Ben Niemann: LB · Iowa · #44.
Closest statistical matches, adjusted for opponent strength.
Ben Niemann
Carries tight ends down the field in coverage. Third year in the same linebacker corps at Iowa. One game to point at: 13 tackles and 0.5 tackles for loss against Wyoming — Week 1, 2017.
Play style
Carries tight ends and patrols the middle of the field in coverage.
Activity vs finishing · season enumeration
What the box score actually says
77 tackles. 5 passes defended. 1 interception. 5 TFL.
Counts only, never a rate — splash-event sample sizes this small (interceptions, pass breakups, TFL) are noise as a rate and signal only as a tally.
No outlet on our list has written about this player by name this season.
KCCI Oct 28
FOX 9 Minneapolis-St. Paul Oct 27Swipe the table sideways for more columns.
There is no official box score for these seasons, so this sack count comes from the play-by-play.
Each sack is credited to the player named on the play, and a sack shared by two players counts as half for each. We checked the same method against the official box scores for 2016 to 2019: it lands within half a sack for about 9 in 10 players. Tackles and passes defended are not shown for these seasons because the same check does not hold for them. Source: SportsDataverse play data.
Game log · Week-by-week
2017 season · 13 games
Swipe the table sideways for more columns.
| Wk | Opp | TKL | SOLO | TFL | SACK | INT | PD | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wk 1 | W 24-3vs Wyoming | 13 | 6 | 0.5 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 2 | W 44-41@ Iowa State | 4 | 2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 3 | W 31-14vs North Texas | 3 | 2 | 1.0 | 0.0 | — | 1 | |
| Wk 4 | L 19-21vs No. 4 Penn State | 6 | 4 | 1.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 5 | L 10-17@ Michigan State | 2 | 2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 6 | W 45-16vs Illinois | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 2 | |
| Wk 8 | L 10-17@ Northwestern | 11 | 7 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 1 | |
| Wk 9 | W 17-10vs Minnesota | 6 | 4 | 1.0 | 0.0 | — | 1 | |
| Wk 10 | W 55-24vs No. 3 Ohio State | 7 | 5 | 1.0 | 1.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 11 | L 14-38@ No. 6 Wisconsin | 8 | 4 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 12 | L 15-24vs Purdue | 8 | 4 | 0.5 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 13 | W 56-14@ Nebraska | 4 | 2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1 | 0 | |
 Bowl | W 27-20vs Boston College | 4 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Total | 77 | 43 | 5.0 | 1.0 | 1 | 5 |
Week 10 · 2017
W 55-24
vs Ohio State
1 sack · 1 tackle for loss · 7 tackles
Dominant 31-point win at home against Ohio State.
Where his impact shows up on the stat sheet
Tackle volume
77tackles this seasonTFL rate
6%5 TFLSack rate
1%1 sackPD rate
6%5 pass breakups77 tackles · 5 for loss · 1 sack · 1 interception.
3 seasons under Kirk Ferentz — 23-16 over that span.
Splits · Per-game
2017 season · 13 games
Home vs Road
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home7g | 6.3 | 0.7 | 0.1 | 0.6 |
| Road5g | 5.8 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.2 |
First half vs Second half
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weeks 1-77g | 4.7 | 0.4 | 0.0 | 0.4 |
| Weeks 8+6g | 7.3 | 0.4 | 0.2 | 0.3 |
Supporting cast · Scheme
Staff and system around the player
Head Coach
Kirk Ferentz
Pass share
42.9%
355 pass / 473 run
Plays / game
63.7
13 games
Team sack rate
6.7%
374 dropbacks · PBP
Scheme: Run-leaning.
Player standing · 2017
About as many tackles a game as a typical FBS linebacker who plays every week.
How it ended
Three seasons at Iowa, 146 tackles — the college career is complete.
Four or fewer games in the first season, then ten or more.
Coaching lineage · 2014–2017
1 coachPlayed every college season under Kirk Ferentz.
