CFB Zeitgeist Score
38
Mid-pack in the position cohort. Carried by passes defended at the 86th percentile.
Caldra Williford
Below the discourse floor — the honest stats-only state.
16 TACKLES · 0 SACKS
2026 Outlook
Returning to Baylor for 2026
2026 Depth chart
Projected starter
Cornerback · Baylor
Returning around him
- 82% of 2024 offensive production back (Strong continuity)
- 2 Baylor players drafted to NFL
- Transfer portal: -1 net (31 in / 32 out)
2026 Award watch
No preseason watch lists yet (most drop June 15 – July 15)
Baylor · Last season: 5-7 · Talent rank #35 · 2026 recruiting class #36
CB · BAYLOR · BIG 12
Caldra Williford
- 3
- #18
- 5-9 | 180 lb
- St. Louis, MO
Heisman Heat
Awaiting
Not on the live Heisman board this week.
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
—
TOP DB AWARD
Jim Thorpe
—
CONSENSUS
All-American
—
Player Standing · 17 rungs
Tier 2 · StarterR06 · Starter
Starter. A locked-in starting role.
Not on team2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex
Career Arc
HS
Recruit
★★★
CFB
College
Baylor
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 |
|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 3-star | 0.8478 | No. 1322 recruit | HighSchool | Murray State |
Transfer Arc
Portal movement changes role, context, and perception. This keeps that path in one place.
| Season | Move | Context |
|---|---|---|
| No transfer portal moves on file for this player. | ||
Heisman Lens
Where the model places this player relative to the rest of the Heisman field.
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 Murray State
Composite
0.8478
#1322 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
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 Caldra Williford
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 Caldra Williford
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 7g
16Tackles
1Tackles for loss
0Sacks
Per game
2Tackles
0.1Tackles for loss
0Sacks
Projected (13g)
30Tackles
1.9Tackles for loss
0Sacks
To hit 80-tackle season (currently 16): needs 10.7/game over remaining 6.
To hit 100-tackle season (currently 16): needs 14/game over remaining 6.
To hit 6-sack season (currently 0): needs 1/game over remaining 6.
To hit 10-sack season (currently 0): needs 1.7/game over remaining 6.
Why this is a rare defensive case
The fast read on the thing that makes this player more than a generic stat line.
Caldra Williford is trying to climb the steepest award hill in college football: a defensive candidacy. The hook is the disruption profile on Baylor's defense, with 0.0 sacks, 1.0 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.
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?
Coverage splash against FBS defenders.
2025 Season · Final
2025 season snapshot | final
Tackling & Disruption
TOT
16 54th
SOLO
15 69th
TFL
1.0 59th
SACK
0.0 65th
Coverage & Takeaways
PD
4 84th
Game Log · Week-by-week
2025 season · 7 games
| Wk | Opp | TKL | SOLO | TFL | SACK | INT | PD | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wk 2 | W 48-45@ SMU | 1 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 4 | L 24-27vs Arizona State | 4 | 4 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 5 | W 45-27@ Oklahoma State | 3 | 3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 2 | |
| Wk 6 | W 35-34vs Kansas State | 1 | 1 | 1.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 8 | L 36-42@ TCU | 6 | 5 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 1 | Season-high 6 tackles |
| Wk 10 | W 30-3vs UCF | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 1 | |
| Wk 13 | L 17-41@ Arizona | 1 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Total | 16 | 15 | 1.0 | 0.0 | — | 4 |
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
2025Baylor5-7HC: Dave Aranda · Pass-leaning, fast tempo
| Season | Team | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Baylor | 16 | 15 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 4 | -- | -- |
| Career | 1 loaded season | 16 | 15 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 4 | -- | -- |
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 | 16 | #2295/4942 | 54th pct | Volumevs FBS DEF |
| Defense | TFL | 1.0 | #2051/4972 | 59th pct | Disruptionvs FBS DEF |
| Defense | Sacks | 0.0 | #1762/4972 | 65th pct | Disruptionvs FBS DEF |
| Defense | Pass breakups | 4 | #340/2184 | 84th pct | Coveragevs FBS DEF |
| Defense | Solo tackles | 15 | #1434/4584 | 69th pct | Volumevs 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
Status—Awaiting tracker
The Thorpe 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 · 7 games
Home vs Road
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home3g | 1.7 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 0.3 |
| Road4g | 2.8 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.8 |
Win vs Loss
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wins4g | 1.2 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 0.8 |
| Losses3g | 3.7 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.3 |
First half vs Second half
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weeks 1-74g | 2.2 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 0.5 |
| Weeks 8+3g | 2.3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.7 |
Pocket and defense-quality (clean vs. pressure) splits are coming soon.
Savant · Box-rate percentiles
Where this profile ranks vs the CB cohort
38Mid-pack
Elite: passes defended (85th). Concern: tackles (21st).
Percentiles versus same-position peers with enough snaps this season, based on box-score rates.
Advanced Savant · CB · 2025
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
Caldra WillifordBaylorTyler MartinMassachusetts· 62% simTahj Ra-ElPurdue· 61% simDalton JohnsonArizona· 59% sim
Passes defended
Solo tackles
Tackles for loss
Sacks
QB hurries
Tackles
Closest peers by overall box-score percentile profile at the same position.
Player DNA
The Ball Hawk
Reads the quarterback's eyes and takes the ball away.
CB
His 2025 production profile sits closest to Justin Birchette’s 2023 season.
Justin Birchette
83%match
#2
Daequan Hardy
All-Big TenNFL Rd 6
82%
#3
Sean Fresch
78%
#4
Sean Fresch
76%
#5
Eric Garror
All-Sun Belt
73%
Matches Justin on
PD rate
Height
Weight
Differs from Justin on
Tackle volume (lower)
Not enough data yet for this comparison.
As a junior, his production profile tracks closest to Smith Snowden's junior season at Utah (2025).
Smith Snowden
80%match
#2
Sean Fresch
72%
#3
Demarcus Griffin-Taylor
All-Conference USA
71%
#4
Justin Birchette
70%
#5
Romain Mungin
69%
Matches Smith on
Class year
Weight
PD rate
Differs from Smith on
Tackle volume (lower)
Supporting Cast · Scheme
Staff and system around the player
Head Coach
Dave Aranda
Pass share
55.5%
510 pass / 409 run
Plays / game
76.6
12 games
OL sack rate (allowed)
5.0%
417 dropbacks · PBP
Scheme: Pass-leaning, fast tempo.
Coaching Lineage · 2025
1 coach2025
Dave Aranda
Baylor
Played his entire career under Dave Aranda.
Bio · Recruiting · Transfer · Roster
Off-field context — switch tabs to drill into recruit profile, transfer arc, or roster timeline.
HometownSt. Louis, MO
Height5'9"
Weight180 lb
Class3
PositionCB
Jersey18
No fields populated yet.
No fields populated yet.
Current teamBaylor
ConferenceBig 12
Joined2025
Career arc1 season(s)
Trophy Case · Detail
Every honor on the ledger, broken out by stream and selector.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This player hasn’t appeared on a Heisman ballot tracked by the model. | |||||||||
Roster Timeline
Team, conference, and class by season.
| Season | Team | Conference | Pos | Class | Bio |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Baylor | Big 12 | CB | 3 | No. 18 | 5-9 | 180 lb | St. Louis, MO |