#44

Briceon Hayes

Senior defensive lineman for North Texas. 2025: 1.5 sacks, 2.5 tackles for loss, 32 tackles.

DL · North Texas · Sr. · #44

6′3″ · 231 lb · Huntsville, TX

CFB Index 56 · #139 of 330 interior linemenLow confidenceReturning to North Texas for 2026

How he plays

Wins his gap play after play.

QB hurries: 82nd percentile.

The full scouting read

The numbers

1.5

sacks · 2025

2.5 TFL · 32 tackles · 3 hurries

Best game: 1 sacks, 1 TFL, 4 tackles, vs UTSA

His career numbers, season by season

The story

4 defensive lineman for North Texas. 2025: 1.5 sacks, 2.5 tackles for loss, 32 tackles.

Signed as a 3-star recruit to Sam Houston in 2020.
Transferred from Sam Houston to North Texas in 2025.

His career, year by year

Briceon Hayes

DL · North Texas · Sr · #44

Wins his gap play after play. Across three seasons and two programs, two head coaches: K.C. Keeler and Drew Svoboda. The receipt on tape: 6 tackles against Western Michigan, Week 2, 2025.

Low coverage — composed from the verified record.

positional archetype classification
head-coach lineage
game log

2025 snapshot

Season context · Team result + system

2023Sam Houston3-9HC: K.C. Keeler · Balanced

2024Sam Houston10-3HC: K.C. Keeler · Run-heavy

2025North Texas12-2HC: Drew Svoboda · Balanced

Where this defender ranks vs the field

Box-score production percentiles vs the position cohort

56Quality starter #139 of 330?

Low confidence6 metrics · season cumulative

Elite: qb hurries (82nd percentile). Concern: passes defended (18th percentile).

Box-score production (6)

QB hurries#457 / 2975 · 82nd pct

Sacks#707 / 2975 · 74th pct

1.5

Tackles#1250 / 2975 · 57th pct

Tackles for loss#1222 / 2975 · 56th pct

2.5

Solo tackles#1348 / 2975 · 53rd pct

Passes defended#1916 / 2975 · 18th 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 · 10 games

Home/Road · Season halves

Home vs Road

	TKL/g	TFL/g	SACK/g	PD/g
Home5g	3.6	0.5	0.3	0.0
Road5g	2.8	0.0	0.0	0.0

First half vs Second half

	TKL/g	TFL/g	SACK/g	PD/g
Weeks 1-76g	4.0	0.2	0.0	0.0
Weeks 8+4g	2.0	0.4	0.4	0.0

Supporting cast · Scheme

Staff and system around the player

2026 season

Head Coach

Neal Brown

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

Awards

Player standing · 2025

Part-time starter

Tackle volume for the position in part-time-starter range.

Recognition

Roster2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex

Production · CFB Index Score

56 · #139 of 330 interior linemen

Three-star recruit. Now #139 at the position.

2026 outlook

Outside shot for All-AAC

Based on 2025: #17 of 53 American Athletic DLs

How the All-AAC estimate is computed

22% estimated, 95% confidence interval 19–25%. Base rate measured from players who finished at a comparable rank in their conference and came back the next season. It is an estimate from a small sample, not a forecast of this player.

Career stats

Season	Team
2025	North Texas	32	16	2.5	1.5	--	--	--
2024	Sam Houston	30	20	7.0	5.0	1	1	--
2023	Sam Houston	10	5	0.0	0.0	--	--	--
Career		72	41	9.5	6.5	1	1	--

Signature game

SIGNATURE GAME · Week 18 · 2025

W 49–47

at San Diego State

1 TOT · 1 SOLO · 1 QB HUR

Edged out San Diego State on the road in a shootout.

With D. Mestemaker — 250 yds · 3 TD · 2 INT · QBR 70.3 · 18 rush yds (2 car) · C. Hawkins — 198 rush yds (31 car) · 2 TD

Game log

Game log · Week-by-week

2025 season · 10 games

Box score · CFBD

Wk	Opp	TKL	SOLO	TFL	SACK	INT	Note
Wk 1	W 51-0vs Lamar	3	1	0.0	0.0	—
Wk 2	W 33-30@ Western Michigan	6	5	0.0	0.0	—	Season-high 6 tackles
Wk 4	W 45-38@ Army	5	1	0.0	0.0	—
Wk 5	W 36-22vs South Alabama	4	1	1.0	0.0	—
Wk 7	L 36-63vs South Florida	5	3	0.0	0.0	—
Wk 8	W 55-17vs UTSA	4	4	1.0	1.0	—
Wk 9	W 54-20@ Charlotte	1	0	0.0	0.0	—
Wk 10	W 31-17vs Navy	2	0	0.5	0.5	—
Wk 15	L 21-34@ Tulane	1	0	0.0	0.0	—
Bowl	W 49-47@ San Diego State	1	1	0.0	0.0	—
Total		32	16	2.5	1.5	—

How he plays

Play style

Stout at the point of attack — steady tackle-for-loss production without a standout pass-rush number.

CFB Index positional classification

Activity vs finishing · season enumeration

What the box score actually says

10 games

32Tackles

16Solo

2.5TFL

1.5Sacks

0Pass def.

0INT

32 tackles. 0 passes defended. 0 interceptions. 2.5 TFL.

Week 81 sack
Week 100.5 sacks

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.

2026 Outlook

North Texas

2026 Depth chart

Projected starter

Defensive line · North Texas

Returning around him

Transfer portal: +11 net (49 in / 38 out)

2026 Award watch

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

North Texas · Last season: 12-2 (AP #23) · Talent rank #95 · 2026 recruiting class #135

DNA match

Player DNA

Two-Gap Base

Stout at the point of attack — steady tackle-for-loss production without a standout pass-rush number.

IDL

His 2025 production profile sits closest to Mattheus Carroll’s 2023 season.

Mattheus Carroll

89%match

Kent State · 2023

Myles Jernigan

California · 2022

84%

Aeneas DiCosmo

Stanford · 2022

83%

Roman Harrison

Tennessee · 2021

82%

Matches Mattheus on

Height

Sack rate

Weight

Not enough data yet for this comparison.

As a junior, his production profile tracks closest to Drew Francis's junior season at Middle Tennessee (2022).

Drew Francis

89%match

Middle Tennessee · 2022

Shae Suiaunoa

Wyoming · 2022

All-Mountain West

88%

Jamoi Hodge

TCU · 2023

88%

Michael Boudoin III

Texas State · 2025

87%

Isaiah Johnson

Fresno State · 2022

86%

Matches Drew on

Class year

Weight

TFL rate

Player DNA

Players who play like Briceon Hayes

Mattheus Carroll

Kent State · 2025

84%

Khairi Manns

James Madison · 2024

80%

Ronn Hardin

Eastern Michigan · 2025

68%

Aaron Hester

Liberty · 2025

58%

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

2020

202510 games

2025 snapshot

Splits & context

Awards

Part-time starter

Career stats

Signature game

Game log

How he plays

DNA match

Two-Gap Base

Players who play like Briceon Hayes