cfb zeitgeistZeitgeist
OFFSEASON · SUMMER 2026 · COMMITMENT SEASON
Heisman / Players / Anthony Bynum /Middle Tennessee

Anthony Bynum

DE · Middle Tennessee · So

Below the discourse floor — the honest stats-only state.

63 TACKLES · 2.5 SACKS

2026 RETURNINGReturning to Middle Tennessee for 2026

2026 Outlook

Returning to Middle Tennessee for 2026

2026 Depth chart

Projected starter

Defensive end · Middle Tennessee

Returning around him

  • 99% of 2024 offensive production back (Strong continuity)
  • 1 Middle Tennessee player drafted to NFL
  • Transfer portal: +1 net (19 in / 18 out)

2026 Award watch

No preseason watch lists yet (most drop June 15 – July 15)

Middle Tennessee · Last season: 3-9 · Talent rank #110 · 2026 recruiting class #98

DE · MIDDLE TENNESSEE · CONFERENCE USA

Anthony Bynum

  • 2
  • 6-3 | 260 lb
  • Covington, GA

CFB Zeitgeist Score

86

All-Conference in the position cohort. Carried by sacks at the 85th percentile.

Heisman Heat

#15663

<1% win probability

Fan Belief

Awaiting

Player-specific FI not yet ingested. Falls back to team mood below.

Respect Gap

Awaiting

Coming online with player-level FI.

Reality Gap

Awaiting

Coming online with player-level FI.

ACCOLADE PROBABILITY

Heisman

<1%

TOP DEFENSE AWARD

Nagurski

CONSENSUS

All-American

Player Standing · 17 rungs

Tier 2 · Starter

R07 · Impact starter

Impact starter. Producing measurable value above replacement.

Not on team2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex

Career Arc

HS
Recruit
★★★
#1933 national
CFB
College
Middle Tennessee
2023–2025
NFL
NFL Draft
Not drafted (yet)

Identity & Role

The durable bio layer: position, size, hometown, and roster role.

PositionDE
Class2
Jersey--
Measurements6-3 | 260 lb
HometownCovington, GA
Primary teamMiddle Tennessee

Recruiting Pedigree

How big the prospect was before college, and whether the later career arc beat that expectation.

Top pedigree 3-star No. 1933 recruit
Composite rating 0.8270 HighSchool
Signed with Middle Tennessee 2023
Origin Newton Covington, GA, USA
Class Profile Context
2023 3-star | 0.8270 No. 1933 recruit | HighSchool | Middle Tennessee

Transfer Arc

Portal movement changes role, context, and perception. This keeps that path in one place.

Portal moves 0 No portal entry on file
Latest destination -- --
Transfer stars -- CFBD transfer rating context
Eligibility -- Transfer date TBD
Season Move Context
No transfer portal moves on file for this player.

Heisman Lens · 2024 Season · Final

Where the player landed at the end of the listed season — final nowcast rank, win/finalist/ballot probabilities, and the cleanest official Heisman placement on file.

HIGH CONFIDENCE· through week 16
Current nowcast#15663Latest modeled ballot order
Season forecast#15752Where the full season sim points
Win probability0.0%Chance to actually win the trophy
Finalist probability0.0%Chance to make the finalist tier
Ballot probability0.0%Chance to appear anywhere on a ballot
Best official finish--Best completed Heisman placement on file

Heisman Futures

Not yet listed on major futures markets.

No achievements unlocked yet this season.

Selector Grid · 2025

AP
FWAA
AFCA
WCFF
SN
SI

Selector recognition fills in once the major honors lists (AP, FWAA, AFCA, Walter Camp, Sporting News, SI) are scraped and ingested.

NIL · Recruiting · NFL Draft

Market value, pedigree & pro outcome

Recruit stars

★★★☆☆

to Middle Tennessee

Composite

0.8270

#1933 national

Today’s Hot-Take

The Hot-Take engine fires when this player’s percentile profile crosses a defensible threshold (top 10% in a cohort, 100+ snap sample). When it’s quiet, the model is honoring its “must be defensible” rule.

