cfb zeitgeistZeitgeist
OFFSEASON · SUMMER 2026 · COMMITMENT SEASON
Heisman / Players / Breeon Ishmail /Purdue

Breeon Ishmail

DE · Purdue · So · #58

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

20 TACKLES · 1 SACKS

2026 RETURNINGReturning to Purdue for 2026

2026 Outlook

Returning to Purdue for 2026

2026 Depth chart

Projected starter

Defensive end · Purdue

Returning around him

  • 54% of 2024 offensive production back (Solid continuity)
  • Transfer portal: +5 net (29 in / 24 out)

2026 Award watch

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

Purdue · Last season: 2-10 · Talent rank #54 · 2026 recruiting class #99

DE · PURDUE · BIG TEN

Breeon Ishmail

  • 2
  • #58
  • 6-4 | 270 lb
  • Cincinnati, OH

CFB Zeitgeist Score

39

Mid-pack in the position cohort. Carried by sacks at the 63rd percentile.

Heisman Heat

#10679

<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
★★★
#1110 national
CFB
College
2 teams
2024–2025
NFL
NFL Draft
Not drafted (yet)

Identity & Role

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

PositionDE
Class2
Jersey58
Measurements6-4 | 270 lb
HometownCincinnati, OH
Primary teamPurdue

Recruiting Pedigree

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

Top pedigree 3-star No. 1110 recruit
Composite rating 0.8603 HighSchool
Signed with -- 2023
Origin Princeton Cincinnati, OH, USA
Class Profile Context
2023 3-star | 0.8603 No. 1110 recruit | HighSchool

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#10679Latest modeled ballot order
Season forecast#10619Where 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 —

Composite

0.8603

#1110 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 Breeon Ishmail

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 Breeon Ishmail

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 8g
20Tackles
2Tackles for loss
1Sacks
Per game
2Tackles
0.2Tackles for loss
0.1Sacks
Projected (13g)
32Tackles
3.2Tackles for loss
1.6Sacks

To hit 80-tackle season (currently 20): needs 12/game over remaining 5.

To hit 100-tackle season (currently 20): needs 16/game over remaining 5.

To hit 6-sack season (currently 1): needs 1/game over remaining 5.

To hit 10-sack season (currently 1): needs 1.8/game over remaining 5.

Why this is a rare defensive case

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

Breeon Ishmail is trying to climb the steepest award hill in college football: a defensive candidacy. The hook is the disruption profile on Purdue's defense, with 1.0 sacks, 2.0 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 #10679 0.0% win | 0.0% finalist
Role load -- Role share still loading
Profile quirk Transfer path 0 portal moves

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 20 9 solo | #1998/4942 (60th pct)
TFL 2.0 Backfield disruption | #1443/4972 (71st pct)
Sacks 1.0 Pass-rush finish | #872/4972 (82nd pct)
Player identity What kind of player is this?

30-second read

What kind of player is this?

Defensive contributor against FBS defenders.

Balanced profile

2025 Season · Final

2025 season snapshot | final

Tackling & Disruption

TOT
20 60th
SOLO
9 54th
TFL
2.0 71st
SACK
1.0 82nd

Game Log · Week-by-week

2025 season · 8 games

Box score · CFBD
WkOppTKLSOLOTFLSACKINTPDNote
Wk 1W 31-0vs Ball State110.00.00
Wk 4L 30-56@ Notre Dame200.00.00
Wk 8L 0-19@ Northwestern210.00.00
Wk 9L 24-27vs Rutgers510.00.00
Wk 10L 16-21@ Michigan110.00.00
Wk 11L 10-34vs Ohio State731.01.00Season-high 7 tackles
Wk 12L 13-49@ Washington111.00.00
Wk 14L 3-56vs Indiana110.00.00
Total2092.01.00
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

2024Michigan8-5HC: Sherrone Moore · Run-heavy
2025Purdue2-10HC: Barry Odom · Balanced
SeasonTeam
2025Purdue2092.01.0------
2024Michigan310.00.0------
Career2 loaded seasons23102.01.0------
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 0 Coverage disruption
QB pressures 0 Quarterback hurries
Open full stat explorer
0 metrics visible Showing all metrics
Group Metric Value Rank Pct Why it matters
Defense Total tackles 20 #1998/4942 60th pct Volumevs FBS DEF
Defense TFL 2.0 #1443/4972 71st pct Disruptionvs FBS DEF
Defense Sacks 1.0 #872/4972 82nd pct Disruptionvs FBS DEF
Defense Solo tackles 9 #2127/4584 54th pct Volumevs FBS DEF
Defense Fumbles recovered 1 #103/736 86th pct Takeawaysvs FBS DEF
Ball Security Fumbles lost 0 #1/773 100th pct Turnoversvs 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 · 8 games

