Cole Gustafson is a defensive lineman who has not played this season; the last season with a stat line was 2025, at UTEP.
Gustafson wins the gap play after play. Played for two head coaches at two programs in two seasons: Mike MacIntyre and Scotty Walden. On tape: 4 tackles and 1 sack against Louisiana Tech, Week 5, 2025.
Play style
Stout at the point of attack — steady tackle-for-loss production without a standout pass-rush number.
Activity vs finishing · season enumeration
What the box score actually says
19 tackles. 2 passes defended. 0 interceptions. 3 TFL.
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.
Closest statistical matches, adjusted for opponent strength.
Swipe the table sideways for more columns.
| Season | Team | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | UTEP | 19 | 4 | 3.0 | 1.5 | 2 |
| 2024 | Florida International | 4 | 3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | -- |
| Career | 23 | 7 | 3.0 | 1.5 | 2 |
Game log · Week-by-week
2025 season · 10 games
Swipe the table sideways for more columns.
| Wk | Opp | TKL | SOLO | TFL | SACK | INT | PD | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wk 2 | W 42-17vs UT Martin | 3 | 1 | 0.5 | 0.5 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 3 | L 10-27@ No. 7 Texas | 2 | 0 | 0.5 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 5 | L 11-30vs Louisiana Tech | 4 | 1 | 1.0 | 1.0 | — | 1 | Season-high 4 tackles |
| Wk 7 | L 8-19vs Liberty | 2 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 8 | W 35-17vs Sam Houston | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 10 | L 20-33@ Kennesaw State | 1 | 0 | 0.5 | 0.0 | — | 1 | |
| Wk 11 | L 27-30vs Jacksonville State | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 12 | L 24-38@ Missouri State | 1 | 0 | 0.5 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 13 | L 31-34vs New Mexico State | 3 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 14 | L 31-61@ Delaware | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Total | 19 | 4 | 3.0 | 1.5 | — | 2 |
Where his impact shows up on the stat sheet
TFL rate
16%3 TFLSack rate
8%2 sacksHurry rate
11%2 hurries19 tackles · 3 for loss · 1.5 sacks.
Splits · Per-game
2025 season · 10 games
Home vs Road
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home5g | 2.6 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.2 |
| Road4g | 1.2 | 0.4 | 0.0 | 0.2 |
First half vs Second half
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weeks 1-74g | 2.8 | 0.5 | 0.4 | 0.2 |
| Weeks 8+6g | 1.3 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 0.2 |
Supporting cast · Scheme
Staff and system around the player
Head Coach
Scotty Walden
Pass share
52.4%
410 pass / 372 run
Plays / game
65.2
12 games
Team sack rate
6.2%
452 dropbacks · PBP
Scheme: Balanced.
Player standing · 2025
Fewer tackles a game than most FBS defensive linemen who play every week.
Recognition
Production · CFB Zeitgeist Score
Two-star recruit. Now #328 at the position.
2026 outlook
Outside shot for All-Mountain West
Based on 2025: #40 of 45 Conference USA DLs — his program moves to the Mountain West for 2026
A base rate for the rank, not a forecast of this player: 15% of returning players who ranked #21 or lower at their position in their conference made an all-conference team the next season (95% confidence interval 13–17%). It was measured on players who stayed in the same conference and is not adjusted for the move to the Mountain West.
The role got bigger.
Coaching lineage · 2024–2025
2 coachesPlayed for 2 head coaches at 2 schools: Mike MacIntyre and Scotty Walden.
