cfb zeitgeistZeitgeist
OFFSEASON · SUMMER 2026 · COMMITMENT SEASON
Heisman / Players / Christian Gray /Notre Dame

Christian Gray

CB · Notre Dame · Jr · #6

Below the discourse floor — the honest stats-only state.

18 TACKLES · 0 SACKS

2026 RETURNINGReturning to Notre Dame for 2026

2026 Outlook

Returning to Notre Dame for 2026

2026 Depth chart

Projected starter

Cornerback · Notre Dame

Returning around him

  • 37% of 2024 offensive production back (Moderate turnover)
  • 6 Notre Dame players drafted to NFL
  • Transfer portal: -8 net (7 in / 15 out)

2026 Award watch

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

Notre Dame · Last season: 10-2 (AP #9) · Talent rank #9 · 2026 recruiting class #12

CB · NOTRE DAME · FBS INDEPENDENTS

Christian Gray

  • 3
  • #6
  • 6-0 | 188 lb
  • Saint Louis, MO

CFB Zeitgeist Score

45

Mid-pack in the position cohort. Carried by passes defended at the 99th percentile.

Heisman Heat

#4429

<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 DB AWARD

Jim Thorpe

CONSENSUS

All-American

Player Standing · 17 rungs

Tier 2 · Starter

R05 · Part-time starter

Part-time starter. Splitting first-team reps.

Not on team2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex

Career Arc

HS
Recruit
★★★★
#101 national
CFB
College
Notre Dame
2023–2025
NFL
NFL Draft
Not drafted (yet)

Identity & Role

The durable bio layer: position, size, hometown, and roster role.

PositionCB
Class3
Jersey6
Measurements6-0 | 188 lb
HometownSaint Louis, MO
Primary teamNotre Dame

Recruiting Pedigree

How big the prospect was before college, and whether the later career arc beat that expectation.

Top pedigree 4-star No. 101 recruit
Composite rating 0.9514 HighSchool
Signed with Notre Dame 2023
Origin DeSmet St. Louis, MO, USA
Class Profile Context
2023 4-star | 0.9514 No. 101 recruit | HighSchool | Notre Dame

Transfer Arc

Portal movement changes role, context, and perception. This keeps that path in one place.

Portal moves 0 No portal entry on file
Latest destination -- --
Transfer stars -- CFBD transfer rating context
Eligibility -- Transfer date TBD
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 16
Current nowcast#4429Latest modeled ballot order
Season forecast#4066Where the full season sim points
Win probability0.0%Chance to actually win the trophy
Finalist probability0.0%Chance to make the finalist tier
Ballot probability0.0%Chance to appear anywhere on a ballot
Best official finish--Best completed Heisman placement on file

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 Notre Dame

Composite

0.9514

#101 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

PENDING

The 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 Christian Gray

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 Christian Gray

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.

A 3-act season arc returns once this player has six or more games on the ledger.

Season Pace · Projection

Where the defensive totals stand

projecting to 13-game
Through 9g
18Tackles
1Tackles for loss
0Sacks
Per game
2Tackles
0.1Tackles for loss
0Sacks
Projected (13g)
26Tackles
1.4Tackles for loss
0Sacks

To hit 80-tackle season (currently 18): needs 15.5/game over remaining 4.

To hit 100-tackle season (currently 18): needs 20.5/game over remaining 4.

To hit 6-sack season (currently 0): needs 1.5/game over remaining 4.

To hit 10-sack season (currently 0): needs 2.5/game over remaining 4.

Why this is a rare defensive case

The fast read on the thing that makes this player more than a generic stat line.

Christian Gray is trying to climb the steepest award hill in college football: a defensive candidacy. The hook is the disruption profile on Notre Dame's defense, with 0.0 sacks, 1.0 tackles for loss, and 2 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.

Current place #4429 0.0% win | 0.0% finalist
Role load -- Role share still loading
Profile quirk Blue-chip pedigree No. 101 recruit

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
Total tackles 18 12 solo | #2161/4942 (56th pct)
TFL 1.0 Backfield disruption | #2051/4972 (59th pct)
Sacks 0.0 Pass-rush finish | #1762/4972 (65th pct)
Player identity What kind of player is this?