Anti-Take

PENDING

The contrarian read fires when the rules-engine detects a stat that complicates the Hot-Take. Quiet here means the model hasn’t found a defensible counter yet — not that one doesn’t exist.

The Room on Anthony Bynum

Fan sentiment · Awaiting signal

The Room reads fan conversation around a player — who’s talking, what they believe, and how that shifts. It publishes once weekly volume rebuilds; for most players that’s in-season, when game-week chatter spikes.

Cohort divergence map

Cohort divergence reads how different fanbases talk about this player. Returns once weekly mentions clear the publish floor.

Rival Radar

How rival fanbases talk about Anthony Bynum

No rival-bucket mentions in the current season.

Signature Story

Awaiting candidate metric

He hasn't written his page yet — we'll start filling it in when there are enough snaps to rank against his peers.

Signature Moment

No signature moment on the ledger yet.

Returns once this player puts together a multi-game body of work — single-game flashes alone don't clear the bar.

A 3-act season arc returns once this player has six or more games on the ledger.

Season Pace · Projection

Where the defensive totals stand

projecting to 13-game
Through 12g
63Tackles
6Tackles for loss
2.5Sacks
Per game
5Tackles
0.5Tackles for loss
0.2Sacks
Projected (13g)
68Tackles
6.5Tackles for loss
2.7Sacks

To hit 80-tackle season (currently 63): needs 17/game over remaining 1.

To hit 100-tackle season (currently 63): needs 37/game over remaining 1.

To hit 6-sack season (currently 2.5): needs 3.5/game over remaining 1.

To hit 10-sack season (currently 2.5): needs 7.5/game over remaining 1.

Why this is a rare defensive case

The fast read on the thing that makes this player more than a generic stat line.

Anthony Bynum is trying to climb the steepest award hill in college football: a defensive candidacy. The hook is the disruption profile on Middle Tennessee's defense, with 2.5 sacks, 6.0 tackles for loss, and -- interceptions through the current loaded season. For a defender, the question is never just production; it is whether elite disruption and team context can become nationally undeniable.

Current place #15663 0.0% win | 0.0% finalist
Role load -- Role share still loading
Profile quirk Honors spine 1 honors loaded

2025 Season · Final

Traditional stats first. Advanced context underneath.

Last season

DEF season snapshot

2025 season snapshot | final

2025 season snapshot | finalData: CFBD player stats + local Heisman modelPeer context: same position + same level
Total tackles 63 22 solo | #360/4942 (93rd pct)
TFL 6.0 Backfield disruption | #406/4972 (92nd pct)
Sacks 2.5 Pass-rush finish | #393/4972 (92nd pct)
Player identity What kind of player is this?

30-second read

What kind of player is this?

High-disruption defender | Coverage splash | High-volume tackler against FBS defenders.

High-disruption defenderCoverage splashHigh-volume tackler

2025 Season · Final

2025 season snapshot | final

Tackling & Disruption

TOT
63 93rd
SOLO
22 80th
TFL
6.0 92nd
SACK
2.5 92nd
QBH
8 98th

Coverage & Takeaways

PD
4 84th

Game Log · Week-by-week

2025 season · 12 games

Box score · CFBD
WkOppTKLSOLOTFLSACKINTPDNote
Wk 1L 14-34vs Austin Peay600.50.00
Wk 2L 10-42@ Wisconsin210.00.00
Wk 3W 14-13@ Nevada520.50.00
Wk 4L 28-42vs Marshall510.00.01
Wk 5L 16-24@ Kennesaw State430.00.00
Wk 7L 20-22vs Missouri State311.51.01
Wk 9L 28-31@ Delaware911.51.01Season-high 9 tackles
Wk 10L 21-24vs Jacksonville State730.00.01
Wk 11L 30-56vs Florida International931.00.50
Wk 12L 26-42@ Western Kentucky310.00.00
Wk 13W 31-17vs Sam Houston631.00.00
Wk 14W 31-24@ New Mexico State430.00.00
Total63226.02.54
Season-by-season tables Career rows + per-season box score

Traditional history

Traditional Stats

Season rows up top, career context at the bottom.

