Male college students represent an understudied group in nutrition research that may be at risk for poor diet quality. Project NEW (Nanooks Eating Well) was a study that aimed to assess the social determinants and quality of the diet of male college students (ages 18 to 25 years). Two 24‐hour dietary recalls were collected from 100 male college students using Nutrition Data Systems for Research Software. A web‐based questionnaire was also administered that assessed sociodemographic characteristics, food attitudes and beliefs, and cooking facilities. We found that the diets fell short of the current American Heart Association guidelines, with less than 20% of the population meeting the recommendations for fruit and vegetable servings, EPA/DHA fatty acids, dietary fiber, and saturated fat intake. Only 25% of the population met the guidelines for trans‐fat intake and 45% met the guidelines for cholesterol. About 35% of the population ranked eating not processed food as important and 45% ranked eating food prepared at home as important. These results suggest that the diets of college‐aged men may put them at risk for the development of cardiovascular disease in the future and this group may represent an important target group for a dietary intervention.