30-second read

What kind of player is this?

Coverage splash against FBS defenders.

Coverage splash

2025 Season · Final

2025 season snapshot | final

Tackling & Disruption

TOT
18 56th
SOLO
12 62nd
TFL
1.0 59th
SACK
0.0 65th

Coverage & Takeaways

PD
10 99th
INT
2 87th

Game Log · Week-by-week

2025 season · 9 games

Box score · CFBD
WkOppTKLSOLOTFLSACKINTPDNote
Wk 1L 24-27@ Miami320.00.02
Wk 3L 40-41vs Texas A&M210.00.00
Wk 4W 56-30vs Purdue310.00.010
Wk 5W 56-13@ Arkansas220.00.01
Wk 6W 28-7vs Boise State110.00.01
Wk 7W 36-7vs NC State000.00.02
Wk 8W 34-24vs USC651.00.011Season-high 6 tackles
Wk 12W 37-15@ Pittsburgh000.00.01
Wk 14W 49-20@ Stanford100.00.02
Total18121.00.0210
Season-by-season tables Career rows + per-season box score

Traditional history

Traditional Stats

Season rows up top, career context at the bottom.

Season rows Career row

Season context · Team result + system

2023Notre Dame10-3HC: Marcus Freeman · Run-leaning, slow tempo
2025Notre Dame10-2HC: Marcus Freeman · Run-leaning, slow tempo
SeasonTeam
2025Notre Dame18121.00.0102--
2023Notre Dame1080.00.021--
Career2 loaded seasons28201.00.0123--
Advanced layer Usage, value, and context

Advanced metrics second

Advanced Metrics

Usage, value, and opponent-adjusted context.

Usage Value Context
Disruption stats

TFL, sacks, and QB hurries are grouped together because defensive Heisman cases are usually built on visible havoc, not on tackle counts alone.

Coverage splash

Pass breakups, interceptions, and forced fumbles matter because national awards voters respond to plays that change possessions and highlight reels.

Peer percentile

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.

Traditional first

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.

INT 2 0 pick-six TD | #114/869 (87th pct)
Pass breakups 10 Coverage disruption | #20/2184 (99th pct)
QB pressures 0 Quarterback hurries
Open full stat explorer
0 metrics visible Showing all metrics
Group Metric Value Rank Pct Why it matters
Defense Total tackles 18 #2161/4942 56th 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 Interceptions 2 #114/869 87th pct Takeawaysvs FBS DEF
Defense Pass breakups 10 #20/2184 99th pct Coveragevs FBS DEF
Defense INT return yards 19 #316/578 46th pct Takeawaysvs FBS DEF
Defense Solo tackles 12 #1735/4584 62nd pct Volumevs FBS DEF
Defense INT return avg 9.5 #375/578 35th 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

StatusAwaiting 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 · 9 games

Home/Road · Win/Loss · Season halves

Home vs Road

TKL/gTFL/gSACK/gPD/g
Home5g2.40.20.00.8
Road4g1.50.00.01.5

Win vs Loss

TKL/gTFL/gSACK/gPD/g
Wins7g1.90.10.01.1
Losses2g2.50.00.01.0

First half vs Second half

TKL/gTFL/gSACK/gPD/g
Weeks 1-76g1.80.00.01.0
Weeks 8+3g2.30.30.01.3

Pocket and defense-quality (clean vs. pressure) splits are coming soon.

Savant · Box-rate percentiles

Where this profile ranks vs the CB cohort

45Mid-pack
7 metrics · season cumulative

Elite: passes defended (99th). Concern: qb hurries (22nd).

Passes defended#20 / 2975 · 99th pct
10defe
Interceptions#114 / 817 · 75th pct
2inte
Solo tackles#1735 / 2975 · 40th pct
12defe
Tackles for loss#1936 / 2975 · 28th pct
1.0defe
Tackles#2161 / 2975 · 26th pct
18defe
Sacks#1575 / 2975 · 24th pct
0.0defe
QB hurries#1662 / 2975 · 22nd pct
0defe

Percentiles versus same-position peers with enough snaps this season, based on box-score rates.

