospects ranked inside the Rivals250: Pickett at No. 10, Derick Smith at No. 110 and Cameron Sparks at No. 112.

The three prospects at the position leave it tied for the fewest prospects at one position in the Rivals250. It matches the numbers of all-purpose back and center, both typically positions given out to niche prospects.

It will be intriguing to see if the nine non-Rivals250 four-star prospects make a case this fall to call for a rise into the national rankings. This also goes for prospects currently pegged as three-stars who could surge with big senior seasons and see a star added to their ranking.

Two candidates to keep an eye on are the first two four-stars outside of the Rivals250, Illinois commit Jershaun Newton and uncomitted Jaden Nickens.

With just three total athletes currently in the Rivals250, and only one in the top-100, it would be a tall task to find another five-star.

Auburn commit Derick Smith may be the best option, although there is still a very outside chance of it happening. But looking at the trend of Smith's rankings, he has certainly been rising in the Rivals250. In the last two updates, he has gone from No. 155 to No. 134 and now from No. 134 to No. 110 overall. If he continues this trend, there is a good chance we will see him in the top 100 as he once was very early in his prep career.

Outside Smith, it would be tough to make the case for others. I doubt we see anyone outside the Rivals250 make that kind of surge this late in the cycle and looking at Cameron Sparks, who just dropped out of the top 100, it would be hard to sell him moving back up quite that high.