CFB Zeitgeist Score
51
Mid-pack in the position cohort. Carried by yards / catch at the 96th percentile.
Cole Spence
Below the discourse floor — the honest stats-only state.
233 REC YDS · 15 REC · 2 REC TD
2026 Outlook
Returning to Vanderbilt for 2026
2026 Depth chart
Projected starter
Tight end · Vanderbilt
Returning around him
- 86% of 2024 offensive production back (Strong continuity)
- 1 Vanderbilt player drafted to NFL
- Transfer portal: -1 net (18 in / 19 out)
2026 Award watch
No preseason watch lists yet (most drop June 15 – July 15)
Vanderbilt · Last season: 10-3 (AP #13) · Talent rank #55 · 2026 recruiting class #76
TE · VANDERBILT · SEC
Cole Spence
- 4
- #16
- 6-7 | 250 lb
- Roswell, GA
Heisman Heat
#979
<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 TE AWARD
Mackey
—
CONSENSUS
All-American
—
Player Standing · 17 rungs
Tier 2 · StarterR06 · Starter
Starter. A locked-in starting role.
Not on team2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex
Development Trajectory · receiving yards
2024–2025+131%
Up 131% from first season to most-recent.
Career Arc
HS
Recruit
★★★
CFB
College
Vanderbilt
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 | 0.8648 | No. 888 recruit | HighSchool | Vanderbilt |
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 Vanderbilt
Composite
0.8648
#888 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 Cole Spence
Fan sentiment ·
Belief Meter
50
Mixed Sentiment
Top Take
“”
Trajectory
Per-cohort trajectory lands when historical bucket data is aggregated.
Cohort divergence map
- Own fans · n=1
Rival Radar
How rival fanbases talk about Cole Spence
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 receiving totals stand
Through 7g
233Rec yards
15Receptions
2Rec TDs
Per game
33.3Rec yards
2Receptions
0Rec TDs
Projected (13g)
432.7Rec yards
28Receptions
4Rec TDs
To hit 700-yard receiver (currently 233): needs 77.8/game over remaining 6.
To hit 1,000-yard receiver (currently 233): needs 127.8/game over remaining 6.
To hit 60-catch season (currently 15): needs 7.5/game over remaining 6.
To hit 80-catch season (currently 15): needs 10.8/game over remaining 6.
To hit 8 receiving TDs (currently 2): needs 1/game over remaining 6.
To hit 10 receiving TDs (currently 2): needs 1.3/game over remaining 6.
What made this player interesting
The fast read on the thing that makes this player more than a generic stat line.
Cole Spence's story is about how role and output meet each other. For Vanderbilt, the card already shows enough current-season production to explain why he is on the serious-player board, and the next layer is determining whether the profile is just very good or actually distinctive.
2025 Season · Final
Traditional stats first. Advanced context underneath.
Last season
TE 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?
Big-play receiver against FBS receiving peers.
2025 Season · Final
2025 season snapshot | final
Receiving
REC
15 71st
YDS
233 81st
YPR
15.5 91st
TD
2 84th
Game Log · Week-by-week
2025 season · 7 games
| Wk | Opp | REC | YDS | AVG | TD | LONG | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wk 4 | W 70-21vs Georgia State | 1 | 26 | 26.0 | 0 | 26 | |
| Wk 6 | L 14-30@ Alabama | 2 | 45 | 22.5 | 0 | 33 | |
| Wk 8 | W 31-24vs LSU | 5 | 56 | 11.2 | 1 | 21 | Season-high 56 yds |
| Wk 10 | L 31-34@ Texas | 1 | 23 | 23.0 | 0 | 23 | |
| Wk 11 | W 45-38vs Auburn | 1 | 4 | 4.0 | 1 | 4 | |
| Wk 13 | W 45-17vs Kentucky | 3 | 48 | 16.0 | 0 | 27 | |
| Bowl | L 27-34vs Iowa | 2 | 31 | 15.5 | 0 | 21 | |
| Total | 15 | 233 | 16.9 | 2 | 33 |
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
2022Vanderbilt5-7HC: Clark Lea · Run-leaning
2024Vanderbilt7-6HC: Clark Lea · Run-heavy
2025Vanderbilt10-3HC: Clark Lea · Balanced, slow tempo
| Season | Team | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Vanderbilt | 15 | 233 | 15.5 | 2 | -- |
| 2024 | Vanderbilt | 10 | 101 | 10.1 | 2 | -- |
| 2022 | Vanderbilt | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| Career | 3 loaded seasons | 25 | 334 | 13.4 | 4 | -- |
Advanced layer Usage, value, and context
Advanced metrics second
Advanced Metrics
Usage, value, and opponent-adjusted context.
The tight end's share of the passing offense, which helps distinguish a featured receiving tight end from a secondary option.