Home/Road · Win/Loss · Season halves

Home vs Road

TKL/gTFL/gSACK/gPD/g
Home4g3.50.20.20.0
Road4g1.50.20.00.0

Win vs Loss

TKL/gTFL/gSACK/gPD/g
Wins1g1.00.00.00.0
Losses7g2.70.30.10.0

First half vs Second half

TKL/gTFL/gSACK/gPD/g
Weeks 1-72g1.50.00.00.0
Weeks 8+6g2.80.30.20.0

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

Savant · Box-rate percentiles

Where this profile ranks vs the DE cohort

39Mid-pack
7 metrics · season cumulative

Concern: passes defended (17th).

Sacks#847 / 2975 · 63rd pct
1.0defe
Forced fumbles#36 / 687 · 47th pct
0fumb
Tackles for loss#1424 / 2975 · 47th pct
2.0defe
Tackles#1998 / 2975 · 32nd pct
20defe
Solo tackles#2127 / 2975 · 26th pct
9defe
QB hurries#1662 / 2975 · 22nd pct
0defe
Passes defended#1916 / 2975 · 18th pct
0defe

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 · 7 metrics
Breeon IshmailPurdueJonJon VaughnsUCLA· 59% simTyler MartinMassachusetts· 58% simMichael MontgomerySouthern Miss· 55% sim
Sacks
63
Ishmail
63
Vaughns
24
Martin
89
Montgomery
Forced fumbles
47
Ishmail
47
Vaughns
47
Martin
Tackles for loss
47
Ishmail
85
Vaughns
63
Martin
85
Montgomery
Tackles
32
Ishmail
99
Vaughns
98
Martin
99
Montgomery
Solo tackles
26
Ishmail
96
Vaughns
87
Martin
82
Montgomery
QB hurries
22
Ishmail
22
Vaughns
22
Martin
22
Montgomery
Passes defended
18
Ishmail
48
Vaughns
67
Martin
67
Montgomery

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

81%match

BYU · 2025

#2

Cameron Brandt

Michigan · 2025

79%
#3

Sekai Asoau-Afoa

Washington · 2023

79%
#4

Joseph Adedire

Texas Tech · 2023

78%
#5

Rashawn Yates

South Florida · 2021

78%

Matches Viliami on

Class year
Sack rate
Weight

Differs from Viliami on

Height (higher)

Not enough data yet for this comparison.

As a sophomore, his production profile tracks closest to Jordan Renaud's sophomore season at Alabama (2024).

Jordan Renaud

89%match

Alabama · 2024

#2

Keona Davis

Nebraska · 2025

87%
#3

Julian Savaiinaea

Arizona · 2025

86%
#4

David Santiago

Michigan State · 2025

86%
#5

Dominic Lolesio

Arizona · 2024

85%

Matches Jordan on

Class year
Height
TFL rate

Supporting Cast · Scheme

Staff and system around the player

2025 season

Head Coach

Barry Odom

Pass share

52.0%

404 pass / 373 run

Plays / game

64.8

12 games

OL sack rate (allowed)

4.9%

348 dropbacks · PBP

Scheme: Balanced.

Coaching Lineage · 2024–2025

2 coaches
2024
Ryan Walters
Purdue
2025
Barry Odom
Purdue
era →

Coaching transition mid-career: Ryan Walters → Barry Odom. 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.

HometownCincinnati, OH
Height6'4"
Weight270 lb
Class2
PositionDE
Jersey58

Trophy Case · Detail

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

Honors

No formal honors on the ledger yet

All-America, all-conference, player-of-the-week, watch-list, and postseason awards land here when they're earned. The absence is the signal: most players never collect formal honors, and that's its own kind of context.

Honors Timeline

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

Season Honor Scope Team / Selector Context
No formal honors on the ledger yet. All-America, all-conference, weekly awards, watch lists, and postseason trophies land here when they’re earned.

Heisman By Year

Modeled rank and official finish by season.

Season Team Role Latest Model Forecast Win Finalist Official Finish Points Context
2024 Michigan DE2 #10679 #10619 0.0% 0.0% -- -- W16 snapshot | Big Ten
2023 Michigan DE2 #4019 #3556 0.0% 0.0% -- -- W19 snapshot | Big Ten

Roster Timeline

Team, conference, and class by season.

Season Team Conference Pos Class Bio
2025 Purdue Big Ten DE 2 No. 58 | 6-4 | 270 lb | Cincinnati, OH
2024 Michigan Big Ten DE 2 No. 58 | 6-4 | 270 lb | Cincinnati, OH
2023 Michigan Big Ten DE 2 No. 58 | 6-4 | 270 lb | Cincinnati, OH