Braden Awls

Senior safety for Iowa State. 2025: 5 interceptions, 4 pass breakups, 48 tackles.

S · Iowa State · Sr. · #2

6′1″ · 190 lb · Sylvania, OH · Toledo Central Catholic

CFB Index 84 · #24 of 544 safetiesMedium confidenceAll-Conf 1st teamTransferred Toledo → Iowa State for 2026

via cyclones.com ↗

Next upSat Sep 19 · 12 pm ETvs Bowling GreenJack Trice StadiumIowa State by 23.5

The numbers

interceptions · 2025

4 PBU · 48 tackles · 6.5 TFL

Backed by 2 INT -- top 1% interceptions game. -- Best game: 2 INT, 10 tackles, at Washington State

Swing playSwung Toledo from 53% to 80% to win.Pittsburgh at Toledo · 48-46

His career numbers, season by season

The story

4 safety for Iowa State. 2025: 5 interceptions, 4 pass breakups, 48 tackles.

Signed as a 3-star recruit to Toledo in 2023.
Transferred from Toledo to Iowa State in 2026.

His career, year by year

How he plays

Hits like a linebacker and still takes the ball away.

Interceptions: 98th percentile.

The full scouting read

Braden Awls

S · Iowa State · Sr · #2

Hits like a linebacker and still takes the ball away. Braden Awls has been at Iowa State through two head coaches in three seasons. 2025 brought the first one: All-MAC. The receipt on tape: 5 tackles, 1 TFL against Central Michigan, Week 14, 2025.

Low coverage — composed from the verified record.

positional archetype classification
head-coach lineage
recognition record
game log

2025 snapshot

Season context · Team result + system

2023Toledo11-3HC: Jason Candle · Run-leaning

2024Toledo8-5HC: Jason Candle · Balanced

2025Toledo8-5HC: Robert Weiner · Run-leaning

Where this defender ranks vs the field

Box-score production percentiles vs the position cohort

84All-Conference level #24 of 544?

Medium confidence7 metrics · season cumulative

Elite: interceptions (98th percentile). Strength: tackles for loss (87th percentile). Concern: qb hurries (22nd percentile).

Box-score production (7)

Interceptions#6 / 817 · 98th pct

Tackles for loss#340 / 2975 · 87th pct

6.5

Passes defended#340 / 2975 · 86th pct

Solo tackles#559 / 2975 · 80th pct

Tackles#649 / 2975 · 78th pct

Sacks#1367 / 2975 · 51st pct

0.5

QB hurries#1662 / 2975 · 22nd pct

Percentiles are versus same-position peers with enough snaps this season, based on box-score production. There are no play-by-play efficiency bars here: CFBD's play-value model credits offensive players only, so no defensive EPA exists to rank.

Splits & context

Splits · Per-game

2025 season · 11 games

Home/Road · Season halves

Home vs Road

	TKL/g	TFL/g	SACK/g	PD/g
Home5g	4.0	0.6	0.1	0.0
Road6g	4.7	0.6	0.0	0.7

First half vs Second half

	TKL/g	TFL/g	SACK/g	PD/g
Weeks 1-76g	3.8	0.6	0.1	0.2
Weeks 8+5g	5.0	0.6	0.0	0.6

Supporting cast · Scheme

Staff and system around the player

2026 season

Head Coach

Jimmy Rogers

Scheme reads (pass share, tempo, sack rate) need at least 3 team games — 2 games in so far.

Awards

Player standing · 2025

All-Conference 1st team

First team in his league at the position.

Recognition

Roster2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex

Production · CFB Index Score

84 · #24 of 544 safeties

Three-star recruit. Now #24 at the position.

