Senior defensive back on Iowa State's 2026 roster.
6′0″ · 200 lb · Humboldt, IA · Humboldt
How he projects
Moves between deep coverage and the slot.
Grades highest in speed and play recognition.
The full scouting readThe story
4 defensive back on Iowa State's 2025 roster.
The record fills in as he plays.
His career, year by yearCaden Matson
Moves between deep coverage and the slot. This is his second year in the same secondary at Iowa State. The receipt: 7 tackles against Oklahoma State — Week 14, 2025.
Low coverage — composed from the verified record.
Career arc
Season context · Team result + system
2 seasons under Matt Campbell — 19-7 over that span.
Where this defender ranks vs the field
Box-score production percentiles vs the position cohort
Concern: tackles for loss (7th percentile).
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 · Per-game
2025 season · 7 games
Home vs Road
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home4g | 1.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| Road3g | 3.7 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
First half vs Second half
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weeks 1-74g | 1.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| Weeks 8+3g | 3.7 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
Supporting cast · Scheme
Staff and system around the player
Head Coach
Jimmy Rogers
Scheme reads (pass share, tempo, sack rate) need at least 3 team games — 2 games in so far.
Player standing · 2025
Tackle volume for the position at the early end of the ladder.
| Season | Team | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Iowa State | 15 | 10 | 0.0 | 0.0 | -- | -- | -- |
| 2024 | Iowa State | -- | -- | 0.0 | 0.0 | -- | -- | -- |
| Career | 15 | 10 | 0.0 | 0.0 | -- | -- | -- |
SIGNATURE GAME · Week 2 · 2025
W 16–13
vs Iowa
1 TOT
A wire-to-wire battle — won by 3 at home.
With T. Perkins — 46 AVG · 2 IN 20 · 65 LONG · R. Becht — 134 yds · 1 TD · 0 INT · QBR 52.8 · 11 rush yds (5 car)
Game log · Week-by-week
2025 season · 7 games
| Wk | Opp | TKL | SOLO | TFL | SACK | INT | PD | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wk 1 | W 55-7vs South Dakota | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 2 | W 16-13vs Iowa | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 5 | W 39-14vs Arizona | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 6 | L 30-38@ Cincinnati | 1 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 10 | L 19-24vs Arizona State | 1 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 11 | W 20-17@ TCU | 3 | 2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 14 | W 20-13@ Oklahoma State | 7 | 6 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | Season-high 7 tackles |
| Total | 15 | 10 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 |
Play style
Moves between deep coverage and the slot — the modern positionless DB.
CFB Index positional classification
2026 Outlook
Iowa State
2026 Depth chart
Projected starter
Safety · Iowa State
Returning around him
2026 Award watch
No preseason watch lists yet (most drop June 15 – July 15)
Iowa State · Last season: 8-4 (AP #22) · Talent rank #68 · 2026 recruiting class #54
Player DNA
Moves between deep coverage and the slot — the modern positionless DB.
His 2025 production profile sits closest to Mac Resetich’s 2025 season.
Matches Mac on
Not enough data yet for this comparison.
As a sophomore, his production profile tracks closest to Conrad Hussey's sophomore season at Florida State (2024).
Matches Conrad on
Player DNA
Awards & Honors Academic All-Big 12 (2024) Big 12 Commissioner's Honor Roll (F23, S24, F24, S25, F25, S26) 2025 Saw action in all 12 games, making first career start at safety in season finale against Oklahoma State ... finished season with 15 tackles ... had seven tackles against the Cowboys ......
17 more on the roster · Iowa State team page