Season rows Career row

Season context · Team result + system

2023Middle Tennessee4-8HC: Rick Stockstill · Balanced
2025Middle Tennessee3-9HC: Derek Mason · Pass-leaning
SeasonTeam
2025Middle Tennessee63226.02.54----
2023Middle Tennessee220.00.0------
Career2 loaded seasons65246.02.54----
Advanced layer Usage, value, and context

Advanced metrics second

Advanced Metrics

Usage, value, and opponent-adjusted context.

Usage Value Context
Disruption stats

TFL, sacks, and QB hurries are grouped together because defensive Heisman cases are usually built on visible havoc, not on tackle counts alone.

Coverage splash

Pass breakups, interceptions, and forced fumbles matter because national awards voters respond to plays that change possessions and highlight reels.

Peer percentile

Every percentile is compared against players at the same position and level, so an FBS quarterback is judged against FBS quarterbacks, not the whole sport.

Traditional first

The top tables stick to the stats fans already know from broadcasts and box scores. Advanced context is pushed underneath instead of replacing the basics.

INT -- -- pick-six TD
Pass breakups 4 Coverage disruption | #340/2184 (84th pct)
QB pressures 8 Quarterback hurries | #41/1878 (98th pct)
Open full stat explorer
0 metrics visible Showing all metrics
Group Metric Value Rank Pct Why it matters
Defense Total tackles 63 #360/4942 93rd pct Volumevs FBS DEF
Defense TFL 6.0 #406/4972 92nd pct Disruptionvs FBS DEF
Defense Sacks 2.5 #393/4972 92nd pct Disruptionvs FBS DEF
Defense Pass breakups 4 #340/2184 84th pct Coveragevs FBS DEF
Defense QB hurries 8 #41/1878 98th pct Disruptionvs FBS DEF
Defense Solo tackles 22 #902/4584 80th pct Volumevs FBS DEF

Player Standing

Universal 17-step ladder. Tier pills below; accolade streams nested.

AWAITING CLASSIFICATION

On-team2-deepStartingRecognizedEliteApex

AWAITING CLASSIFICATION · Rung None of 16

Why he’s here

Standing classification populates when honors, Heisman, and roster signals all align.

What moves him up

What moves him down

Accolade streams

StatusAwaiting tracker

The Lombardi award tracker integrates per-week probability once a dedicated scraper for this award lands. Confirmed past winners and finalists for this player will surface here.

Splits · Per-game

2025 season · 12 games

Home/Road · Win/Loss · Season halves

Home vs Road

TKL/gTFL/gSACK/gPD/g
Home6g6.00.70.20.5
Road6g4.50.30.20.2

Win vs Loss

TKL/gTFL/gSACK/gPD/g
Wins3g5.00.50.00.0
Losses9g5.30.50.30.4

First half vs Second half

TKL/gTFL/gSACK/gPD/g
Weeks 1-76g4.20.40.20.3
Weeks 8+6g6.30.60.20.3

Pocket and defense-quality (clean vs. pressure) splits are coming soon.

Savant · Box-rate percentiles

Where this profile ranks vs the DE cohort

86All-Conference
6 metrics · season cumulative

Elite: qb hurries (98th). Strength: tackles (87th).

QB hurries#41 / 2975 · 98th pct
8defe
Tackles#360 / 2975 · 88th pct
63defe
Passes defended#340 / 2975 · 86th pct
4defe
Sacks#389 / 2975 · 85th pct
2.5defe
Tackles for loss#406 / 2975 · 85th pct
6.0defe
Solo tackles#902 / 2975 · 69th pct
22defe

Percentiles versus same-position peers with enough snaps this season, based on box-score rates.

Advanced Savant · DE · 2024

Percentile Card

Advanced opponent-adjusted percentile bars are coming soon for this player.

P4G5All FBS
EPA / dropback
awaiting
CPOE
awaiting
Success rate
awaiting
Explosive rate (20+)
awaiting
aDOT
awaiting
Deep-ball accuracy
awaiting
Pressure-to-sack
awaiting
3rd-down EPA
awaiting
Red-zone TD rate
awaiting
Play-action EPA
awaiting
Scramble EPA
awaiting
Turnover-worthy play rate
awaiting

Advanced Savant

Opponent-adjusted advanced metrics with a cohort filter.