Career stats

Season	Team
2025	Toledo	48	29	6.5	0.5	4	5	--
2024	Toledo	72	42	2.5	0.5	6	4	--
2023	Toledo	7	4	0.0	0.0	--	--	--
Career		127	75	9.0	1.0	10	9	--

Game log

Game log · Week-by-week

2025 season · 11 games

Box score · CFBD

Wk	Opp	TKL	SOLO	TFL	SACK	INT	PD	Note
Wk 1	L 16-24@ Kentucky	5	2	0.0	0.0	—	1
Wk 2	W 45-21vs Western Kentucky	5	5	1.0	0.0	—	0
Wk 3	W 60-0vs Morgan State	3	1	0.0	0.0	—	0
Wk 4	L 13-14@ Western Michigan	2	2	1.0	0.0	—	0
Wk 5	W 45-3vs Akron	4	1	0.5	0.5	—	0
Wk 7	L 23-28@ Bowling Green	4	4	1.0	0.0	1	0
Wk 8	W 45-10vs Kent State	4	1	0.5	0.0	1	0
Wk 9	L 7-28@ Washington State	10	5	0.0	0.0	2	0	Season-high 10 tackles
Wk 12	W 24-3@ Miami (OH)	2	0	0.5	0.0	1	1
Wk 13	W 38-9vs Ball State	4	3	1.0	0.0	—	0
Wk 14	W 21-3@ Central Michigan	5	5	1.0	0.0	—	2
Total		48	29	6.5	0.5	5	4

How he plays

Play style

Hits like a linebacker and still takes the ball away.

CFB Index positional classification

Activity vs finishing · season enumeration

What the box score actually says

11 games

48Tackles

29Solo

6.5TFL

0.5Sacks

4Pass def.

5INT

48 tackles. 4 passes defended. 5 interceptions. 6.5 TFL.

Week 11 PD
Week 50.5 sacks
Week 71 INT
Week 81 INT
Week 92 INT
Week 121 PD · 1 INT
Week 142 PD

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.

DNA match

Player DNA

Rover

Hits like a linebacker and still takes the ball away.

His 2025 production profile sits closest to Morice Norris’s 2022 season.

Morice Norris

74%match

Fresno State · 2022

Jaydon Hill

Florida · 2023

74%

Thomas Harper

Notre Dame · 2023

72%

Brice Pollock

Texas Tech · 2025

All-Big 12

72%

Alonzo McCoy

Central Michigan · 2021

71%

Matches Morice on

Tackle volume

Class year

TFL rate

Not enough data yet for this comparison.

As a junior, his production profile tracks closest to Saveon Brown's junior season at Buffalo (2025).

Saveon Brown

84%match

Buffalo · 2025

Brice Pollock

Texas Tech · 2025

All-Big 12

84%

Kamren Kinchens

Miami · 2023

1st-team All-AmericanNFL Rd 3 · Pk 36

78%

Drew Spinogatti

James Madison · 2025

75%

Jaden Robinson

Florida · 2025

74%

Matches Saveon on

PD rate

TFL rate

Tackle volume

Player DNA

Players who play like Braden Awls

Zach Williams

Tulsa · 2025

79%

Xavier Smith

UTEP · 2024

78%

Cam Chadwick

UConn · 2025

77%

Background

Awards & Honors First Team All-MAC (2025) Big 12 Commissioner's Honor Roll (S26) 2025 (at Toledo) Played and started in 12 games … First Team All-MAC selection … fourth on team with 52 tackles, including 6.5 for a loss … assisted on a sack … finished seventh nationally and led all MAC players wit...

via cyclones.com ↗

The secondary · Iowa State

#2Braden AwlsS · Sr.48 tackles · 2025
#1Keyon WashingtonCB · So.37 tackles · 2025
#6Drew SurgesS · Jr.26 tackles · 2025
#43Caden MatsonS · Sr.15 tackles · 2025
#9Jaheim SingletaryCB · Sr.12 tackles · 2025

17 more on the roster · Iowa State team page

Stats from CFBD · ESPN · fan discourse. Every figure computed from source tables — not invented. Methodology

Braden Awls

20236 games

202511 games

2026

2025 snapshot

Splits & context

Awards

All-Conference 1st team

Career stats

Game log

How he plays

DNA match

Rover

Players who play like Braden Awls

Background

The secondary · Iowa State