CFB Zeitgeist Score
71
Solid starter in the position cohort. Carried by sacks at the 91st percentile.
Chris Jones
Below the discourse floor — the honest stats-only state.
132 TACKLES · 3.5 SACKS
2026 Outlook
Returning to Southern Miss for 2026
2026 Depth chart
Projected starter
Linebacker · Southern Miss
Returning around him
- 52% of 2024 offensive production back (Solid continuity)
- Transfer portal: +9 net (37 in / 28 out)
2026 Award watch
No preseason watch lists yet (most drop June 15 – July 15)
Southern Miss · Last season: 7-6 · Talent rank #83 · 2026 recruiting class #105
LB · SOUTHERN MISS · SUN BELT
Chris Jones
- 2
- #35
- 6-0 | 230 lb
- Byram, MS
Heisman Heat
#15489
<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
HS
Recruit
★★★
CFB
College
Southern Miss
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 |
|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 3-star | 0.8144 | No. 2151 recruit | HighSchool | Southern Miss |
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 · 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—
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 Southern Miss
Composite
0.8144
#2151 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 Chris Jones
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 Chris Jones
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
132Tackles
9.5Tackles for loss
3.5Sacks
Per game
10Tackles
0.7Tackles for loss
0.3Sacks
Final
132Tackles
9.5Tackles for loss
3.5Sacks
✓ Hit 80-tackle season · finished with 132.
✓ Hit 100-tackle season · finished with 132.
Why this is a rare defensive case
The fast read on the thing that makes this player more than a generic stat line.
Chris Jones is trying to climb the steepest award hill in college football: a defensive candidacy. The hook is the disruption profile on Southern Miss's defense, with 3.5 sacks, 9.5 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-disruption defender | High-volume tackler against FBS defenders.
2025 Season · Final
2025 season snapshot | final
Tackling & Disruption
TOT
132 100th
SOLO
49 98th
TFL
9.5 97th
SACK
3.5 95th
Coverage & Takeaways
PD
2 64th
INT
1 65th
Game Log · Week-by-week
2025 season · 13 games
| Wk | Opp | TKL | SOLO | TFL | SACK | INT | PD | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wk 1 | L 17-34vs Mississippi State | 12 | 2 | 0.5 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 2 | W 38-20vs Jackson State | 6 | 0 | 0.5 | 0.0 | — | 1 | |
| Wk 3 | W 38-22vs App State | 12 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 1 | |
| Wk 4 | L 20-30@ Louisiana Tech | 14 | 5 | 1.0 | 0.5 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 5 | W 42-25vs Jacksonville State | 8 | 5 | 0.5 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 7 | W 38-35@ Georgia Southern | 11 | 5 | 2.5 | 2.0 | — | 0 | 2 sacks |
| Wk 8 | W 22-10@ Louisiana | 8 | 6 | 1.0 | 1.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 9 | W 49-21vs UL Monroe | 6 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1 | 0 | |
| Wk 11 | W 27-21@ Arkansas State | 13 | 6 | 1.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 12 | L 14-41vs Texas State | 15 | 3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | Season-high 15 tackles |
| Wk 13 | L 35-42@ South Alabama | 11 | 3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 14 | L 18-28vs Troy | 10 | 7 | 0.5 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Bowl | L 16-27vs Western Kentucky | 6 | 5 | 2.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Total | 132 | 49 | 9.5 | 3.5 | 1 | 2 |
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
2025Southern Miss7-6HC: Charles Huff · Balanced
| Season | Team | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Southern Miss | 132 | 49 | 9.5 | 3.5 | 2 | 1 | -- |
| Career | 1 loaded season | 132 | 49 | 9.5 | 3.5 | 2 | 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 | 132 | #5/4942 | 100th pct | Volumevs FBS DEF |
| Defense | TFL | 9.5 | #126/4972 | 97th pct | Disruptionvs FBS DEF |
| Defense | Sacks | 3.5 | #233/4972 | 95th pct | Disruptionvs FBS DEF |
| Defense | Interceptions | 1 | #308/869 | 65th pct | Takeawaysvs FBS DEF |
| Defense | Pass breakups | 2 | #792/2184 | 64th pct | Coveragevs FBS DEF |
| Defense | Solo tackles | 49 | #82/4584 | 98th pct | Volumevs FBS DEF |
| Defense | INT return avg | 2.0 | #512/578 | 12th pct | Takeawaysvs FBS DEF |
| Defense | INT return yards | 2 | #527/578 | 9th pct | Takeawaysvs 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 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 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home8g | 9.4 | 0.5 | 0.0 | 0.2 |
| Road5g | 11.4 | 1.1 | 0.7 | 0.0 |
Win vs Loss
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wins7g | 9.1 | 0.8 | 0.4 | 0.3 |
| Losses6g | 11.3 | 0.7 | 0.1 | 0.0 |
First half vs Second half
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weeks 1-77g | 9.9 | 1.0 | 0.4 | 0.3 |
| Weeks 8+6g | 10.5 | 0.4 | 0.2 | 0.0 |
Pocket and defense-quality (clean vs. pressure) splits are coming soon.
Savant · Box-rate percentiles
Where this profile ranks vs the LB cohort
71Solid starter
Elite: tackles (99th). Strength: solo tackles (97th). Concern: qb hurries (22nd).
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
Chris JonesSouthern MissOwen LongColorado State· 87% simJaden DuggerLouisiana· 87% simNick AndersenWake Forest· 86% sim
Tackles
Solo tackles
Tackles for loss
Sacks
Passes defended
Interceptions
QB hurries
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 Avery Roberts’s 2021 season.
Avery Roberts
77%match
#2
Oumar Diomande
75%
#3
Kyle Harmon
All-Mountain West
73%
#4
Jackson Mitchell
72%
#5
Darren Anders
All-MAC
72%
Matches Avery on
Weight
Sack rate
Tackle volume
Differs from Avery on
Height (lower)
Not enough data yet for this comparison.
As a sophomore, his production profile tracks closest to Ivan Pace Jr.'s sophomore season at Miami (OH) (2021).
Ivan Pace Jr.
83%match
Consensus All-American
#2
Avery Roberts
75%
#3
Gavin Moul
64%
#4
Jaden Yates
All-Sun Belt
63%
#5
Jaylan Alexander
62%
Matches Ivan on
Sack rate
PD rate
Weight
Supporting Cast · Scheme
Staff and system around the player
Head Coach
Charles Huff
Pass share
49.9%
454 pass / 456 run
Plays / game
70.0
13 games
OL sack rate (allowed)
6.3%
315 dropbacks · PBP
Scheme: Balanced.
Coaching Lineage · 2025
1 coach2025
Charles Huff
Southern Miss
Played his entire career under Charles Huff.
Bio · Recruiting · Transfer · Roster
Off-field context — switch tabs to drill into recruit profile, transfer arc, or roster timeline.
HometownByram, MS
Height6'0"
Weight230 lb
Class2
PositionLB
Jersey35
No fields populated yet.
No fields populated yet.
Current teamSouthern Miss
ConferenceSun Belt
Joined2025
Career arc2 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Southern Miss | LB2 | #15489 | #15619 | 0.0% | 0.0% | -- | -- | W16 snapshot | Sun Belt |
Roster Timeline
Team, conference, and class by season.
| Season | Team | Conference | Pos | Class | Bio |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Southern Miss | Sun Belt | LB | 2 | No. 35 | 6-0 | 230 lb | Byram, MS |
| 2024 | Southern Miss | Sun Belt | LB | 2 | No. 35 | 6-0 | 230 lb | Byram, MS |