CFB Zeitgeist Score
56
Solid starter in the position cohort. Carried by passes defended at the 78th percentile.
Brendan Harrington
Below the discourse floor — the honest stats-only state.
85 TACKLES · 0 SACKS
2026 Outlook
Returning to Georgia Southern for 2026
2026 Depth chart
Returning starter
Linebacker · Georgia Southern
Returning around him
- 92% of 2024 offensive production back (Strong continuity)
- Transfer portal: -1 net (17 in / 18 out)
2026 Award watch
No preseason watch lists yet (most drop June 15 – July 15)
Georgia Southern · Last season: 7-6 · Talent rank #93 · 2026 recruiting class #80
LB · GEORGIA SOUTHERN · SUN BELT
Brendan Harrington
- 4
- #2
- 6-0 | 235 lb
- Moncure, NC
Heisman Heat
#14980
<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 LB AWARD
Butkus
—
CONSENSUS
All-American
—
Player Standing · 17 rungs
Tier 2 · StarterR07 · Impact starter
Impact starter. Producing measurable value above replacement.
Not on team2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex
Career arc · Season-by-season Standing
4 seasons on the ladder
★
2021
App State · LB
R09 · All-Conference HM / 2nd team
Recognized
2022
App State · LB
—
2023
App State · LB
—
2025
Georgia Southern · LB
R09 · All-Conference HM / 2nd team
Recognized
Career Arc
HS
Recruit
—
CFB
College
2 teams
NFL
NFL Draft
—
Identity & Role
The durable bio layer: position, size, hometown, and roster role.
Recruiting Pedigree
How big the prospect was before college, and whether the later career arc beat that expectation.
| Class | Profile | Context |
|---|---|---|
| No recruiting profile is on file for this player. | ||
Transfer Arc
Portal movement changes role, context, and perception. This keeps that path in one place.
| Season | Move | Context |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | App State -> Georgia Southern | 3-star | Immediate |
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 16Heisman Futures
Not yet listed on major futures markets.
No achievements unlocked yet this season.
Selector Grid · 2025
AP—
FWAA—
AFCA—
WCFF—
SN—
SI—
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
PENDINGThe 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 Brendan Harrington
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 Brendan Harrington
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.
Season Pace · Projection
Where the defensive totals stand
Through 13g
85Tackles
2Tackles for loss
0Sacks
Per game
7Tackles
0.2Tackles for loss
0Sacks
Final
85Tackles
2Tackles for loss
0Sacks
✓ Hit 80-tackle season · finished with 85.
Why this is a rare defensive case
The fast read on the thing that makes this player more than a generic stat line.
Brendan Harrington is trying to climb the steepest award hill in college football: a defensive candidacy. The hook is the disruption profile on Georgia Southern's defense, with 0.0 sacks, 2.0 tackles for loss, and 1 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.
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
Player identity What kind of player is this?
30-second read
What kind of player is this?
High-volume tackler against FBS defenders.
2025 Season · Final
2025 season snapshot | final
Tackling & Disruption
TOT
85 98th
SOLO
55 99th
TFL
2.0 71st
SACK
0.0 65th
QBH
1 44th
Coverage & Takeaways
PD
3 76th
INT
1 65th
Game Log · Week-by-week
2025 season · 13 games
| Wk | Opp | TKL | SOLO | TFL | SACK | INT | PD | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wk 1 | L 14-42@ Fresno State | 5 | 4 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 2 | L 20-59@ USC | 8 | 7 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 3 | W 41-34vs Jacksonville State | 6 | 3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 4 | W 45-17vs Maine | 2 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 5 | L 10-35@ James Madison | 13 | 8 | 1.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | Season-high 13 tackles |
| Wk 7 | L 35-38vs Southern Miss | 12 | 7 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 8 | W 41-24vs Georgia State | 8 | 4 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 1 | |
| Wk 9 | L 24-34@ Arkansas State | 3 | 3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 1 | |
| Wk 11 | W 25-23@ App State | 8 | 6 | 1.0 | 0.0 | — | 1 | |
| Wk 12 | W 45-40vs Coastal Carolina | 5 | 3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1 | 0 | |
| Wk 13 | L 10-45vs Old Dominion | 6 | 5 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 14 | W 24-19@ Marshall | 1 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Bowl | W 29-10@ App State | 8 | 3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Total | 85 | 55 | 2.0 | 0.0 | 1 | 3 |
Season-by-season tables Career rows + per-season box score
Traditional history
Traditional Stats
Season rows up top, career context at the bottom.