Advanced opponent-adjusted metrics are coming soon for this player. Selected cohort: P4.

Peer Comparator · Fingerprint match

Three closest profiles by box-rate percentile

3 peers · 6 metrics
Anthony BynumMiddle TennesseeCade UluaveCalifornia· 87% simRasheem BilesPittsburgh· 87% simJohn MillerUtah State· 87% sim
QB hurries
98
Bynum
88
Uluave
88
Biles
98
Miller
Tackles
88
Bynum
98
Uluave
98
Biles
99
Miller
Passes defended
86
Bynum
86
Uluave
86
Biles
78
Miller
Sacks
85
Bynum
89
Uluave
95
Biles
99
Miller
Tackles for loss
85
Bynum
98
Uluave
100
Biles
96
Miller
Solo tackles
69
Bynum
94
Uluave
91
Biles
92
Miller

Closest peers by overall box-score percentile profile at the same position.

Player DNA

The Versatile End

Holds up against run and pass without a single dominant trait.

EDGE

His 2025 production profile sits closest to Viliami Po'uha’s 2025 season.

Viliami Po'uha

82%match

BYU · 2025

#2

Damian Jackson

Buffalo · 2022

82%
#3

Kristin Booth

Southern Miss · 2022

82%
#4

Caden Curry

Ohio State · 2022

NFL Rd 6
82%
#5

Joseph Adedire

Texas Tech · 2023

81%

Matches Viliami on

Class year
Height
Sack rate

Differs from Viliami on

Weight (lower)

Not enough data yet for this comparison.

As a junior, his production profile tracks closest to Noah Sewell's junior season at Oregon (2022).

Noah Sewell

84%match

Oregon · 2022

NFL Rd 5
#2

Sam Greene

Kentucky · 2025

83%
#3

Dominic Lolesio

Arizona · 2025

82%
#4

Owen Chambliss

San Diego State · 2025

All-Mountain West
82%
#5

Deandre Lynch

Old Dominion · 2025

78%

Matches Noah on

Class year
TFL rate
Weight

Supporting Cast · Scheme

Staff and system around the player

2025 season

Head Coach

Derek Mason

Pass share

61.3%

495 pass / 313 run

Plays / game

67.3

12 games

OL sack rate (allowed)

8.6%

373 dropbacks · PBP

Scheme: Pass-leaning.

Coaching Lineage · 2023–2025

2 coaches
2023
Rick Stockstill
Middle Tennessee
2025
Derek Mason
Middle Tennessee
era →

Coaching transition mid-career: Rick Stockstill → Derek Mason. Worth noting in scheme + development context.

Bio · Recruiting · Transfer · Roster

Off-field context — switch tabs to drill into recruit profile, transfer arc, or roster timeline.

HometownCovington, GA
Height6'3"
Weight260 lb
Class2
PositionDE

Trophy Case · Confirmed honors

What the selectors said

1 entries
🎖

ALL-CONFERENCE

All-Conf mention (2024)

All-Conference USA

Trophy Case · Detail

Every honor on the ledger, broken out by stream and selector.

All-Conference

1 all-conference honor

Conference-level recognition helps anchor whether a player is merely statistically loud or actually viewed as elite within his competitive lane.

Honors Timeline

Season-end distinction and week-by-week recognition on one timeline.

Season Honor Scope Team / Selector Context
2024 All-Conference USA all_conference Middle Tennessee | Conference USA DE

Heisman By Year

Modeled rank and official finish by season.

Season Team Role Latest Model Forecast Win Finalist Official Finish Points Context
2024 Middle Tennessee DE2 #15663 #15752 0.0% 0.0% -- -- W16 snapshot | Conference USA
2023 Middle Tennessee DE2 #13547 #13472 0.0% 0.0% -- -- W19 snapshot | Conference USA

Roster Timeline

Team, conference, and class by season.

Season Team Conference Pos Class Bio
2025 Middle Tennessee Conference USA DE 2 6-3 | 260 lb | Covington, GA
2024 Middle Tennessee Conference USA DE 2 6-3 | 260 lb | Covington, GA
2023 Middle Tennessee Conference USA DE 2 6-3 | 260 lb | Covington, GA