A blended usage view that shows how often the offense flows through the tight end compared with other same-level peers.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Receiving | Receptions | 15 | #141/475 | 71st pct | Volumevs FBS TE |
| Receiving | Receiving yards | 233 | #90/475 | 81st pct | Volumevs FBS TE |
| Receiving | Receiving TD | 2 | #79/475 | 84th pct | Scoringvs FBS TE |
| Receiving | Yards / catch | 15.5 | #42/475 | 91st pct | Efficiencyvs FBS TE |
| Usage | Pass share | 6.5% | #209/468 | 56th pct | Air-game usagevs FBS TE |
| Receiving | Receiving LONG | 33 | #111/475 | 77th pct | Metricvs FBS TE |
| Usage | 3rd-down usage | 5.1% | #147/468 | 69th pct | Money-down loadvs FBS TE |
| Usage | Standard-down usage | 4.3% | #97/468 | 79th pct | Base-situation sharevs FBS TE |
| Usage | 1st-down usage | 4.1% | #124/468 | 74th pct | Early-down loadvs FBS TE |
| Usage | Role share | 3.7% | #150/468 | 68th pct | Share of team offensevs FBS TE |
| Usage | 2nd-down usage | 2.8% | #282/468 | 40th pct | Middle-down loadvs FBS TE |
| Usage | Passing-down usage | 2.3% | #311/468 | 34th pct | Known-passing sharevs FBS TE |
| Usage | Rush share | 0.0% | #58/468 | 88th pct | Ground-game usagevs FBS TE |
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 Mackey 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
| REC/g | YDS/g | YPR | TD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home5g | 2.4 | 33.0 | 14.5 | 0.4 |
| Road2g | 1.5 | 34.0 | 22.8 | 0.0 |
Win vs Loss
| REC/g | YDS/g | YPR | TD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wins4g | 2.5 | 33.5 | 14.3 | 0.5 |
| Losses3g | 1.7 | 33.0 | 20.3 | 0.0 |
First half vs Second half
| REC/g | YDS/g | YPR | TD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weeks 1-73g | 1.7 | 34.0 | 21.3 | 0.0 |
| Weeks 8+4g | 2.5 | 32.8 | 13.6 | 0.5 |
Pocket and defense-quality (clean vs. pressure) splits are coming soon.
Savant · Box-rate percentiles
Where this profile ranks vs the TE cohort
51Mid-pack
Elite: yards / catch (96th). Concern: receptions (17th).
Percentiles versus same-position peers with enough snaps this season, based on box-score rates.
Advanced Savant · TE · 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
Cole SpenceVanderbiltEthan ConnerTroy· 69% simLuke LindenmeyerNebraska· 69% simDecker DeGraafWashington· 68% sim
Yards / catch
Rec yards
Long catch
Rec TDs
Receptions
Closest peers by overall box-score percentile profile at the same position.
Player DNA
The Move TE
Lined up out wide as often as inline. Creates mismatches downfield.
TE
His 2025 production profile sits closest to Messiah Swinson’s 2022 season.
Messiah Swinson
72%match
#2
Jared Wiley
NFL Rd 4
69%
#3
Nick Elksnis
65%
#4
Curtis Hodges
65%
#5
Cole Spence
65%
Matches Messiah on
Yards / reception
Total EPA (college ability)
Height
Differs from Messiah on
EPA / play (adj) (higher)
Weight (lower)
Not enough data yet for this comparison.
As a junior, his production profile tracks closest to Keaton Upshaw's junior season at Georgia Southern (2023).
Keaton Upshaw
82%match
#2
Messiah Swinson
81%
#3
Chris Carter
77%
#4
Jared Wiley
All-Big 12NFL Rd 4
75%
#5
Luke Musgrave
NFL Rd 2 · Pk 11
72%
Matches Keaton on
Total EPA (college ability)
TD rate
Weight
Differs from Keaton on
Yards / reception (higher)
Supporting Cast · Scheme
Staff and system around the player
Head Coach
Clark Lea
Pass share
50.4%
400 pass / 394 run
Plays / game
61.1
13 games
OL sack rate (allowed)
7.3%
274 dropbacks · PBP
Scheme: Balanced, slow tempo.
Coaching Lineage · 2022–2025
1 coach2022
Clark Lea
Vanderbilt
2024
Clark Lea
Vanderbilt
2025
Clark Lea
Vanderbilt
Played his entire career under Clark Lea.
Bio · Recruiting · Transfer · Roster
Off-field context — switch tabs to drill into recruit profile, transfer arc, or roster timeline.
HometownRoswell, GA
Height6'7"
Weight250 lb
Class4
PositionTE
Jersey16
No fields populated yet.
No fields populated yet.
Current teamVanderbilt
ConferenceSEC
Joined2025
Career arc4 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 | Vanderbilt | TE4 | #979 | #1187 | 0.0% | 0.0% | -- | -- | W16 snapshot | SEC |
| 2023 | Vanderbilt | TE4 | #4784 | #5329 | 0.0% | 0.0% | -- | -- | W19 snapshot | SEC |
| 2022 | Vanderbilt | TE4 | #4038 | #4249 | 0.0% | 0.0% | -- | -- | W20 snapshot | SEC |
Roster Timeline
Team, conference, and class by season.
| Season | Team | Conference | Pos | Class | Bio |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Vanderbilt | SEC | TE | 4 | No. 16 | 6-7 | 250 lb | Roswell, GA |
| 2024 | Vanderbilt | SEC | TE | 4 | No. 16 | 6-7 | 250 lb | Roswell, GA |
| 2023 | Vanderbilt | SEC | TE | 4 | No. 16 | 6-7 | 250 lb | Roswell, GA |
| 2022 | Vanderbilt | SEC | TE | 4 | No. 16 | 6-7 | 250 lb | Roswell, GA |