Season context · Team result + system
2021App State10-3HC: Shawn Clark · Run-heavy, slow tempo
2022App State6-6HC: Shawn Clark · Run-leaning
2023App State9-5HC: Shawn Clark · Balanced
2025Georgia Southern7-6HC: Clay Helton · Balanced
| Season | Team | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Georgia Southern | 85 | 55 | 2.0 | 0.0 | 3 | 1 | -- |
| 2023 | App State | 7 | 5 | 1.5 | 1.0 | -- | -- | -- |
| 2022 | App State | 2 | -- | 0.5 | 0.0 | -- | -- | -- |
| 2021 | App State | 31 | 19 | 5.5 | 3.5 | 4 | -- | -- |
| Career | 4 loaded seasons | 125 | 79 | 9.5 | 4.5 | 7 | 1 | -- |
Advanced layer Usage, value, and context
Advanced metrics second
Advanced Metrics
Usage, value, and opponent-adjusted context.
TFL, sacks, and QB hurries are grouped together because defensive Heisman cases are usually built on visible havoc, not on tackle counts alone.
Pass breakups, interceptions, and forced fumbles matter because national awards voters respond to plays that change possessions and highlight reels.
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.
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.
Open full stat explorer
| Group | Metric | Value | Rank | Pct | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Defense | Total tackles | 85 | #112/4942 | 98th pct | Volumevs FBS DEF |
| Defense | TFL | 2.0 | #1443/4972 | 71st pct | Disruptionvs FBS DEF |
| Defense | Sacks | 0.0 | #1762/4972 | 65th pct | Disruptionvs FBS DEF |
| Defense | Interceptions | 1 | #308/869 | 65th pct | Takeawaysvs FBS DEF |
| Defense | Pass breakups | 3 | #521/2184 | 76th pct | Coveragevs FBS DEF |
| Defense | QB hurries | 1 | #1051/1878 | 44th pct | Disruptionvs FBS DEF |
| Defense | Solo tackles | 55 | #41/4584 | 99th pct | Volumevs FBS DEF |
| Defense | INT return avg | 23.0 | #169/578 | 71st pct | Takeawaysvs FBS DEF |
| Defense | INT return yards | 23 | #285/578 | 51st pct | Takeawaysvs FBS DEF |
Player Standing
Universal 17-step ladder. Tier pills below; accolade streams nested.
ALL-CONF HM
On-team2-deepStartingRecognizedEliteApex
ALL-CONF HM · Rung 9 of 16
Why he’s here
All-Conference honorable mention / 2nd team — the recognition has started.
What moves him up
A best-at-position run lifts to 1st team.
What moves him down
A back-end conference finish drops out of the honor list.
Accolade streams
Status—Awaiting tracker
The Butkus 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 · 13 games
Home vs Road
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home6g | 6.5 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.2 |
| Road7g | 6.6 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 0.3 |
Win vs Loss
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wins7g | 5.4 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.3 |
| Losses6g | 7.8 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 0.2 |
First half vs Second half
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weeks 1-77g | 7.7 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| Weeks 8+6g | 5.2 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 0.5 |
Pocket and defense-quality (clean vs. pressure) splits are coming soon.