Advanced Savant · CB · 2024

Percentile Card

Advanced opponent-adjusted percentile bars are coming soon for this player.

P4G5All FBS
EPA / dropback
awaiting
CPOE
awaiting
Success rate
awaiting
Explosive rate (20+)
awaiting
aDOT
awaiting
Deep-ball accuracy
awaiting
Pressure-to-sack
awaiting
3rd-down EPA
awaiting
Red-zone TD rate
awaiting
Play-action EPA
awaiting
Scramble EPA
awaiting
Turnover-worthy play rate
awaiting

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

3 peers · 7 metrics
Christian GrayNotre DameDalton JohnsonArizona· 61% simDevin LafayetteTroy· 60% simTahj Ra-ElPurdue· 60% sim
Passes defended
99
Gray
96
Johnson
91
Lafayette
91
Ra-El
Interceptions
75
Gray
95
Johnson
75
Lafayette
Solo tackles
40
Gray
97
Johnson
98
Lafayette
100
Ra-El
Tackles for loss
28
Gray
47
Johnson
56
Lafayette
56
Ra-El
Tackles
26
Gray
98
Johnson
99
Lafayette
99
Ra-El
Sacks
24
Gray
63
Johnson
63
Lafayette
24
Ra-El
QB hurries
22
Gray
22
Johnson
22
Lafayette
22
Ra-El

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 Kenneth Harris’s 2021 season.

Kenneth Harris

80%match

Arkansas State · 2021

#2

Jordan Dunbar

Missouri State · 2025

76%
#3

Shelton Lewis

Clemson · 2023

66%
#4

Jaylon Jones

Georgia State · 2022

NFL Rd 7
59%
#5

JoJo Johnson

Bowling Green · 2025

59%

Matches Kenneth on

Height
PD rate
Class year

Not enough data yet for this comparison.

As a junior, his production profile tracks closest to Nic Jones's junior season at Ball State (2022).

Nic Jones

93%match

Ball State · 2022

All-MACNFL Rd 7
#2

Andre Jordan

UCLA · 2025

74%
#3

Jaylon Jones

Georgia State · 2022

NFL Rd 7
64%
#4

Alex Hogan

Houston · 2022

51%
#5

JoJo Johnson

Bowling Green · 2025

56%

Matches Nic on

Class year
Height
Weight

Supporting Cast · Scheme

Staff and system around the player

2025 season

Head Coach

Marcus Freeman

Pass share

44.0%

321 pass / 409 run

Plays / game

60.8

12 games

OL sack rate (allowed)

4.7%

257 dropbacks · PBP

Scheme: Run-leaning, slow tempo.

Coaching Lineage · 2023–2025

1 coach
2023
Marcus Freeman
Notre Dame
2025
Marcus Freeman
Notre Dame

Played his entire career under Marcus Freeman.

Bio · Recruiting · Transfer · Roster

Off-field context — switch tabs to drill into recruit profile, transfer arc, or roster timeline.

HometownSaint Louis, MO
Height6'0"
Weight188 lb
Class3
PositionCB
Jersey6

Trophy Case · Detail

Every honor on the ledger, broken out by stream and selector.

Honors

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 Notre Dame CB3 #4429 #4066 0.0% 0.0% -- -- W16 snapshot | FBS Independents
2023 Notre Dame CB3 #5932 #6089 0.0% 0.0% -- -- W19 snapshot | FBS Independents

Roster Timeline

Team, conference, and class by season.

Season Team Conference Pos Class Bio
2025 Notre Dame FBS Independents CB 3 No. 6 | 6-0 | 188 lb | Saint Louis, MO
2024 Notre Dame FBS Independents CB 3 No. 6 | 6-0 | 188 lb | Saint Louis, MO
2023 Notre Dame FBS Independents CB 3 No. 6 | 6-0 | 188 lb | Saint Louis, MO