Savant · Box-rate percentiles
Where this profile ranks vs the LB cohort
56Solid starter
Elite: solo tackles (98th). Strength: tackles (96th). Concern: sacks (23rd).
Percentiles versus same-position peers with enough snaps this season, based on box-score rates.
Advanced Savant · LB · 2024
Percentile Card
Advanced opponent-adjusted percentile bars are coming soon for this player.
P4G5All FBS
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
Brendan HarringtonGeorgia SouthernRobert FitzgeraldNorthwestern· 85% simTahj Ra-ElPurdue· 85% simTyler MartinMassachusetts· 85% sim
Solo tackles
Tackles
Passes defended
QB hurries
Tackles for loss
Interceptions
Sacks
Closest peers by overall box-score percentile profile at the same position.
Player DNA
The Every-Down Linebacker
Leads the team in tackles and rarely leaves the field.
LB
His 2025 production profile sits closest to Joseph Carter’s 2024 season.
Joseph Carter
84%match
#2
Justin Sanchez
81%
#3
TJ Quinn
80%
#4
Max Harris
80%
#5
Jacquez Jones
80%
Matches Joseph on
Height
Weight
Sack rate
Not enough data yet for this comparison.
Supporting Cast · Scheme
Staff and system around the player
Head Coach
Clay Helton
Pass share
48.9%
429 pass / 448 run
Plays / game
67.5
13 games
OL sack rate (allowed)
8.6%
325 dropbacks · PBP
Scheme: Balanced.
Coaching Lineage · 2021–2025
2 coaches2021
Kevin Whitley
Georgia Southern
2022era →
Clay Helton
Georgia Southern
2023
Clay Helton
Georgia Southern
2025
Clay Helton
Georgia Southern
Coaching transition mid-career: Kevin Whitley → Clay Helton. 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.
HometownMoncure, NC
Height6'0"
Weight235 lb
Class4
PositionLB
Jersey2
No fields populated yet.
No fields populated yet.
Current teamGeorgia Southern
ConferenceSun Belt
Joined2025
Career arc5 season(s)
Trophy Case · Confirmed honors
What the selectors said
🎖
ALL-CONFERENCE
All-Conf mention (2025)
All-Sun Belt
Trophy Case · Detail
Every honor on the ledger, broken out by stream and selector.
2 all-conference honors
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | All-Sun Belt | all_conference | Georgia Southern | Sun Belt | LB |
| 2021 | All-Sun Belt | all_conference | Sun Belt | LB |
Heisman By Year
Modeled rank and official finish by season.
| Season | Team | Role | Latest Model | Forecast | Win | Finalist | Official Finish | Points | Context |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | App State | LB4 | #14980 | #15072 | 0.0% | 0.0% | -- | -- | W16 snapshot | Sun Belt |
| 2023 | App State | LB4 | #12007 | #11863 | 0.0% | 0.0% | -- | -- | W19 snapshot | Sun Belt |
| 2022 | App State | LB4 | #12696 | #12556 | 0.0% | 0.0% | -- | -- | W20 snapshot | Sun Belt |
| 2021 | App State | LB4 | #4990 | #5692 | 0.0% | 0.0% | -- | -- | W20 snapshot | Sun Belt |
Roster Timeline
Team, conference, and class by season.
| Season | Team | Conference | Pos | Class | Bio |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Georgia Southern | Sun Belt | LB | 4 | No. 2 | 6-0 | 235 lb | Moncure, NC |
| 2024 | App State | Sun Belt | LB | 4 | No. 2 | 6-0 | 235 lb | Moncure, NC |
| 2023 | App State | Sun Belt | LB | 4 | No. 2 | 6-0 | 235 lb | Moncure, NC |
| 2022 | App State | Sun Belt | LB | 4 | No. 2 | 6-0 | 235 lb | Moncure, NC |
| 2021 | App State | Sun Belt | LB | 4 | No. 2 | 6-0 | 235 lb | Moncure, NC |